Community

Keys: Be Christ centered and devoted to Scripture. Be intentional and authentic. Be grace filled and truth telling. Avoid the “holy ghetto.”

Taking my family out for pancakes on a Saturday morning becomes an opportunity to invite another family that we want to get to know and encourage. Garage sales become a time for fellowship. When going to the store, we think of one another and pick up an extra gallon of milk. We help build fences and paint houses. We live as a community.

The first thing we did was redefine the leader role. A facilitator of a discussion would never address the need for real community or pastoral care. So we called our leaders to be shepherds, caring for the ten to twelve people in their groups. This was a significant paradigm shift for our leaders, but it began the transition to groups that felt lik

Our communities should be the most palpable expression of the gospel within the church.

Keys: Join rather than create. Build relationships. Hold participation as a priority. Emphasize consistency.

As Baxter points out, there are some common sins that keep us from living missional lives. As a pastor over community groups, the three I see that cripple the mission the most are apathy, indifference, and fear of man.

community is not about us; it is about God. Community is an instrument of worship, a weapon against sin, and a tool for evangelism—all for the exaltation of Jesus.

Hanging the need for community on belonging is like hanging the need for water on thirst. The need for both is deeper. Thirst is a symptom of a deeper design—that your body was created to require water to survive. While we can technically survive without community, we don’t function properly without it. The deeper need for community is embedded in

Now, contrary to any Rambo movies you may have seen, wars are not fought by individuals. Armies fight wars.