I have been thinking a lot lately (in between worrying about the Twins) about Community Group in the Fall. We are going to orient this group to not just be a group that is praying and supporting the formation of a core group for our church plant, but also serving Community of Hope by helping to move our group members towards both greater personal dedication to the Lord and also living missionally where they are. It is hoped then that not only will people be able to support us btu they will become better equipped even if they remain here in BC.
Given the boatload of reading I was doing last year, working on my graduating essay on church planting in resort communities, I think I am positioned to take our group in a more exploratory posture deeper into the idea of missional living. What does that mean? It means taking seriously the reality that if we actually mean to follow Christ, we must be about his business – and his business was bringing about the Kingdom of God on earth. We must be doing what he did – making disciples, each of us, personally, in the place where God has put us.
I love my church, but I recognize that they, like me, have long been poisoned by this idea that doing church is for clergy. That they are the ones who evangelize, teach, make disciples, baptize, and otherwise grow the church. That our only obligations are to sing some worship songs to God every Sunday, say Grace before every meal, and do whatever our pastor asks us to do in the name of humility and service. What a weak, anemic faith that is!
I picked up “Breaking the Missional Code” by Ed Stetzer and David Putman as some thing to read while in the hospital, and it has been good so far because it is putting legs to ideas that need to be explained. I hope to use ideas from that book as topics of conversation in our Community Group. They ask some very good questions that we, who hope to reach people for Jesus in our neighbourhood, need to ask ourselves.
One startling thing that they point out is that as a church increases its “evangelism training” the actual evangelism of that church goes down. Conversely, it appears the most effective evangelists are new converts, with no training. A comparison is drawn to the Woman at the Well that Jesus met – who went back to town and told the whole Samaritan village about Jesus and saw great numbers believe in him as a result.
Evangelism training has a place, but it really seems that the most effective means of engaging people with the gospel is in two respects – relationally (which takes no training really – but does take a lot of emotional and temporal investment), and holistically. What I mean by holistically is that your faith needs to be lived out. It needs to inform your actions, choices and way of life to the point where Christianity is not your religion – Christ is your life. When this happens barriers start to come down. Hypocrisy is mitigated, because you are not acting one way and talking another.
How does this happen? It happens when you are being encouraged, supported and motivated towards greater wholeness in Christ. It is a happening that I really want to see in our Community Group this fall.
Tags: Community Group, David Putman, ed stetzer, evangelism, missional living
