The Five Practices of a Missional Community

by The Missional Boot Camp on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 9:29am

What is a Missional Community? Take some time to read the following descriptions and characteristics of a missional community (by Roger Thoman). What do you like? What excites you? What questions or comments do you have?

• Letting go of old paradigms of church life. This stage is described in a variety of ways from “taking the red pill,” to frustration with old wineskins to discovering what the Bible teaches about church life to… It is sometimes accompanied with periods of disorientation, wandering through valleys of confusion, or (alternatively) great relief and a new sense of freedom. People discover that they no longer want to “go” to church, rather they want to learn what it really means to “be” the church.

• Exploring New Testament gatherings. Since our old paradigm of church life has often revolved around the Sunday morning gathering, we often find ourselves on a quest to discover what “New Testament” simple/house church gatherings might look like and feel like. In this stage, “the gathering” often remains the focus of our church-life as we seek to explore and experience small, Spirit-led, participatory, Christ-filled gatherings. Our freedom continues to grow and we become more and more enamored with the reality that we really are 24/7, kingdom-living, Spirit-directed believers. The dividing walls between secular and sacred continue to come down and we become excited about integrating our spiritual life with our “everyday” life.

• A new missional heart and longing. It is inevitable that the process of re-booting to Jesus stirs in us a fresh desire to see his kingdom, his love, his power known and experienced by others. However, this stage is sometimes fraught with severe challenges because our background around “missional” has sometimes been so pre-packaged and programmed that we are challenged to grasp the unique and fresh ways that Jesus wants to make himself known through us. This is especially true for those whose spiritual gifts do not seem to fit into the “missional” spectrum. However, for those who are more apostolic and evangelistic in gifting, this stage often leads to an entirely new excitement and fervor for taking the “real Jesus” into the streets, neighborhoods, and unreached segments of the world. For those who have NOT seen themselves as “missional,” (in our previous church experiences) this stage can lead to some exciting discoveries of how God wants to embody himself uniquely through each of us.

THE FOURTH PRACTICE OF A MISSIONAL COMMUNITY IS GOSPEL MISSION

Luke 10:5-11; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Mark 4:1-20

GOSPEL MISSION PART 1: Finding Receptive People

• “Does the Gospel I preach and teach have a natural tendency to cause people who hear it to become full-time students of Jesus? Would those who believe it become his apprentices as a natural 'next step'? What can we reasonably expect would result from people actually believing the substance of my message?” -Dallas Willard

Questions to stimulate conversation and discussion with your missional community:

1. Interact: We have been sent into the world by God (John 20:21) to join Jesus on an incredible mission as He reconciles all things back to Himself (gospel). Gospel mission/movement requires the ability to find and locate receptive people, men and women who God is sovereignly preparing to receive and respond to the gospel message.

• Read Luke 10:2-7. What did Jesus specifically instruct His disciples to do in Luke 10:5-7? Why do you think He instructed His disciples to do that?

• Read Mark 4:1-20: List the different kinds of soil mentioned in Mark 4:1-20. What kind of soil produces the most Kingdom fruit? What does this say about the kind of people we should look for as we follow Jesus on gospel mission? Where do you think we should look for good soil/receptive people?

• “Receptive Person”: “A person prepared by God to receive the Gospel before you arrive.” (Dr. Tom Wolf) This person is also commonly referred to as the “person of peace”.

• Where did Jesus go looking for receptive people/good soil?

• Tax collectors were considered "outcasts" in Jesus' day and yet Jesus was intentional about sowing gospel seeds among tax collector and sinners (read Mark 2:15-17).

• Bartimaeus was an "outcast" (see Mark 10: 46-52)...he was a blind beggar...and yet Jesus stopped to extend the gospel to him.

• In both the case of the woman at the well (John 4) and the demon-possessed man (Mark 5)...they were considered "outcasts"...Jesus was intentional about sowing gospel seeds among the outcasts of his day. Did both these individuals bear kingdom fruit? In other words, did Jesus find "good soil"? Read John 4:39-41 and Mark 5:18-20.

• Can you think of any other examples? How about the sick and diseased? Others?

• According Dr. Wolf a “Receptive Person” will usually have three traits:

1. Open/receptive/responsive to the message of Jesus Christ.
2. He/she has many relational connections.
3. He/she has a reputation, good or bad. The Samaritan woman had a bad reputation (John 4) and Cornelius had a good reputation (Acts 11), yet God used both to bring many more to Jesus. No wonder Jesus kept telling new believers, “Go home to your people and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you!” (Mark 5:19-20).

• According to Luke 10 and the example of Jesus, what should we do with people who are disinterested and unresponsive to the gospel message (story of God)?

• Where do you think is the best place to look for receptive people/good soil? Who are the "outcasts" in our society? Who are the outcasts in your city/neighborhood? As you engage pockets of people, who is open/responsive to your story as a follower of Jesus?

• Missional Assignment: Your assignment this week is to simply bless three different people this week. It could be a classmate, a neighbor, or a complete stranger. Offer to pray for them, help meet a need, do something special for them, etc. and as you intentionally bless others…perhaps creating opportunities to share your story, be looking for receptive/responsive people (good soil)! Ask the Holy Spirit DAILY to lead you to receptive people...continually ask Him to lead you to people with good soil and who will in turn (just like the woman at the well), make much of Jesus in their particular network, neighborhood, or community.