Today we are very much into the swing of the fall and as a church there is much to be grateful for. As we commit ourselves to making disciples of Jesus, the leadership is constantly giving thanks for our growing missional communities. I’m praying Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1 – that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened to know His hope, inheritance, and immeasurable greatness of His power!
Right now I’m riding the “missional community” high so I thought I’d share a couple of thoughts as to why. In past homegroup experiences, Mary Kaye and I enjoyed very meaningful relationships and growing times in the Word. But by and large, we didn’t see the same kind of spiritual growth that we are experiencing in our present Missional Community. I’ve reflected on this, asking, “What’s making the difference?” For us, it boils down to a few practices that the Holy Spirit is using. Here they are…
Practice #1: We eat together.
The first half hour of our time revolves around food…an old fashioned potluck. I’m amazed how sharing a meal together transforms the atmosphere and connects us relationally. In the busyness of schedules, there are often times when we just don’t want another meeting. Throw food into the equation and upon arrival, it’s all good!
Practice #2: We take communion.
Following dinner, we share in the Lord’s Supper. We take turns leading so that everyone gets involved. Focusing on the death and resurrection of Jesus helps remind us that we are objects of His grace. It puts our struggles into perspective. Between good food and communion – even if nothing else takes place, that’s a great night!
Practice #3: We’re on mission.
We challenge one another to reach out and pray for the people God places in our lives. But we don’t stop there…we serve together. Our focus has been the Midshipmen. Several from our group are discipling Mids and all of us are engaged in serving Campus Crusade’s ministry on the Yard. Last Sunday was very fulfilling for us as after church we fed over 50 Mids delicious Texas barbecue with all the fixings!
Practice #4: We engage globally.
Our missional community leader led us to pray about getting behind one of BACC’s global ministries. We chose India and decided to trust God to finance building a church! God provided over and above this need and now three from our community will travel to India in January with the upcoming mission trip to dedicate the church building!
I hope these 4 practices encourage you. As we focus on Jesus and live out our shared commitments of loving God back, loving one another, and loving our neighbor, the Holy Spirit will lead each of our communities!
One final encouragement: The Christmas season is around the corner. Christmas is a wonderful time to reach out to those far from Christ. We will be providing several Christmas outreach opportunities through the church, but I encourage you to challenge your community as to what Jesus would have you do this season to reflect His love to those needing His touch!
Praying for you and encouraged by you,
Greg
Our missional community does a potluck dinner each time we meet as well. We usually start our reading or discussion, then break for food, where the discussion continues,then we reconvene to wrap up, share accountability plans for the next 2 weeks, then we end in prayer.
I really like the idea of sharing communion together. I plan to bring that to our group this weekend,so thank you for sharing that.
As we are in our infancy as a group, we haven’t expanded into missions discussions yet. But as you’ve mentioned, we can partner with the church in outreach opportunities as we mature as a community. I think this will be a great place to start.
Thank you for sharing how your group has been successful. Shared experience, strength and hope among communities will encourage us all!