As my wife and I were preparing to have our first son, Eli, we had to make decisions about our vehicles. The plan was to sell the ’96 red Ford Mustang she had purchased in high school and to purchase a mom-mobile sedan and keep our Nissan Xterra I had been driving since college. Unfortunately, …
Your First Life Transformation Group Will Probably Suck
This is part of a series of posts on what a missional community is – check out the others and let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. Yesterday, I shared how Missional Communities suffer without Life Transformation Groups, but it’s also true the Life Transformation Groups suffer without Missional Communities. Life Transformation Groups provide …
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Why Missional Communities Suffer Without Life Transformation Groups
This is part of a series of posts on what a missional community is – check out the others and let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. Missional Communities are the people of God living out the life of Jesus Christ together. This involves seeking God in prayer and devotion, loving and meeting one …
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3 Ways to Make the Bible Central in Missional Communities
This is part of a series of posts on what a missional community is – check out the others and let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. Last week, I suggested we change the language for Missional Communities, since it mostly communicates what they are not. I’ve heard many people read definitions of Missional …
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How My Faith Grows in Missional Communities
This is part of a series of posts on what a missional community is – check out the others and let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. Yesterday I wrote about how I respond when asked how “mature Christians” can be fed in a Community Group. Today I wanted to share how missional communities …
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How Can a Mature Christian be fed in Missional Communities?
This is part of a series of posts on what a missional community is – check out the others and let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. The church small group method of choice is primarily bible study. This is how I started in ministry before I hated missional communities and then came to …
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Changing the Language for Missional Communities
This is the first in a series of posts on what a missional community is - check out the others and let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. All too often when I speak with missional community leaders or churches exploring missional communities, I hear about all that missional community is not. …
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Missional Community: Integrating Children
One of the many challenges that Community Groups face is how to handle children in the community. We have a key conviction that children should be included and seen as members of the Community Group. This means they are seen as members of the community that need to be discipled with the gospel as we …
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Missional Community: Rhythms over Events
At Apostles Church, we are defined by 3 core values, Gospel Enjoyment, Intentional Community, and Prayerful Mission and our Community Groups aim to contextualize these values in their neighborhood. They are often guided by 3 convictions that we believe assist them in being a gospel community on mission. Those 3 convictions are proximity over affinity, …
Missional Community: Proximity over Affinity
At our church, we are defined by 3 core values, Gospel Enjoyment, Intentional Community, and Prayerful Mission and our Community Groups aim to contextualize these values in their neighborhood. They are often guided by 3 convictions that we believe assist them in being a gospel community on mission. Those 3 convictions are proximity over affinity, …
Continue reading "Missional Community: Proximity over Affinity"