Wednesday, June 25, 2014

A Church of Missional Communities


What are Missional Communities?
Missional communities are the way the church expresses itself, groups of people who join together around a shared vision to expose those in their collective sphere of influence to the good news of Jesus Christ in every aspect of life. 

Why Missional Communities? 
Missional communities provide a natural structure through which we live out our faith before a watching world and into which we can easily invite others to experience the life of following Jesus with us. 

Rather than expecting our friends to “go to church” to find out what we’re all about, missional communities take church to them. As we work, play, and simply live intentionally in community together, people can see what it means to follow Jesus in the rhythms of day to day life. This is after all what we are calling people to - a relationship with the living God which permeates all of life. 

How do Missional Communities work? 
Remember that mission drives structure and not the other way around. One of the greatest advantages of missional communities is the flexibility they offer to work within any context at all. 

Basic ingredients include:
  • a common mission
  • disciple making leaders
  • intentional gospel-centered living
  • overlapping spheres of influence 

What do Missional Communities do?
People in missional communities do what people everywhere do, but they do it with gospel driven intentionality, which means they do it together and they do it to serve those around them. 

Here are some ideas:
  • share a meal, host a BBQ, etc.
  • open up your home, share your stuff
  • work together on projects and everyday chores
  • carpool or simply run errands together

Learn more about Missional Communities
There are many resources available at www.wearesoma.com through which you can learn about living missionally. I would also recommend reading Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis.



No comments:

Post a Comment