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At Reachout we received this
anonymous email:
I THINK THAT IT WOULD BE WORTH MENTIONING
THAT SEVERAL OF THE CHURCHES THAT YOU MENTION THAT BEGAN THE G12 VISION
ARE NO LONGER OPERATING IN THE G12 VISION ANYMORE, E.G KENSINTON TEMPLE,
VINE CHURCH, BETHANY. INDEED CESAR FAJARDO AS FAR AS I AM AWARE IS NO
LONGER IN THE G12 VISION EITHER, THESE CHURCHES ARE OPERATING WHAT THEY
CALL, A P12 VISION - PRINCIPLE OF 12 VISION. BASICALLY THE SAME THING
BUT THEY CANNOT CALL IT G12 ANYMORE BECAUSE THEY HAVE LEFT THE G12 FRANCHISE
AS THEY REFUSED TO SIGN THE CONTRACT AND PAY THE FEES THAT MCI REQUIRED
THEM TOO. I AM UNSURE ABOUT THE METRO CHURCH, BUT IT LIKE THE OTHERS
HAS HAD ALL REFERENCES TO G12 REMOVED FROM ITS WEBSITE.
We are unfortunately unable to verify some of this information but the
following is the result of our appraisal of the relevant websites.
It seems that G12 as a global movement has undergone some quite radical
changes. On the G12
website Cesar Castellanos is mentioned as the pioneer of Cell groups
of 12, but there is a carefully worded dissociation from him as the
leading authority, effectively breaking the chain of 12 x 12; Pastor
Castellanos no longer figures as the global movement leader and in fact
a consideration of the websites listed on Cellexplosion.com shows there
has been a considerable breaking up. The European group headed by Pastor
Colin Dye of Kensington Temple and supported by Pastor Jimmy Dowds of
Dunfermline seems to consist now of only their two churches.
On the Kensington Temple website
under "G12 Cell Church" it states
"The G12 vision is proving to be a dynamic
strategy by which we are fulfilling our dreams"
There is a section of the website dedicated to "Model of Twelve". Providing
that the cell church model of church organisation is accepted, there
is little in this section which could be objected to on biblical grounds
and in fact there is much that is of value.
A visit to the Metro Church Sunderland
website, (this is the church where Ken and Lois Gott pastor), reveals
that the only reference to G12 is in the email addresses of the Church
officers. No trace can be found on the website of any reference to the
G12 vision or to cell explosion. There is no reference either to Metro
or Ken Gott on the cell explosion website.
A visit to the website
of The Vine Church in Dunfermline, where Jimmy and Elmer Dowds pastor
reveals no reference to G12 at all although in the page devoted to "the
Vision" reference is made to the aim to make every believer a good leader
of 12. The encounter meetings have been maintained with little apparent
modification. There is though still reference to G12 on the cell explosion
website and the Vine Church is still linked. In his address to the Discipleship
Cell Explosion 2006 Conference Pastor Dowds reaffirms his commitment
to the G12 vision and particularly of making every believer a leader,
but a major point of his message was to rest in the purposes of God
and allow compassion to drive soul-winning. Pastor Castellanos gets
a mention on the Innovating People/History page where the idea of a
world net is also mentioned.
I was able to check out Larry
Stockstill from his website and once again there is now little reference
to G12 and a careful consideration of their Global 12 Project which
is the global church planting arm reveals little of the "principle of
12". His message to the G12 conference in 2006 was scheduled to be on
"A Church full of Pastors" but he was led to change that to a stirring
message on faith in the Word of God.
Because Cesar Fajardo is mentioned in the above email it is interesting
to note that he addressed the 2006 G12 conference. He made no mention
of Bogotá or Pastor Castellanos, and his theme was an exhortation not
to convert principles into laws.
The Faith Community Baptist Church
in Singapore is this year hosting the International G12 conference
where Apostle Khong and his wife together with Pastors Cesar and Claudia
Castellanos will be bringing the "Rhema" word. FCBC is the exception
to the general move away from Government of 12 the website is generally
unchanged, giving all the instruction about the G12 cell group system
but at the same time The international profile has changed radically
While it can be said that as a strategy for Church Growth G12 has been
very successful and many have been discipled as Christians it must also
be said that the number of people disillusioned with the system continues
to grow, but in the main the disillusionment is connected with the rigid
12 x 12 structure and forcing every believer into the leadership role
which the two British churches seem to have corrected.
The overarching concern that we have with the principle of 12 is that
the biblical pattern of church seems to have been distorted in the interests
of church growth.
In Numbers 20:8-12 Moses was given a specific directive to speak to
the rock in order to provide water. He was disobedient and struck the
rock and although there was every excuse for such a small difference
between the directive and the action, the consequence for Moses was
that the desire of his heart, leading the people into the promised land,
was denied him. It is clear that to God obedience to His declared word
is imperative and we do not have the option to make our own variations.
Partial obedience may bring desired results, even miracles, but it does
not bring God's approval and blessing. The pattern of church in the
new testament is not a rigid one, but specific directives are there
and must not be obscured. The flexibility of the model of the church
as living stones in 1 Pet 2:4-10 cannot be made to fit a rigid 12 x
12 pattern of forced growth. 1Cor 12:14-31 teaches that we are not all
pastors and a system which seeks to force all new Christians to become
pastors must be seen as having departed from the new testament pattern.
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