More and more people throughout North America are taking the time to join a life-giving small group. Participation in small groups that focused on prayer, Bible study, and fellowship shot up from 11% in 1994 to 26% in 2004. There seems to be a new excitement in small-group ministry- especially in the western part of the US where small-group involvement jumped 136% in the past ten years. Other church oriented activities did not grow at all, comparatively. Barna even says, “The findings might indicate that we are entering a new era of spiritual experience- one that is more tribal or individualized than congregational in nature.”
We’re on a mission field in North America, and this should refocus all of us ministering in the land. We need missionaries right here, right now. God is looking for church planters and pastors who are willing to study North America the way missionaries study foreign culture. Jesus strategy was always to make disciples first rather than attract a multitude. If the church is going to make an impact in North America, new strategies are needed to make disciples, deploy them, and send them out as harvest workers. Cell church ministry offers exciting possibilities for those doing ministry in North America.
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