Tag: missional community

Missional Living Conference A/V

Posted on April 7, 2010

Redeemer Church recently invited me to speak at their Missional Living Conference. The conference was built around the Three Gospel Conversions based on Colossians 1:15-20. Those familiar with my talks at LEAD ’09 will note that these new talks introduce a fresh theological and practical perspective on the Three Conversions. Each talk has both Audio and Video.

Conversion to Christ: This message deconstructs the dualism of American Christianity in order to reconstruct a whole Gospel around Jesus Christ as Lord.

Conversion to Church: This message demonstrates the communal character of the Gospel, unpacking very practical ways to cultivate “steady state community.”

Conversion to Mission: This message shows how mission is not optional but essential, and spends considerable time talking about how to live “everyday life with gospel intentionality.”

Bonus Sermon on What Kind of Church Renews a City?

3 Essentials for Missional Communities

Posted on March 3, 2010

Through failure and success we’ve developed three clear criteria for health gospel-centered missional communities. Whether a new missional community is formed “out of nothing” or one of our existing groups is ready to multiply, there are three things new groups must have in place before forming: LEADER, a CORE, and a MISSION.

1 LEADER/ A called and qualified leader.

This leader must sense a) God’s call, b) complete the Missional Leader Readiness form, c) meet the leadership qualifications and d) complete City Group Leaders Training.

2 CORE/ A healthy community living out gospel-centered missional community.

Healthy communities are a core of people that a) practice steady state community b) are engaged in mission, c) share leadership and d) keep the gospel central. An initial core size must be at least 6-8.

3 MISSION/ A new group starts with a clear missional focus.

The City Group should be aligned with a local non-profit to serve monthly, or focus on engaging a particular group of Austinites. This clearly defined mission must be accompanied by a plan for engagement. Whether you work with a non-profit or not, your ultimate missional focus should be people. Identify a people group and develop a plan to engage them with the gospel.

GCM Collective Launches Soon!

Posted on February 25, 2010

The GCM Collective (Gospel Communities on Mission) will be launching a live, interactive resource website on March 1st! The vision of GCM is to equip churches and leaders to plant, lead, and transition churches in gospel, community and mission. The GCM site will host discussions forums on important topics such as:

  • Developing Missional Leaders
  • Everyday Mission
  • City Renewal
  • Contextualization
  • Missional Theology
  • Culture Creation

In addition, you’ll have access to the writings, resources, and interaction of the following missional leaders and their respective churches:

Sign-up for updates on the site launch and the GCM Collective National Conference, which will be held later this year!