What is a missional church?

This is a clever video...

Simple.

 

http://youtu.be/arxfLK_sd68

 

 

Steve and Stephanie Allen

ACTION Zambia

www.aliveinafrica.com

 

What's Next?

As most of you know, we have a strong sense that God has called us back the states to plant a church. What that means exactly is what we are still trying to figure out.  Having spent the last four years teaching church planters here in Zambia, we find ourselves embarking on a new journey as scary and exciting as the one that led us to Africa four years ago...  The last April I went to the Exponential conference . That helped exponentially to help meet some key people, grow in my understanding of church planting and to begin to prepare my heart for this next step.  Well, as a missionary coming back in December 2011 to church plant, I need this weekend in Austin, Texas to continue networking and learning.  

 

Just reading the introduction to the conference below excites me:  making disciples, advocating the poor, gospel-center missional communities...  So, I am not ashamed to share and hope I win an all-expense paid trip here...  Here is the link if you are interested and want to join me... http://www.verge2012.org

Verge 2012 is For The Gospel \ For The City \ For The Nations – an experience in Austin, Texas, on February 28 to March 2, 2012, for everyone pursing the mission of God everywhere. Featured speakers inlcude: Matt Carter, David Platt, Dr. John Perkins, Alan Hirsch, Darrin Patrick, Dave Gibbons, and many more.

 VERGE is a four-day experience for anyone pursuing the mission of God, in community, whatever the context, for the sake of the Gospel – everyday leaders, students, entrepreneurs, artists, urban innovators, business leaders, community development specialists, non-profit leaders, church planters and church leaders.

 Verge will resource you to make disciples who make disciples in every sphere and domain of society, advocate for the poor and oppressed, mobilize urban and global mission leaders, and champion movements of gospel-centered missional communities.

 Verge 2012 is here to encourage, build up and renew all kinds of leaders engaged in the mission of God to redeem and renew. Verge is made up of pre-conferences, post-conferences, two-days of challenging main sessions, music, workshops, networking opportunities and more.

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10 easy ways to be missional

10 Simple Ways To Be Missional

…without adding anything to your schedule

 

by Tim Chester

 

1. Eat with other people

We all eat 3 meals a day. That’s 21 opportunities for church and mission each week without adding anything new to your schedule. And meals are a powerful expression of welcome and community.

 

2. Work in public places

Hold meetings, prepare talks, read in public spaces like cafes, pubs and parks. It will naturally help you engage with the culture as work or plan. For example, whose questions do you want to address in your Bible studies – those of professional exegetes or those of the culture?

 

3. Be a regular

Adopt a local café, pub, park and shops so you regularly visit and become known as a local. Imagine if everyone in your gospel community did this!

 

4. Join in with what’s going on

Churches often start their own thing like a coffee shop or homeless program. Instead, join existing initiatives – you don’t have the burden of running it and you get opportunities with co-workers.

 

5. Leave the house in the evenings

It’s so easy after a long day on a dark evening to slump in front of the television or surf the internet. Get out! Visit a friend. Take a cake to a neighbor. Attend a local group. Go to the cinema. Hang out in a café. Go for a walk with a friend. It doesn’t matter where as long as you go with gospel intentionality.

 

6. Serve your neighbors

Weed a neighbor’s garden. Help someone move. Put up a shelf. Volunteer with a local group. It could be one evening a week or one day a month. Try to do it with other members of your gospel community so it becomes a common project. Then people will see your love for one another and it will be easier to talk about Jesus.

 

7. Share your passion

What do you enjoy? Find a local group that shares your passion. Be missional and have fun at the same time!

 

8. Hang out with your work colleagues

Spend your lunch break with colleagues. Go for a drink after work. Share the journey to work.

 

9. Walk

Walking enables you to engage with your neighborhood at street level. You notice things you don’t in a car. You are seen and known in the neighborhood.

 

10. Prayer walk

Walk around your neighborhood using what you see as fuel for prayer. Pray for people, homes, businesses, community groups and community needs. Ask God to open your eyes to where He is at work and to fill your heart with love for your neighborhood.

 

Church at our House

We invited our church over to our house for the morning... It was simple
church. No projection, no sound system, nothing. Just a couple guitars, I
preached loud and we had extra time to eat and fellowship and play... It was
a brilliant morning (as my UK friends in the church like to say)... Our
community church is truly multi-ethnic, though there are definitely a white
person dominated church. We have people from Germany, Belgium, UK,
Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, U.S. Canada, Zambia, Singapore and many
more... It has been a great experience becoming the body of Christ with so
many different nationalities.

Missional and Discipleship

http://www.vergenetwork.org/2011/05/24/neil-cole-can-groups-be-missional-make-disciples/

 

A great article on how a church can be both missional and discipleship focused by realizing that one thing doesn’t fit all!

Hanging Great Weight on Thin Wires: Can Small Groups Become Missional and Make Disciples?

by: Neil Cole

Pastor Brian Jones tells of the response he got from one ‘nationally recognized’ pastor when Brian told him that he hadn’t figured out the whole small group thing yet. Brian said the pastor’s response was something like this:

“Well, Brian, that’s because they don’t work. Small groups are things that trick us into believing we’re serious about making disciples. The problem is 90 percent of small groups never produce one single disciple. Ever. They help Christians make shallow friendships, for sure. They’re great at helping Christians feel a tenuous connection to their local church, and they do a bang-up job of teaching Christians how to act like other Christians in the Evangelical Christian subculture. But when it comes to creating the kind of holistic disciples Jesus envisioned, the jury’s decision came back a long time ago—small groups just aren’t working.”[1]

It is true that we have been trying to make disciples in small groups for a few decades now and are no closer to seeing the world transformed by missional agents than before we started this experiment.

Groups don’t make disciples; disciples make disciples. It is my contention that for far too long we have placed the burden of sanctification on group meetings that were never meant to transform a soul, but to give transformed souls a place to join and interact in a healthy manner.

Your church is only as good as her disciples. A hot band, dynamic preaching, state-of-the-art facilities and wonderful programs do not make a great church if the disciples are simply consumers and unengaged in the grand work of making disciples. But if the disciples in your church are empowered and engaged in mission, than your church is strong and healthy, even if you do not have laser lights or fog machines. We have done things backwards for too long. We must reverse the order. We think that the solution to having good disciples is to make better churches, when in fact the way to have good churches is to make better disciples.

Correctly applying the activity and behaviors of discipleship in the correct grouping can make significant impact on the overall life of the church as well as her impact on society as a whole. The absence of key groupings robs the church of a needed interaction and participation in significant spiritual behaviors.

The Base Unit of Life: 2 to 3 People

Both the Old and New Testaments use the phrase “two or three” repeatedly. At least ten times “two or three” is suggested as an ideal size at which to conduct ministry. The Bible does not say “two or more” or “three or less,” but regularly “two or three.” The following are all strongest in groups of 2-3:

· Community (Ecclesiastes 4:9–12).
· Accountability (1 Timothy 5:19).
· Confidentiality (Matthew 18:15–17).
· Flexibility (Matthew 18:20).
· Communication (1 Corinthians 14:26–33).
· Direction (2 Corinthians 13:1).
· Leadership (1 Corinthians 14:29).
· Mission (Luke 10:1; Acts 13:2-4)

God has designed all of creation to reproduce at the level of two. If you cannot reproduce disciples at this level you are not likely to reproduce them at all. This grouping is the beginning of all life.[2]

The Family Unit: 12 to 15 People

Small groups of 12-15 are a much better size for caring for one another’s needs and feeling a part of an intimate family. It is small enough that all parts can intimately know one another, yet large enough to have significant diversity and shared responsibility for one another. It is a natural sized grouping to opperate as a spiritual family on mission together.

In the church, we often run into problems because we expect too much from this sized grouping. The Western church is littered with dysfuntional and disgruntled groups of this size. Viewing a group of 12-15 as the only one necessary and capable of doing all God desires of a church is like trying to be able to have the performance of a sports car yet carry the passenger load of a minivan combined with the toughness and luggage capacity of an SUV. You really cannot find such a car, or group of twelve. If we have strong life growth and accountability in the group of 2-3 then a group of 12-15 can relax and be the family it is meant to be. But when the only group we have for everything is this group of 12 we are expecting way too much.

A small group of 12-15 alone will not be able to accomplish the work of missional disciplemaking. But if disciple-making groups of 2-3 are already at work transforming souls out in the fields of life, then gathering those disciples into spiritual families will be far more productive. We need to put less weighted expectations on small groups and reorient the responsibility of disciple-making to the right context–a disciple in relation to another disciple. Small groups do not make disciples; disciples do. If your disciples are missional then your spiritual families will be missional, but, as we have all discovered, this will not work the other way around.

My book Church 3.0 has an important chapter on the variety of group sizes using the Scriptures, sociological theories of group dynamics and even some historical examples to determine what are the best sizes for the variety of demands and needs in Christ’s kingdom.

[1] Brian Jones “Why Churches Should Euthanize Small Groups,” http://christianstandard.com/2011/01/why-churches-should-euthanize-small-groups/
[2] My book Ordinary Hero presents a thorough explanation of the power of groups of 2 or 3.

====================================

This article was originally posted on Neil’s blog. Check it out here.

 

Quote of the Day

We are not the church when we come to church if we're not the church before we come to church." -- Dallas Willard

 

How do we become the church before we come to church? That is the question I so much  desire to answer... Any thoughts?

M church

What kind of church are we feeling led to plant?

Something like this:
What we think we know is that God wants us to plant a church with a few key values:

· A multi-ethnic church, a church of every nation to reach all the nations,

· A mission church where ministry to the poor and hurting is a natural part of what we do and who we are

· A multiplying church, where the church planted will have as its goal to continue to reproduce other churches to reach the lost and seeking.

· A multi-generational church, where the church disciples parents to disciple their families through worship services and shared outreach, and people of all ages worship together.

· A c’Munity (gotta keep the m’s going) where families don’t have to leave life to go to church but church (fellowship/sharing faith/worship God/sharing life) happens all week long.

Summing up my heart and convictions...

I heard this podcast called “Foundations for Missional Community” by Jeff Vandersteldt of Soma Communities last week. Amazing. I couldn’t believe someone could so eloquently and passionately put into words all that I have been dreaming/thinking about over the past few years.  If you have some time, check out the link here.

 

 

The quote of the year

"Church should happen wherever life happens. You shouldn't have to leave life to go to church." -- Neil Cole

This quote evokes in me a strong Amen!!! Having been a missionary for four year now, I have learned how difficult and sweet true community can be. When you are dependent on people, when you are forced to live in close proximity and relationship, the true one anothers begin to seep out. What would it look like to be a church that strives to live the Great Commandment so that we can fulfill the Great Commission. I am not sure yet, but I am sure wanting to give it a try...
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Values and Visions

I have listed below some values and visions that I feel like God has been placing on my heart for a new church plant work.

 

Every Nation Community Church

Every Nation for All the Nations- Every Nation to all the Nations – Every Nation praying for the nations.

A multi-ethnic church that is intentional and strategic in reaching every nation in our city with the gospel and discipling these nations to reach all the nations.

A church plants that brings together the rich and poor, old and young, charismatic and conservative and brown, black and white person.

A church where the nations worship on Sunday and scatter to minister during the week, including a weekly Commission Group meeting where the church meets in small groups to serve each other and serve the community.

A church where teaching the Bible verse by verse and application of the Bible don’t have to be an either or.

A church where all Christians are equipped to serve, not just a few serving those who are supposed to be equipped.

A church where families can worship and serve together, side by side, in the worship service and in the community.

A church that values the Spirit of God teaching and empowering the application of the Word of God so we can love and serve like the Son of God did.

A church where discipleship is learned by modeling and done by all people for all the people.

 

A church whose DNA is to reproduce churches, and so everything is centered around discipling, training and sending leaders to plant more churches...

Values of ENC:

Multi – Ethnic – We want to be a place for every color to exist in a church, providing one voice to God as one body.

Adoption and fostering children – We will be a church that not only provides a welcome home for those who have adopted and those seeking to adopt, but also will be a focus on being a church that intentionally strives to care for the widow and the orphans.

Families of Disabled Children – We want to be a place where mentally and physically disabled children have a church home and a place that is friendly

Deaf Ministry – We seek to reach out to the deaf community in the service and during the week.

Missionaries – We want to reach the mission field that exists in our backyard as well as the mission field that exists throughout the world. Every leader will be involved in missions exposure, visiting the

Family Empowered ministry – Where there will be Sunday school and youth ministries, we will also be building up the family to minister to the children.

College students – We believe that college students are a strategic use of resources and times and will be integrated as part of the church life.

 

 

 

Steve Allen

ACTION Zambia

www.aliveinafrica.com

 

 

The calling

Over the previous three years in Zambia, I had felt God confirming to me that I was to be a lead pastor in an American church in the future. But, I wasn’t sure if that was supposed to happen at the end of 2010 as we completed our commitment and came home for furlough, or if we should commit to more time with Action after the completion of our term. The decision that Stephanie and I came to was to come back to Zambia for one more year in order to finish the third year of the 3 year Bible school program that I have been teaching in. There weren’t any fireworks, but we did have a deep conviction that I should finish what I started with my students, and so we committed to one more year in Zambia. Lord willing, we will finish the program and then plan on coming back to the States in 2012.

After I made my decision to come back to Zambia for 2011, I had peace and a plan. During the 2010 year though, I had this creeping suspicion that God was leading me to a church plant. Most of the pastors that I teach are church planters. I visit their churches and I see the struggle. In addition, I know enough of the complexities of planting a church, the financial struggle and the ups and downs that I was resisting this impression that I was sensing from God.

There were some significant events during the last few months of 2010 that continued to confirm this call to plant a church. The most significant time came when I was home for the week to get my hearing aids. I got sick towards the end of week and actually had to stay home from church on Sunday. I was home alone and spent some time with the Lord. I finally surrendered to God my unwillingness and lack of obedience to plant a church. I had wanted to step into a church, not start one from scratch. It isn’t that I don’t believe in church planting. I do strongly. But, I fear many things: the financial struggle, the ups and downs, the struggle, and the lack of gifts that I don’t have that will make me lean on others more strongly.

At the beginning of last month, Stephanie and I both fasted again for many reasons....one of the biggest reasons being to seek some clarity from God in regards to our future. Mid- way through the fast, I felt like I heard a word from God that was very clear. I think I have only heard this once or twice before in my life. It said, “I already told you what I wanted you to do.” And that was it. I was looking for some rocks in the river, or an Ebenezer to be able to look back on. I felt like God was saying to me, “I already gave you that.’ Now, move on.” I had been fighting it for some time, but what I feared most, I am now embracing with some enthusiasm, trepidation and excitement.

One of the questions I’ve been asking myself is, “Why did God send me to Zambia?” I think there were lots of reasons that he sent me to Zambia. I know that I have had my world stretched in many ways, both in my character and my heart for the world. One thing I know for sure, God has used this experience to expose me to many cultures and the poor, as well as to grow in me a heart to love and reach people in different cultures and economic situations.

So, here it is: From what I can gather, I sense that God is leading the Allen family to plant a multi-ethnic, economically diverse, community of faith where people from many nations walk, work and worship God together as one. As I see it now, the vision statement is “Every nation for all the nations”.

Wherever he leads me

This is my first post, a hymn we sang at church yesterday, that was oh, so
appropriate to help how I am feeling and how I need to follow.