For years, small groups for Bible study and prayer have been a common feature of church life, as they have been in student Christian Unions.
They are a valuable means of cultivating fellowship between people at a deeper level than can be achieved by larger and more formal meetings. Small, informal groups have also long proved to be useful in evangelism.
Selling the cell
Now, however, new types of small groups are being advocated and referred to as 'cell groups'. They are claimed to be of strategic importance both for the nurture of Christians and for evangelism. Some are talking of 'cell churches' in which the chief feature of church life is such small groups. Rather than being an adjunct to the larger meetings of the church, they constitute the fundamental units that make up the larger whole.
