A short photo recap from our Christmas for Kids Project. We wrapped all the gifts on Dec. 9 at the Texas Baptist Home. Great night!
Missional Communities at Remedy
One of the main projects I’m currently working on is our training for Missional Community leaders. It’s been a good process for me, having to work through lots of things like what it means to lead and shepherd, how to articulate the gospel in a simple way, and what holistic gospel community looks like.
In this process, and in discussions with some in our church, it seems to be wise to clarify what a missional community is, specifically at Remedy. At the risk of being too simplistic, here are a few excerpts from the training I’ve been working on:
A MISSIONAL COMMUNITY IS:
- a smaller group of people,
- doing life closely,
- around the gospel,
- with disciple-making intentionality.
The primary purpose of a Missional Community is to be what the larger body cannot effectively be. As a church grows it begins to lose some of its personal nature and identity as a family, and that in turn drags some other essential elements down with it. Disciple-making, mission, relationships, and life happen most naturally and effectively in smaller groups. Missional Communities are designed to be the primary expression of these essential elements of the church.
A MISSIONAL COMMUNITY IS NOT
- A Bible study
- A support group
- A social club
- An activist group
- A weekly meeting
Actually, a Missional Community is all of these things. The difference is that it is not only one of these things or even primarily one of these things. All of these things happen in gospel communities who live on mission with each other, and at times, some elements may be more needed than others. A healthy group will find the nature of their community reflecting the rhythms and seasons of life.
Basically, a Missional Community is a gospel community on mission in a small group context. Missional Communities function like mini-churches within the larger church. Members of the group care for, counsel, challenge, and encourage each other. The leader shepherds the group under the leadership and accountability of the Remedy leaders. The whole group functions like a family, doing life, growing, and looking for ways to live out the gospel together.
Maybe that brings a little clarity. Thoughts?
Foundations of Missional Community Pt 3
This is the third in a series of posts from a session called Foundations of Missional Community at the Exponential Conference. The session was led by Jeff Vanderstelt and Caesar Kalinowski. The first two posts can be found here and here.
The first two posts were very idealogical, discussing what missional community is. It’s important to listen and have these conversations because we can agree on things in principle, but not even be on the same page in defining the terms. These two posts just lay out what missional community looks like in a very vibrant way.
The third post is very practical and wraps up their talk. Some of the things they talk about are fairly specific to their context and relationships, but please don’t get bogged down on every detail. Listen with ears that are asking how it looks to live missionally in community in your context, taking cues from their stories and experiences.
There may also be a few things mentioned that you aren’t quite on board with, and that’s ok. Don’t let those issues distract you from the point: learning what it looks like to live in missional community everyday, with real people, in the rhythms of real life. If some things you hear aren’t your particular bag of chips, what does it look like for you?
And that’s where the discussion starts. What does it look like for you to live on-mission and in community? What does it look like to live as a gospel community on mission, combining the two so much that it’s hard to distinguish one from the other? The answers to these questions are the beginning of what church really is.
What if we’re wrong about the harvest?
A little while back I was at a great church planting seminar, and right in the middle of his session the alarm on the speaker’s phone goes off. Amateur. It was an iPhone with the motorcycle sound, so it was really loud and annoying, and I assumed he would quickly turn it off and apologize to the group. Why is this guy so unprepared? Instead, he grabs it and asks us to… pray. What?
He went on to share that everyday at 10:02am he and many others all over the world stop and ask God to send workers out into the harvest. The strange time of day comes from Luke 10:2, where Jesus tells his own people to do this. This guy had intentionally left his alarm on and allowed it to sound, because it was an opportunity to pray together. Clever.
A closer look at Luke 10:2 is revealing, both of God’s work and of my own heart. It says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
I tend to be convinced that the harvest is small and difficult. And of course we’ve seen that be true at times, so experience speaks to that in some ways. But unless Jesus is lying or crazy, the harvest is plentiful and the lack of workers to bring it in is the problem. And in response to this problem, we are told to ask the Lord, who makes things grow and who is in control of the harvest, to send out more workers to bring it in.
And I ask myself: If I am honest with my own heart, do I doubt God’s willingness or even his power to bring in the harvest? Dagger. The answer to this question says absolutely nothing about God, but it says everything about the condition of my own fickle heart.
Or am I expectantly looking for the harvest and earnestly asking the Lord to send workers to help bring it in?
1) What does your own heart believe?
2) Will you pray regularly and ask God to send workers into his harvest?
Foundations of missional community Pt 2
What does missional community look like? What things do we call missional community that fall short of true mission and true community? And how do we do this together?
This is part 2 from a session called Foundations for Missional Community, given by Jeff Vanderstelt and Caesar Kalinowski at the Exponential church planting conference. I’ve broken it into pieces to make it easier to listen to and process. You can listen to it in the browser or right click and download it to put it on your ipod or a cd. To see part 1, go here.
Take 15-20 minutes to listen to it, and begin to ask yourself and those around you hard questions. And let’s do this.
