MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES

MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES

TABLE OF CONTENTS" INTRODUCTION TO MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES 3 WHAT IS A MISSIONAL COMMUNITY? 4 WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? 5 WHY MISSIONAL COMMUNITY? 6 WHAT KIND OF MISSION? 7 WHERE COULD WE SERVE? 8 HOW CAN I BE MORE INVOLVED IN MY MC? 9 HOW IMPORTANT IS COMMUNITY IN MY MC? 10 HOW DO WE HANDLE CHILDCARE? 11 RESOURCES FOR YOUR MC 12 HOW DOES MY MC MULTIPLY? 13 MC LEADER JOB DESCRIPTION 14 HOW CAN I BECOME AN MC LEADER? 15 WHAT IS AN MC COACH? 16 A WORD ON HUDDLES 17 FAQ ON MC 18 2

INTRODUCTION TO MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES" At The Church at Cane Bay, we often say that Missional Communities are the lifeblood of our church. The gospel of Jesus is the core, or the heart, of our church, but the primary way that we carry out that good news corporately is through our Missional Community system. Our church has a mission statement - The Church at Cane Bay exists to see that every man, woman, and child inside of a ten mile radius of our church has multiple opportunities to see, hear, and respond to the gospel of Jesus. That s a pretty big mission. We know we can t do it alone. We have to partner with other churches and believers to help us reach our community. In order to best serve our mission, we have organized groups of people called missional communities working inside different missions and contexts in our community to be an expression of the gospel with their words and deeds. Missional communities are the main thing that we do as a church. Yes, we gather to worship on Sundays. Yes, we have intentional discipleship environments called huddles. Both of those are vital and necessary, and combined with missional communities, allow us to be the body of Christ in our community. 3

WHAT IS A MISSIONAL COMMUNITY?" Simply defined, the phrase missional community defines itself - mission and community. If you want to give a little more clarity to the idea, it looks like this - A community of people organized to give every man, woman, and child within its circle of influence multiple opportunities to see, hear, and respond to the gospel. MISSION Mission is the primary purpose of each community to ensure that people are loved towards the gospel of Jesus. At least once a month, our Missional Communities will be out in the harvest, serving and loving, with the goal of proclaiming the gospel and seeing people come into relationship with Christ. COMMUNITY" Strong community builds strong mission. People crave relationships that move beyond the superficial. Missional Communities provide great opportunity to build relationships around the gospel that grow as the mission is served. 4

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?" Each Missional Community will gather weekly in homes or in the harvest, praying for and serving the mission decided by the group. They will share dinner together to build community, and study scripture to strengthen and embolden the mission. GATHER WEEKLY " We believe the best mission is ongoing mission. Because it s so important, we want to make sure we are consistent in showing and sharing the love of Jesus. SHARE DINNER (60 Mins) " The best way to get to know someone is to share a meal with them. Since community is so important to fuel the mission, our groups share a meal and conversation around the table together each week. PRAYING FOR AND SERVING THE MISSION (40 Mins) " Each week our primary focus is praying for the mission and planning how to best serve people in it. We will plan opportunities outside of our weekly meetings to serve the mission. Mission is primary inside of an MC, so we make sure we work diligently here before we study scripture. STUDY SCRIPTURE (20 Mins) " Because the gospel is at the center of all we do, it s important that we study scripture to provide purpose to our mission. Each week we study the passage that will be preached the following Sunday. 5

WHY MISSIONAL COMMUNITY?" It s really simple actually. We are already a community of people (His church) sent on mission by Jesus. A missional community just organizes it. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20: 21-22 We are people who imitate Jesus. He was sent to proclaim the message of God s Kingdom and offer a way through His death and resurrection for people to be a part of it. Now, we are sent by Jesus to declare that same message, while explaining that He is the way to be made right in relationship with God. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28: 19-20 So we have a command and a promise. A command to make disciples and a promise that He will be with us through it. We gather as missional communities to obey that command and experience that promise. 6

WHAT KIND OF MISSION?" Because there really are so many options out there that a group could do, we like to give a few guidelines to help our groups decide what kind of mission would be best for them to take on. LOCAL " We want to see each of our missional communities serving inside of our own circle of responsibility, which is a ten mile circle around our church. If we are taking seriously the belief that God has called us to them, then we want to focus our efforts here. PEOPLE" We could easily serve in any number of good things like adopting highways or working with animals, but we want to make sure that our mission provides us with consistent opportunities to interact with people to be an expression of the gospel in their lives. INFLUENCE" Concentrate on a specific area that has great need in our community that also impacts a large population group. We want to start with the biggest needs and the largest groups so we can have the greatest influence for the gospel. CONSISTENT" Find a mission that you can work on consistently, not just something that happens once a year. We want a consistent investment so that we can build real relationships. 7

WHERE COULD WE SERVE?" While the church as a whole is on mission together, our MCs will provide the majority of gospel outreach into the community. An MC is defined by its mission. When a new group is starting without a focus, you may need to decide together what your mission is using our earlier criteria. Here are a few good ideas:" SCHOOL" There are many schools located inside of our neighborhood and COA. Because they are gathering places and centers for our community, they are wonderful places to plug in. Even if we already have an MC there, another group could adopt a different part of the school (mentoring, grade levels, PTA, etc.). NEIGHBORHOOD" Your missional community can adopt a neighborhood or block and serve that community consistently. INTEREST" If your group has a certain interest in common (music, sports, etc.), you can be involved in that activity in the community by coaching a sports team or volunteering for school athletics. CAUSES" If there is a need in our area that is not being met by any particular group, let s take responsibility for that need (homelessness, trafficking, orphan care). 8

HOW CAN I BE MORE INVOLVED IN MY MC?" Each member of a missional community should have active involvement, service, and leadership in the group in some way. While these can rotate, here are some roles that will need to be filled: LEADER" This person is responsible for the week to week teaching and leading of the group. APPRENTICE" An apprentice has been identified as a future MC leader. Over time, they will take on more leadership and teaching in the group in an effort to train them for leading a group the following semester. PRAYER" Someone in the group should be responsible to lead prayer time, as well as making a list and communicating it to the group each week. HOST" If someone in your group has the gift of hospitality, give them opportunities to host your group. This could even rotate each week or month. MEALS/COMMUNICATION" This person coordinates meals and communicates through The City each week for your missional community. CHILDCARE" Someone will need to coordinate childcare for your group based on how your group decides to handle it. MISSION" As a leader, you need someone else to help you coordinate the details of your mission as your group serves. This is that person. 9

HOW IMPORTANT IS COMMUNITY IN MY MC?" In short, VERY We want our groups to be able to experience true community that is as close to the early church in the book of Acts that we can get. Here are a few ways we work towards that goal:" SHARING A MEAL" Each one of our MCs share a meal together weekly. We know it makes meeting more difficult, but it also makes it better. There is no better way to get to know each other than over a meal. FAMILY" Our communities should strengthen the family. We want husbands and wives studying scripture together so they are able to teach it to their kids together. MISSION" Serving together builds community. The best way to get to know someone is to serve alongside them. CARE" The primary method of caring for people in crisis for our church will begin in these groups. They are the first line of response for care in our church. DEEPER RELATIONSHIPS" We hope and pray that out of our missional communities, deeper relationships will be formed that will provide for friendship, discipleship, and accountability. 10

HOW DO WE HANDLE CHILDCARE?" Each of our groups will have the option of choosing how they will handle childcare. Our groups are family and need to work together to determine the best solution for that particular group. Here are a few options:" HIRE A WORKER" Invest together as a group to hire a worker to come and watch your kids onsite. With everyone pitching in, it won t be that expensive to pay our rate of $20 a night. If you need a second worker, the church will cover that using our voucher system. ROTATE" Setup a rotating schedule for members to handle childcare. This way, each member will only have to serve every one or two months. OUTSIDE HELP" If everyone in your group has someone outside that can watch your kids, then leave them with family/friends while you head into your group each week. LET YOUR KIDS BE A PART" This could partly depend on the age of your kids, or how many that you have. We ve seen this work in groups with just a few kids, or some older children. It might sound crazy, but it just might work 11

RESOURCES FOR YOUR MC" As a missional community, there are several resources that are available to you on a regular basis. WEEKLY LESSONS" Each week, we produce lessons that guide the missional community meeting for that week. It includes ice breakers, things to focus on/pray for, and Bible study material. BUDGET" You do have a budget for your mission. As of right now, each MC has $250 per semester. Spend it on the mission as you serve, not just on something to give people and be done with it. Make sure it goes along with an intentional point of service. BORROW" Do you need some equipment, resources, or materials for your project? Our church may already have exactly what you need so that you don t have to spend your budget on it. Check in with us. COMMUNICATION" Do you need help from other people in our church with a project? Because we have so many MCs at this point, we have to have a policy to not announce these things on Sunday mornings. It s not that they aren t important, we know they are. We are just doing our best to keep our Sunday services very simple and focused on just a few things. We would encourage you to use the church facebook page and The City to gain the help you need. 12

HOW DOES MY MC MULTIPLY?" One of the primary things we want to see out of our missional communities is their ability to multiply. We will always need to be starting more groups in order to carry out the misson of God, and to build community within the church. Here are a few things to keep in mind:" DON T BE STINGY" Our natural inclination is to love our group and not want anything to change. This leads to cliques and an un-welcoming atmosphere. ROLES" Make sure people are serving in leadership roles. This helps develop new leaders in the system. GROW" Grow your group, and be willing to multiply when it gets big. Don t be the biggest group. Be the group who always has the smallest group because you are always sending people out to start new ones. IDENTIFY" Find someone in your group who might be a potential missional community leader. Your leader should take some time with them and invest into their lives. They should pray together about the possibility of leading another group, and maybe even huddle with them. Provide them with opportunities to lead as the semester moves on. MULTIPLY" Instead of waiting for it to happen on its own, send out this leader and a few of your members to start a new group. Be proactive. See the need and make it happen. 13

MC LEADER JOB DESCRIPTION" The MC Leader is essentially the lead missionary of the group, keeping the group focused on mission, mobilizing members to lead/serve, and arranging details needed to make that mission happen. What Do They Look Like?" Christ Follower, which can be seen in their life. Will constantly set the bar in their group by inviting newcomers to the group and to church. Will be the lead missionary in the group, setting the example in their personal life and group activities. Will be responsible to see that their group members are being discipled in the context of a huddle, promoting relationships, discipleship, and accountability within their group. This is vital and gives the leader a pastoral role over their group. Leaders will respond appropriately and in a timely manner with the community pastor and MC coach in order to see our groups continue to be effective and grow. Missional Community night should be made a priority in their calendar. Multiplication is talked about from the beginning of the group, along with the seeking out of a new potential leader, so that the group is always continuing to grow. A partner of the church. 14

HOW CAN I BECOME AN MC LEADER?" Because we desire to see people in our church move up in leadership, we have created a leadership path so that people can see where they are and discover what they need to do to grow in leadership. DISCIPLE Partner of the church who serves, and participates in an MC and huddle. HUDDLE LEADER Leading 1 or 2 others in a weekly huddle. MC APPRENTICE " Being trained by an MC Leader to lead an MC. MC LEADER " Leading a group of people on mission in our community. MC COACH " Encouraging and coaching MC leaders to be their best. ELDER, PASTOR, PLANTER" Leading a church spiritually and missionally. If you want to become a missional community leader, begin to walk through the steps listed and communicate with your missional community leader about your desire. They will put you in contact with all the resources and training that you need. 15

WHAT IS AN MC COACH?" The MC Coach is a leader who encourages growth in the MC system. They do this by providing regular support and encouragement to MC leaders, acting as a listener and guide to those leaders, and communicating regularly with the Community Pastor on the MC system. A LISTENER" One of the primary jobs of an MC Coach is to simply be a listener to our MC leaders in order to be able to gain a real understanding of what is happening inside of that particular MC. SOMEONE WHO ASKS QUESTIONS" An MC Coach wants to help our leaders think. They will ask questions that will get to the heart of the matter, but also guide leaders to think in the right direction. A GOAL SETTER" An MC Coach will work with a leader to set goals in their leadership, whether it be to work through a specific issue or just to reach a goal of multiplication by a certain time. CONSISTENT" A coach will be consistent in their relationship with their leaders. Because of this, they will coach no more than 5 leaders including themselves. They will have conversations with leaders twice a month and attend their missional community once a semester. 16

A WORD ON HUDDLES" Throughout this guide, you have read about something called a huddle in several different places. A huddle is our smaller gathering of believers that is focused primarily on discipleship and accountability. A huddle is a group of two or three people that get together weekly to study the Bible and provide accountability to help each other live in obedience to God. Each huddle typically lasts around one hour. It generally looks like this - 15 minutes - Read through passage of scripture. 15 minutes - Journal through the passage using the SOAP method. 15 minutes - Discuss your journal, insights, and practical application. 15 minutes - Have accountability and prayer time. A huddle can be ANYTIME that fits inside your normal routine of life, ANYWHERE that provides an easy environment to talk, and with ANYONE (they don t even have to go to church). Every huddle is organic in nature. They are autonomous and make their own decisions. We encourage you to try and only use the Bible as your material. Huddles are important for us. Without huddles, our system doesn t really work very well. This is why missional community leaders work to ensure that their people are actively engaged in a huddle. It is vitally important that we ensure that our people are growing in discipleship and being fed so that they can be effective on mission. For more information, you can download our huddle guide from our website. Just go to churchatcanebay.org, click on connect, then huddles to see our huddle resources. 17

FAQ ON MC" HOW OFTEN DO MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES GATHER?" Each MC gathers once a week on a night that works best for their group. This is an intentional time of planning, praying, and fellowship. Your group will also gather together out on mission to serve however you plan. HOW LONG DOES EACH MEETING LAST?" Each MC meeting lasts a total of two hours. It includes one hour of dinner and fellowship, forty minutes talking about and praying for the mission, and about twenty minutes of bible study. HOW DOES EACH MC HANDLE DINNER?" Our MCs will use The City to post each week about the meeting and dinner. Usually there are signups there each week for attendance and what food is needed. Your MC Meal Coordinator is responsible for coming up with the ideas and posting the signups. WHY IS THERE A SUMMER BREAK?" Many people wonder why our groups take a break in the summer. Truthfully, it s a bittersweet time. Most of our people can t wait to get back involved, and we totally understand that. We do, however, realize that we need to take some time off to energize our families. This also allows us to focus on some mission projects as an entire church in the summer. ARE KIDS AND STUDENTS WELCOME?" Absolutely. As much as possible, we encourage you to involve your kids and students to be involved with you on mission as you serve in the community. The best way for your kids to learn about serving is to serve with you. It is a bonding experience for family and great for your kids HOW CAN I SIGN UP FOR AN MC?" You can sign up on any Sunday at the connect table or on your connect card. You can also go to churchatcanebay.org, click connect, then the missional communities tab to sign up. 18

WHAT IF OUR MC HAS AN IDEA FOR A BIG PROJECT?" We want our groups to be thinking creatively and outside of the box. Sometimes, however, we can get a little carried away and take on a project that our group can t handle alone. Here are some ideas to help with that: 1. Make recruiting help a part of your mission by finding the help you need outside of our church in the community. That s multiplying mission 2. If you can t find the help there, you may need to think about downsizing the project a little bit to make it possible for your group to handle. 3. If the idea is just that good, work together with another missional community to pull of the project together. If your groups have similar missions, this can be an easy way to handle it. MY FAMILY HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN ONE MC, BUT IS INTERESTED IN SWITCHING TO ANOTHER. WHAT DO WE DO?" You are welcome to switch from one MC to another at any time. We have sign up opportunities twice a year for you, in the fall and spring, to make that easier. We do, however, encourage you to think about why you might be switching. If there is difficulty or drama involved, remember that our MCs are like a family, and families often experience hardship and learn to work through it. With that said, if you find yourself passionate about another mission, we encourage you to get involved there 19