It all started this spring. My cell leader was due to leave the UK, and we needed a new leader to lead our cell group. She had asked me whether I could, but I wasn’t sure. Life in the UK was hard enough, having to look after myself and my faith. I wasn’t sure whether I could love and serve others when I was so weak and inadequate. But God told me that he wanted me to look after his people, and in obedience, I started to serve as a cell leader.
It has been six months since I started as a newbie cell leader. I am grateful for so many things but I also realised that things weren’t as simple as I thought it would be. Whenever someone new joins our cell, it’s awkward; I get nervous when I lead bible study sessions; loving members of our cell group isn’t something that I can do with my own strength. When someone doesn’t come to church or a cell group session, I get worried; my feelings get hurt over small things; I get disheartened when I realise how lacking in love and patience I am; I get tired when I’m busy. But many of my fellow leaders pray for me, and through worshiping God, I find my strength restored. Amazingly, God continues to give me strength – probably because this is something that pleases him.
Whenever I think about my cell, I can feel God’s love for them. I always pray for my cell group after the Wednesday Service, and some days, I just find streams of tears flowing from my eyes. I can’t help but cry when I think of God’s love towards each of us: his love that loves us as we are, that waits for us till the end, that gave us his only son to die on the cross.
As I can’t practice God’s love with my own strength, heart and mind, I strive to keep God close. One of the biggest changes that I experienced as a cell leader was the prioritising of prayer and worship. My love and faith in God became stronger as I praised, read the bible, and prayed, and I see my relationship with God deepen and mature as days pass by.
My heart rejoices whenever I see a member of my cell come to church and cell group sessions after a long period of absence, whenever they draw themselves close to God and the church, and when I see them share deeper insights as we engage in fellowship. I really hope that the bond between our members will strengthen in God, who is at the centre of our cell group, and that each one of them can experience God’s love and grace more and more in their lives.
God honours us Christians in many ways, but what greater honour is there than the honour of being able to understand the heart of God towards his people? I am grateful that I’ve been able to experience God’s love and grace, and can confidently say that becoming a cell leader was the best thing I did this year.
