Gospel communities

I think our small group structure is broken. I think we put too much emphasis on the temporary relationships that minute affinities bring and spend too little time actually devising ways to make our mission about our neighborhoods and actually doing life with our church family. For a long while I have been encouraging geographically related small groups with a lone affinity - that of Christ. When we don't do that we are nothing more than a social club to the world and even worse the enemy achieves a completely divided church because we are scattered without mission rather than missionally scattered.

I have been thinking deeply about this since reading Total Church some four years ago. It gave a glimpse into church-as-life that I think the American, gathering/personality driven church has missed out on. This video expresses how The Crowded House approaches gospel communities.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/42192565]

Maybe it is time for us to determine to shift and be about living in missional communities rather than temporary commitments about temporary things.

We applaud the SOMAs of the world but rarely take the steps necessary to make it happen. Our context will have influence in how we do it but regardless of where you live, you are called to be making disciples as you go, this is life-on-life relationship. Maybe we should be about it.

HT: TB

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