1. Know God

2. Know Your People

3. Know Your Neighborhood

4. Don’t Go Alone

5. Say Who you Are & Aren’t Every   Week

Read the rest of the 1o Tips for Missional Community Leaders with notes at Resurgence.

This is the unofficial launch of jonathandodson.org, heretofore known as Creation Project. We are still working out the kinks, but I hope you’ll: Bookmark it. Blog it. Tweet it. Comment on it. Link to it. Not because I am great but because the gospel is great. You can read more about the origin and meaning of Creation project here. Concisely, the aim of Creation Project is to equip and converse on all things Gospel, Culture, Church, and Mission.

Today I spent the whole day with other missional leaders in the VERGE pre-conference. We thought hard about how the gospel should work through the church in our culture on mission. Alan Hirsch & Leadership Network facilitated our time together by leading us through best practices conversations. Mega and Micro churches were represented. Here are a few take-aways:

• We need a Missional Imagination to break through our inherited forms of church and really see the gospel take root in our communities and cultures. Falling back on top down, heavy-handed methods have moved us away from the DNA of gospel movements.
• Church as Family must permeate everything, from the way we run staff meetings (less telling people what to do and more listening to people) to how we spend our time (more missional less administrative “staff”).
• Invite people into my life, not just my Missional Community. Mission must be everyday life, not an occasional event, a monthly practice, a new Christian language. I am excited about upping this in my own life, about inviting our City Group leaders into my life more. More dinners and mission together, less formal meetings and trainings.

One of the dangerous things about publishing and writing online is that you can get an exaggerated presence. People begin to inflate your ideas, your church, your leadership well beyond their actual capacity. I think this is a real danger among church planters. We’re all “trying to make a mark for God” by employing the latest missional thinking. We comb the web for innovative ideas, best practices, and training in order to make the “best mark for the glory of God.”

I want to deflate any exaggeration that might be out there about Austin City Life or my own leadership. Not just to deflate, but to bring balance and realism into the picture. A lot of young church planters are captivated by methodologies and best practices. These methods and practices are often downloaded without any effort to rethink them for their own vision and context. That, too, is dangerous.

At the risk of promoting more uncritical downloads, and with the hope of bringing realistic balance to what I write, I thought I would point to some actual stories of Gospel, Community, and Mission told by our own people on a Sunday morning. We often bring people up to share about how God is working in their life during a SUnday gathering. We do this, not to be cool, but to a) As the psalmist says “tell of the works of the Lord b) to reinforce that church is a family not an event c) to encourage others.

This past Sunday was a vision/story-telling Sunday. I brought three people up from our community, who are not leaders, to share how they experienced God’s goodness in 2010 in the areas of Gospel, Community, and Mission. The stories are earthy, inspiring, real. They are not canned. And because of that, I hope you’ll find them helpful. They are little windows into an imperfect church, clinging to a perfect Christ, that is trying to live by the gospel, in community, on mission.

• NEW: Here is an objective report in an article from our local paper on this service.
• The stories are part of the message, RENEW: Thanks for the Past, Hope for the Future
• Here is an excerpt from one of the stories.
• Here is a great Q&A session with Steve Timmis, where he gives a snapshot of normal life in a Gospel Community.

As a member of the VERGE social media team, I recently received The Tangible Kingdom Primer, an 8 week study to put incarnational missional community to practice. The Primer seems eminently helpful, and has been used by megachurch Austin Stone, host to VERGE, to promote missional community in their own church.

As Halter & Smay point out, when a church grows, slowly or by leaps and bounds, something is needed to continually reproduce your missional values. Their response was the Primer.

The Primer offers helpful exercises, thought-provoking questions, and insightful comments along the way. Here are a smattering of those:

• The reason we struggle to live a missional life is that it pulls against every natural fiber, sin, rhythm, habit, muscle, and thought pattern we’re used to. viii
• Right now, what is hindering you from living a missional life?
• Imagine what could change if the Good news of Jesus was allowed to shape and inform all the area of our lives.
• What personal interests and hobbies can you turn into communal ones?

Although the Primer is highly structured, it provides very practical help in cultivating missional communities. On the other hand, I find it difficult to imagine our church working through a 200 page primer (I thought primers were supposed to be short!). In the end, every pastor and leader must find the methods that best suit their people and their context. No doubt the TK Primer will be a good one for many!

The following post was written by Nate Navarro, Director of Missional Community for Austin City Life.

Too Busy to Lead

If you lead a missional community then chances are you are tired. You are doing your best to be a pastor and friend to your community, a missionary in your neighborhood and workplace, lead your family in a steady state of community and mission, and praying your community will grow in their understanding of the Gospel, all while struggling to believe the good news yourself.

While youre at it, don’t forget the never ending task list. I mean, who is gonna bring the main dish and the desert on Wednesday night?”, where are we serving our neighborhood this month?, who is lining up childcare this week?, who is keeping track of the prayer requests? It goes on, and on, and on, and on.

Oh yes, did I mention you probably have a job. In Austin you most likely are holding down a high stress gig putting in about 50 hours a week. Oh wait, you have a family too! That’s right, your son wants a ride to soccer practice and is secretly hoping you volunteer to coach the team. Your daughter would like you to read 15 princess books to her before bedtime, and your wife actually wants to go out to dinner and talk about something other than your ministry. Imagine that!

Reasons We Lead

If you are a leader chances are you do too much. Some of your reasons are good: you love God; you love the church; you’re a natural leader. Leading is a way for you to serve the Body and build the Kingdom. Some of your reasons are not so good: you love being heard, love feeling important, and you’re identity is so wrapped up in what you do as opposed to who you are that you simply cannot stop working and leading. In all of this, we desperately need the Gospel, and the gospel is probably telling us we need to lead less. Lead less for more ministry.

Rethinking Missional Community Leadership

Two years and 8 missional communities since our very first City Group (Core Team), Austin City Life is revamping our City Group leadership structure. Previously, we had a CG leader responsible for the pastoral and missional leadership of the group. We told them to share leadership, get a leader in training for multiplication, and rely on Jesus and the Spirit for strength. Now, we are moving towards appointing 5 leaders, not one. They are:

1. CITY GROUP LEADER-facilitates a community that is growing in Gospel, Community, and Mission.
2. MISSIONAL LEADER- We serve our neighborhoods together monthly. This leader takes the lead on all the details: the when, where, and how of the monthly service project.
3. PRAYER LEADER- This person records all the prayer requests and sends out a weekly update, reminding the community to pray for one another and the city.
4. HOST LEADER- This leader opens their home/apartment/dorm room to be an inviting place for the community to share meals, discuss life and truth, and to pray for one another and the city.
5. HOSPITALITY LEADER – We eat together. This leader coordinates the meal schedule and the who is bringing what?

Benefits of Shared Leadership

This new model of shared leadership in our missional communities will produce healthier communities and leaders, and ultimately will be good for our church, our city, and the kingdom. How?

1. Fewer leaders will become casualties of burnout.
2. Five leaders gives your group more people, with more buy in, creating a stronger core.
3. New Christians can begin to serve right away. Last I checked, your theology doesn’t have to be nails to be in charge of the meal schedule. New Christians can become involved in leadership early on, and can grow along the way, instead of standing on the sidelines watching all the tired people lead.
4. Future City Group leaders emerge as they thrive in their roles leading MISSION and PRAYER.
5. We avoid the personality-driven City Group. Gospel Community is center and forefront in our groups, rather than the talent, charisma, and drive of a leader.

Let’s get honest, tired leaders are not attractive. Even the most gifted, charismatic, God and people loving leaders can lose the vision of what it means to lead a missional community under the burden of too many responsibilities and a never ending to do list. Sadly, this leads to duty driven (rather than joy filled) leadership, and when that happens, we are in danger of leading already busy Austinites in more busyness , while creating a new legalism called Missional Community.

More Leaders; Less Work. Share Leadership; Grow in Community. Strengthen Mission; Advance the Gospel.

Missional ecclesiology has led the the expression of new church forms and structures. This innovation is exciting, challenging, and constantly changing. How can we be the church on mission to reach our context? The answers must be mined theologically, worked out practically, and applied contextually. Austin City Life is committed to a form of decentralized missional church growth, fostering mission through small gospel-centered communities that renew the city in geographical pockets all over Austin. As we continue to grow, we face the challenge of remaining small as we grow big. Several models have been helpful as we continue to process.

Parish Model

I met John Tyson of Trinity Grace Church at Q (more Tyson here) this year when we spoke on a panel on American Ecclesiology. John is a very thoughtful, missional leader. I have benefited from his writings on his church website, and recently came across his article for Catalyst called On Reaching a City. The article is more specifically about how Trinity Grace is structured to be a church that reaches a city. It’s helpful and insightful. TGC uses mid-sized groups for missional communities which fit within a larger Parish Model of church. This model appears to be too layered for Austin City Life. TGC has what appears to be 4-5 layers of church:

6 Week Gathering, Neighborhood Churches, Missional Communities, Life Groups, and Triads.

Austin City Life currently has three layers of church:

Sunday Gathering – City Groups – Fight Clubs

However, as we continue to grow, a new structure or missional expression of ACL will be necessary.

Models of Decentralized Missional Church

The Parish Model is just one among several ways to configure churches comprised of missional communities. As Austin City Life continues to grow, we are considering various models of growth. Will we use a mid-sized structure or just move to plant new expressions/church of Austin City Life? We will remain a decentralized missional church, but the question before us is “How?”As we attempt to work this out, we have found other models and partners in ministry to be very helpful.

Other Churches

Other friends who have been helpful in thinking through decentralized missional church are:

• Soma Communities Church – uses the term Expressions to communicate the gathering of missional communties into a larger forms of church
• Kaleo Community Church – missional communities gather into three church locations.
• Kairos Church – uses the term Canvas to communicate the gathering of missional communities to form Neighborhood churches
• The Crowded House – uses the term Gospel Communities for missional communities
• Trinity Grace Church - uses Life Groups to form bigger Missional communities which form Neighborhood Churches.

If you are doing missional communities in a suburban context, I’d love get get some feedback from you.

1. How would you describe a missional community? [polldaddy poll=1917669]
2. Some argue that MCs are only effective in an urban context. Would you agree or disagree?
3. Have your missional communities grown by adding non-Christians?
4. What are your top three best practices for your MCs?
5. What has been your biggest struggle in creating MCs?

Thank you for sharing your insights and time. This reserach will be used for my breakout session on Missional Communities at the Acts 29 ENDURE Bootcamp.

Missional is not an event we tack onto our already busy lives. It is our life. Mission should be the way we live, not something we add onto life: “As you go, make disciples….”; “Walk wisely towards outsiders”; “Let your speech always be seasoned with salt”; “be prepared to give a defense for your hope”. We can be missional in everyday ways without even overloading our schedules. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Eat with Non-Christians. We all eat three meals a day. Why not make a habit of sharing one of those meals with a non-Christian or with a family of non-Christians? Go to lunch with a co-worker, not by yourself. Invite the neighbors over for family dinner. If it’s too much work to cook a big dinner, just order pizza and put the focus on conversation. When you go out for a meal, invite a non-Christian friend. Or take your family to family-style restaurants where you can sit at the table with strangers and strike up conversations (Mighty Fine Burgers, Buca di Peppo, The Blue Dahlia, etc). Have cookouts and invite Christians and non-Christians. Flee the Christian subculture.
2. Walk, Don’t Drive. If you live in a walkable area, make a practice of getting out and walking around your neighborhood, apartment complex, or campus. Instead of driving to the mailbox, convenience store, or apartment office, walk to get mail, groceries, and stuff. Be deliberate in your walk. Say hello to people you don’t know. Strike up conversations. Attract attention by walking the dog, taking a 6-pack (and share), bringing the kids. Make friends. Get out of your house! Last night I spend an hour outside gardening with my family. We had good conversations with 3-4 neighbors. Take interest in your neighbors. Ask questions. Engage. Pray as you go. Save some gas, the planet.
3. Be a Regular. Instead of hopping all over the city for gas, groceries, haircuts, eating out, and coffee, go to the same places. Get to know the staff. Go to the same places at the same times. Smile. Ask questions. Be a regular. I have friends at coffee shops all over the city. My friends at Starbucks donate a ton of left over pastries to our church 2-3 times a week. We use for church gatherings and occasionally give to the homeless. Build relationships. Be a Regular.
4. Hobby with Non-Christians. Pick a hobby that you can share. Get out and do something you enjoy with others. Try City League sports. Local rowing and cycling teams. Share your hobby by teaching lessons. Teach sewing lessons, piano lessons, violin, guitar, knitting, tennis lessons. Be prayerful. Be intentional. Be winsome. Have fun. Be yourself.
5. Talk to Your Co-workers. How hard is that? Take your breaks with intentionality. Go out with your team or task force after work. Show interest in your co-workers. Pick four and pray for them. Form mom’s groups in your neighborhood and don’t make them exclusively non-Christian. Schedule play dates with the neighbors’ kids. Work on mission.
6. Volunteer with Non-Profits. Find a non-profit in your part of the city and take Saturday a month to serve your city. Bring your neighbors, your friends, or your small group. Spend time with your church serving your city. Once a month. You can do it!
7. Participate in City Events. Instead of playing X-Box, watching TV, or surfing the net, participate in city events. Go to fundraisers, festivals, clean-ups, summer shows, and concerts. Participate missionally. Strike up conversation. Study the culture. Reflect on what you see and hear. Pray for the city. Love the city. Participate with the city.
8. Serve your Neighbors. Help a neighbor by weeding, mowing, building a cabinet, fixing a car. Stop by the neighborhood association or apartment office and ask if there is anything you can do to help improve things. Ask your local Police and Fire Stations if there is anything you can do to help them. Get creative. Just serve!

Don’t make the mistake of making “missional” another thing to add to your schedule. Instead, make your existing schedule missional. Check out this related article on integrating Gospel, Community and Mission into everyday life.