G12 Vision

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The G12 vision, also referred to as Groups of 12 or Government of 12, is a controversial strategy for church cell groups and church growth. It is based on the idea that each person should mentor and raise up twelve disciples in the Christian faith, and subsequently each disciple is to mentor 12 other disciples.

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[edit] History

César Castellanos Domínguez developed the G12 strategy after visiting the Yoido Full Gospel Church pastored by David Yonggi Cho, who had successfully implemented a cell structure in his church in South Korea. Cesar returned to his church, the Misión Carismática Internacional in Bogotá, Colombia with the revelation that God had spoken to him while he was in South Korea, and that God had given him a vision which would increase the size of his church. He subsequently formed his church into groups of 12, while his brother-in-law, César Fajardo, did the same with the youth. From 1991 to 1994 his church grew from 70 to 1,200 members.[1] Between 1994 and 1999 the church grew to 20,000 cells with a regular weekly church celebration of 45,000 people. Soon they lost track of numbers and began to count in cell groups.

In the year 2000 church leaders around the world, seeking to increase the size of their churches, travelled to the Misión Carismática Internacional to learn about the G12 vision. In the year 2001, Castellanos formed an international group of 12, with leaders from various countries (including the controversial Brazilian evangelist Valnice Milhomens). However, by 2005 some of these leaders, including César Farjardo, left the G12 vision, which had by this time become a movement centrally controlled from Bogotá, and formed their own adaptations. Many of the original leaders, however, have continued branches of the G12 movement following in the footsteps of Castellanos.

Currently MCI has 55,000 cell groups and approximately 550,000 members.

[edit] G12 philosophy

The idea of the G12 is to reach out and disciple every member and to hold every member accountable to Christ's teachings. The main leader would disciple 12 people, they would instate Christian values, teachings, prayer and ministry on a weekly basis until their disciples were ready to lead their own groups. Each disciple would find 12 new disciples and repeat the same process until there were 144. In both theory and example this process leads the church to grow exponentially, without losing accountability of Christian values due to the eventual size of the church.

It is based on the methodology used by Jesus to begin his ministry. Following his 40 day temptation in the desert, the first act of Jesus in his ministry was to form a group of 12 disciples (Mark 3:14). Additionally, in the book of Acts the first action taken by the 11 remaining disciples (considering Judas Iscariot's betrayal) was to re-establish a group of 12. Seeing fit not to leave it at 11, or allow 13, but rather to cast lots, which fell on Matthias, to fulfill the 12 (Acts 1:26). It was only after they re-established the group/government of 12 for the church that the day of Pentacost came (the moment when the disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit)

This number 12 is considered significant as representing Government, there are 12 months governing a year, 2 cycles of 12 to govern the day and night, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 disciples established by Jesus to govern the body of his church - fulfilling the Great Commission (Mark 16:15).

[edit] G12 methodology

The G12 structure is found in some evangelical, predominantly charismatic churches.

[edit] Ladder of success

This is broken up into 4 parts with the sole aim of leading people to follow Christ.[2]

  • Win:- new believers are added to the open cell through friendships and by utilising the prayer of 3.
  • Consolidate:- after joining the cell, new believers are consolidated in the Christian faith and sent on an encounter.
  • Disciple:- once the new believer has experienced an encounter, they are sent to the school of leaders.
  • Send:- During the school of leaders the believer begins to reach out through friendships and prayer of 3 to start their own open cell. Once they've opened their own open cell, one of two things happen.
    • a) The new cell leader stays in their own leader's open cell. This cell gradually changes into a closed leadership cell.
    • b) Or, more commonly, will join a separate leadership cell under their cell leader.

[edit] Prayer of 3

This is when three disciples meet once a week and pray for three non-Christians each, nine in total for a period of a month, before inviting the people prayed for to evangelistic events called nets, with the hope that they will follow Christ. The prayer and invitations are continued until those people eventually make a decision for Christ.

The number 3 is symbolic of "completeness," i.e. The Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) being "God", also Christ was dead for 3 days before being resurrected and in Exodus before Moses asks for Pharaoh to let his people go, he first asks him to allow the Israelites to go into the wilderness to worship their God for 3 days.

[edit] Nets

Nets are revival/evangelistic meetings run monthly, where non Christians are invited to attend with the hope that Christ's message will touch them, and they will follow Christ, and hopefully the leaders of the G12.[3]

[edit] Encounters

These are weekend retreats, usually set away from the city in a conference centre.[4] Encounters generally last three days where there is basic Christian teaching on holiness, prayer, fellowship with God, forgiving, tithing, speaking life, walking in the Spirit, demonic liberation (which is also called casting out the enemy or deliverance), healing the sick, winning souls for Christ, having patience and bearing fruit. One of the main points for these "encounters" is for the believer to have a genuine repentance and revelation of what the cross is all about. Also in these encounters there is extensive prayer and use of common symbolic acts to define the end of the old and beginning of the new.

[edit] The process

Laying aside the old self-rejecting old ways of thinking, acting, feeling,. Renewing believer's mind with God's truth-understanding the truth of what Christ has accomplished for them and that that gives them a new capacity to live for Him. Putting on the new self-in thought, words, actions, values, and relationships. The main purpose of these encounters is for the believer to have an actual encounter with God face to face. For him or her to give themselves completely to God, the result: to have a Christ-centered self-confidence, Joy, Courage, Peace, and a desire to know Christ.

[edit] School of leaders

This is a nine month course split into three ten week sections, where all the fundamentals of the Christian faith are taught, as well as the principles of the G12 vision.[5] It is usually co-ordinated and run by church members who have attended the school of teachers.

[edit] Homogeneous groups

Men, women, and children are allocated to homogeneous cells.[6] This has been found to be effective as ministry in cell groups can be more focussed, relevant, and also some issues are unlikely to be discussed and dealt with when people of the opposite sex are present.

[edit] Concerns

Some people have raised concerns about the G12 vision, the way it has been enforced, the division it is causing and its legitimacy.[7][8]

To be part of the G12 vision, church leaders have been forced to submit to the head church in Bogotá. Since 2005, many churches still use the same basic strategy as the G12 Vision, but have severed themselves from the Bogotá leadership, changing the name and terminology.

The G12 vision has been challenged for other reasons, such as spiritualization of number 12, pragmatism and creating a Catholic-style hierarchy among Protestants. Cesar Castellano's book "La Revelación de la Cruz" (The cross revelation) has often been compared with writings by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. G12 principles are similar to the Shepherding Movement, and have similar problems. They have often been criticized for their "cult-like" tactics in recruiting and securing new members. Most of the leading G12 churches in the UK have now left the movement.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Revival Times
  2. ^ Revival Times
  3. ^ Revival Times
  4. ^ Revival Times
  5. ^ Revival Times
  6. ^ Revival Times
  7. ^ Concerns about the G12 Movement
  8. ^ Cell Church Solutions - concerns about G12
  • "Encountering G12: Analyzing the 'cellular vision' of César Castellanos" by Ricardo Becerra in Midwest Christian Outreach Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Spring 2007), pp. 9-13

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