I have confirmation – Jayne will be writing in response to many of the questions regarding how do we do missional communities with children and a full schedule.
This should be coming in the next day or two…stay tuned.
This is the second part to my Gospel Fluency training I did at Living Stones for the A29 Regional Event in Reno…
What is the Gospel – Jeff Vanderstelt from Living Stones on Vimeo.
I posted the video for Gospel Fluency to provide the beginning to answering the question: “How do we develop a Gospel Fluent Culture?” I am going to post the second part to that series once it is edited.
Now, before I start answering some of the other questions that have been posted, I want to clarify what a Missional Community is. The next post will describe how it works at Soma Communities. After that I will begin with “How do you do this with young children/as a family?” (one of the more popular questions).
So, What is a Missional Community?
A Missional Community is a Family of Missionary Servants who make Disciples who make Disciples.
Family – First of all a missional community is a group of believers who live and experience life together like a family. They see God as their Father because of their faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ and the new regeneration brought about by the Holy Spirit. This means they have and know of a divine love that leads them to love one another as brothers and sisters. They treat one another as children of God deeply loved by the Father in everything – sharing their money, time, resources, needs, hurts, successes, etc… They know each other well. This knowledge includes knowing each other’s stories and having familiarity with one another’s strength and struggles in regards to belief in the gospel and it’s application to all of life. They speak the gospel truth to one another, regularly building each other up in love. They also love the people around them as if they were part of the family, showing them what the love of the Father looks like and in so doing inviting them to experience life in the family of God
(John 1:11-13; Rom. 12:10-16; Eph 5:1-2)
Missionaries – God’s family is also sent like the Son by the Spirit to proclaim the good news of the kingdom – the gospel – and fulfill the commission of Jesus. A missional community is more than a bible study or a small group that cares for other believers. A missional community is made up of Spirit-led and filled people who radically reorient their lives together for the mission of making disciples of a particular people and place where there is a gospel gap (no consistent gospel witness). This means people’s schedule, resources and decisions are now collectively built around reaching people together.
(Matt. 3:16-4:1; Jn. 20:21; Acts 1:8; Acts 13:2)
Servants – Jesus is Lord and we are his Servants. A missional community serves those around them as though there are serving Jesus. In doing so, they give a foretaste of what life will be like under the rule and reign of Jesus Christ. Living as servants to the King who serve others as he served, presents a tangible witness to Jesus’ kingdom and the power of the gospel to change lives. A missional community serves in such a way that it demands a Gospel explanation – lives that cannot be explained in any other way than by the Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus.
(Matt. 20:25-28; Jn. 13:1-17; Phil. 2:5-11; 1 Pet. 2:16)
Disciples – We are all learners of Jesus our rabbi who has given us his Spirit to teach us all that is true about Jesus and enable us to live it out his commands. Jesus commanded us to make disciples who believe the gospel, are established in a new identity and are able to obey all of his commands (Matt. 28:19-20). The missional community is the best context in which this can happen. Disciples are made and developed: 1) through life on life, where there is visibility and accessibility 2) in community, where they can practice the one anothers, and 3) on mission where they learn how to proclaim the gospel and make disciples.
Check out a short video done by the team at Verge Networkfeaturing our Missional Community and what life on mission together is like:
Gospel Fluency – Jeff Vanderstelt from Living Stones on Vimeo.
This is part one of a two part series on Gospel Fluency that I did in Reno at an Acts 29 regional event.
The GCM Collective Conference for 2011 will be September 14-16. The new website goes live on Monday, but you can register right now here. Note the Early Bird registration discount.
You will get to hear from, meet and interact with leaders who are daily practitioners, living in gospel communities on mission in their cities. This is a unique experience that will present the why, what and how-to of starting, leading and multiplying missional communities. Interactive plenary sessions, breakouts and unique training experiences will fill our days both on-site and off.
Big church, small church, multi-site or neighborhood…this event is for every church that seeks to effectively expand the gospel in their context.
Speakers:, Steve Timmis, Jeff Vanderstelt, Caesar Kalinowski, David Fairchild, Drew Goodmanson and Jonathan Dodson.
I have started a new blog and I want to serve as many people as I can through this medium.
In this post I want to post many of the questions I receive through my training and consulting. I would like to find out what questions you want me to respond to. I am going to post the ones I hear most often and ask you either to let me know which of these you would like me to respond to OR what questions you have that I have not listed.
FAQs:
Let me know which of these you want me to begin writing on first OR what am I missing?
