A cell is a small group of believers that meet to be the church. A cell church is a network of cells that have a common leadership and who join together for corporate celebrations. You cannot "join the congregation" without joining a cell because the congregation is the sum total of the cells.
Ruach Neighbourhood Churches is a network of cell church congregations or pastorates.
A cell church is quite different to a church with small groups - these are groups that are optional, encouraged etc but not fundamental to church life. They generally exist more for care and nurture and do not have an outward focus or multiplying mentality.
A small group church is a congregation whose corporate identity is the sum total of its small units. When we come together for celebration times we do not attempt to "do church". Our celebrations are simply the overflow of what God is doing in and through his church throughout the week.
The concepts behind the "cell-church movement" are as old as the Bible itself. It was in homes that the early Christians met to worship. Those who hosted churches in their homes included Priscilla and Aquilla (1 Cor 16:19), Gaius (Rom 16:23), Nympha (Col 4:15) and Philemon (Phil 1:1-2). It seems that the temple courts provided the believers with a place for large-scale public witness while the needed community life could be developed in the home:
"Every day they continued to meet in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts" (Acts 2:46)
The ministry of the apostle Paul was strategically both "public" and "house to house". (Acts 20:20)