All the reasons why I locked my door for Halloween are the reasons why I’m now opening it. You see, Halloween is not my favorite celebration, but it is a missional opportunity. Here's why.
We've been doing Missional Communities for years and years, and in that time, we've always tried to boil it down to the most essential ingredients to help pass it on to others.
"I was learning to listen to again, but the Lord would only give me so much and then I had to do something about it. I was learning to listen and put into practice."
Are our development programs about releasing leaders to the missional frontier? Or, more likely, are they about recruiting volunteers to keep the machine of the church running?
"You can't be what you don't see. We get discipleship, but how many of us have seen it last more than one generation? Will we let people imitate our lives? Do I have a life worth imitating?"
The secrets to community are based on understanding how God created the church to exist and function. What could happen if our groups learned to live them out?
What we need is a way of making and moving people so that as we make disciples, we release them into their destiny of pushing into new Kingdom-frontier. Church-as-Corporation doesn't do this.
Insight and advice on how to practically launch, sustain and multiply Missional Communities, from the authors of the new book, Launching Missional Communities-- A Field Guide.
Check out this clip of Jo Saxton at Exponential 2011: On the Verge, as she fields the question: "What do you do with children in your missional community?"
She offers great insight into the mindset, flexibility, and creativity required by parents to bring their children into God's mission. In fact, kids may be the best evangelists in your group!
Mike Breen reminds us that "Attractional" and "Missional" are two ends of the same spectrum, and that missional communities need to be attractive in their missional work.