Missional Communities – Family Life

Missional Communities

So what exactly are missional communities? A Missional Community is a small group of people who are united, through Christian community, around a common service and witness to a particular neighborhood or network of relationships. With a strong value on life together, the group has the expressed intention of seeing those they impact choose to start following Jesus, through this more flexible and locally incarnated expression of the church. The result will often be that the group will grow and ultimately multiply into further Missional Communities. Missional Communities are most often networked within a larger church community (often with many other Missional Communities). These mid-sized communities, led by laity, are “lightweight and low maintenance” and most often meet three to four times a month in their missional context.

Missional Communities are not simply a small group of people getting together for a Bible study. The vision of these community groups is “life together.” In order to make an impact in the homes of our community, where we believe the root source of societal breakdown occurs, we cannot simply have a bunch of small group Bible studies. These groups are aimed at doing life together with a goal of growing and reaching their neighborhood and community for Christ.

Often times small groups within a church ministry are thought of as an add on to the core ministry. Our vision is that they in fact become the core ministry. For years ministry has revolved around what happens in and out of the church building. Our society is seing a shift in how the church is perceived. It is becoming less and less effective for churches to expect to reach people through the current structure and programs that are in existence. We believe that the best way to reach our community is through genuine community lived out in daily lives.

The last thing people need is one more thing to commit to. Being a member of a Missional Community is not just one more thing to do. We have worked hard to eliminate unnecessary programming and events that draw people’s time away from their home and their family. These community groups are focused around life and are meant to be incorporated into life rather than just being one more thing to add on to our already busy schedule.

So, how can you become involved in our Missional Communities?