The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Overview

The Alleluia Lutheran Student Ministry, located just west of the Arizona State University (ASU) campus in Tempe, is a small religious community that primarily serves ASU and local community college students. Reaching college students -- often-times considered part of the "unchurched" segment of American society -- is a key goal for many modern congregations, and different organizations employ different strategies.

As one way of serving this young and transitory congregation, Alleluia has embarked on becoming a "cell church." Following the analogy that the human body is composed of millions of individual cells, Alleluia sees the church -- the body of Christ -- in the same way. Cell groups then are made up of small groups of believers (with five to fifteen members each) who meet weekly to cultivate in themselves deep-rooted maturity in worship, religious education, and evangelism. This is a decentralized approach to worship and community-building that focuses on fostering individual, life-long religious commitment among an ever-changing, highly-mobile group rather than growing a permanent local congregation.

Activities and Schedule

Sunday worship services at 11 a.m. attract approximately 40 people each week. The weekly schedule of cell group meetings draws a total of over 100 worshippers at different times. The church sponsors a variety of activities, including potluck dinners and English lessons for international students.

Demographics

The membership is mostly young (between eighteen and twenty-five years old) and Anglo-American. Numbers have stayed roughly the same since the church began its transition to the cell group format.