MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION Establishing Gospel Centered Community
Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS Part 1 The Purpose of Missio Communities 3 Part 2 The Missio Community Leader 13 Part 3 Missio Community Rhythms 25 Part 4 Multiplying Missio Communities 29 Part 5 DNA Groups 35 Part 6 Overview to Measuring Missio Community Health 41 Part 7 Benchmarks of Healthy Belonging 45 Part 8 Benchmarks of Healthy Learning 55 Part 9 Benchmarks of Healthy Worship 65 Part 10 Benchmarks of Healthy Mission 75 MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 1
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PART 1: The Purpose of Missio Communities PART 1 THE PURPOSE OF MISSIO COMMUNITIES MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 3
PART 1: The Purpose of Missio Communities THE STRUCTURE OF MISSIO COMMUNITIES With a growing importance of the church scattered, it is important to define where and how Missio Dei should experience the church scattered. Therefore, Missio Communities are made up of four parts; the Missio Community Region, the Missio Community, the Missio Community Member, and the DNA Group. In order to understand how the the above vision affects the role of communities, first each of these parts must be defined. THE MISSIO COMMUNITY REGION Missio Communities are broken up into geographical regions led by a Regional Elder. The Regional Elder is responsible for shepherding the people in his region, with assistance from the Missio Community Leaders in his region. The Regional Elder should have monthly rhythms with each Missio Community Leader that evaluates the leader s community, leadership, vision, and to work through pastoral needs in the community. The individual members of Missio Communities should have opportunities to build healthy and trusting relationships with the Regional Elder. The region also serves to connect disciples to disciplers. The region, almost acting as miniature church plants, should have a tightly woven culture and rhythms that cultivates each community to prosper. THE MISSIO COMMUNITY The Missio Community is the primary way for the people of Missio Dei to plug in to the church and enter its regular rhythms. Missio Communities are the front lines of Missio Dei Church. As the church grows larger, Regional Elders place Missio Community Leaders in the front lines of pastoral care. The Missio Community Leader has the role to shepherd the people of Missio Dei in the context of the Missio Community. They hold an important role as the front line of church discipleship, care, discipline, and mission. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 4
PART 1: The Purpose of Missio Communities THE MISSIO COMMUNITY MEMBER Each community is made up of its various members, the people that Missio Dei seeks to help cultivate a joyful obedience and life with Christ Jesus. THE DNA GROUP A DNA Group is, at its core, an accountability group. DNA stands for Discover, Nurture, and Action. The are, simply put, as groups of three to four men or women who meet regularly to share what they are learning and how they are growing as followers of Christ. DNA groups provide structure around gathering to cultivate gospel-centered discipleship and glad obedience. More on DNA Groups can be found in PART 5: DNA Groups. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 5
PART 1: The Purpose of Missio Communities THE GUIDING VISION OF MISSIO COMMUNITIES The vision and mission of Missio Dei is to be a gospel centered, city focused, church community. Everything the church seeks to accomplish as a church is rooted in these values. As Missio Dei continues to grow, the role of the church scattered becomes more important. The question of whether or not a member is a part of the church scattered will be a key indicator of his health. Having a member be a part of a gospel centered, city focused, church community on a Sunday morning is not enough. These values should be shaping each individual at Missio Dei Church and in all aspects of the Christian life. Missio Communities exist to guide the church scattered into an abundant walk with Christ that is marked by maturity, obedience, and growth - or Christian health. At their core, Missio Communities, as a smaller expression of Missio Dei Church, are gospel centered, neighborhood focused, church communities. So, everything Missio Communities seek to accomplish is rooted in these values. The gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-2), mission to the culture (Matthew 28:18-20), and biblical church community (1 Timothy 3:15 ) are all essential elements of healthy discipleship. If one of these is missing, discipleship will be inadequate - less than the biblical picture of following Jesus. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 6
PART 1: The Purpose of Missio Communities GOSPEL CENTERED Missio Communities are gospel centered. This means that communities should be applying the gospel to real life. Missio Dei seeks to have gospel centered preaching each week that opens the Scriptures and reveals the gospel within them. Each week, community members are hearing the reality of God s grace in their lives. Paul, in Romans 1 explains the gospel in this way:...the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. - Romans 1:2-6 ESV If the gospel is the message of the cross that cultivates a greater joy and obedience in Christ, then without the gospel we are found in either disobedience or slavish obedience. Where the gospel is absent, joyful obedience is absent. Missio Communities exist to help apply the Truths preached on a Sunday to the reality of life. Life itself can be weighty and joyful. In both realities, the gospel sheds light on who we are in relation to God and reminds us of his promises that all find their yes and amen in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20). To apply gospel Truth to life, Missio Communities serve two roles, a place of discipleship and discipline. To see some practical steps to measure the health of gospel centrality in a Missio Community, see PART 8: Benchmarks of a Healthy Learner and PART 9: Benchmarks of a Healthy Worshiper DISCIPLESHIP The Missio Community should be a place of discipleship. The Missio Community Leader should be guiding people in discipleship themselves and creating rhythms of discipleship among community members. In Ephesians 4, Paul writes about the unity that is found in the church, the body of Christ. In addressing our unity, Paul calls us into a life of discipleship that is done in community: MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 7
PART 1: The Purpose of Missio Communities...to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. - Ephesians 4:11-16 ESV Paul is calling the church into a unified, community-driven aspect of discipleship. In being built up in Christ, we may become a body held together by our unique giftings and ability to push one another toward gospel centered living. A Missio Community Leader should have a pulse on the people in his community to guide sermon discussion in a way that speaks specifically to the members of the community and applies the gospel to life. Though Missio Communities are a place where this discipleship can be a normal rhythm, even smaller groups may be needed to work through the weightiness of life together. As a result, DNA Groups have been developed. While DNA groups are not required of community members, the Missio Community Leader should be encouraging people to join a DNA group. It is a function of the Missio Community to point one another toward Christ and cultivate a love and joy of God desire to serve and obey more deeply. Missio Community Leaders are required to be in a DNA group. (More on DNA groups can be found in PART 5: DNA Groups.) Finally, the Missio Community Leader(s) of each community should make room in their schedule to meet regularly with the members of their community. While sermon discussion and DNA Groups are a vital part of discipleship within Missio Communities, sometimes one-on-one time with a Missio Community Leader or a Regional Elder can be incredibly beneficial to healthy discipleship. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 8
PART 1: The Purpose of Missio Communities DISCIPLINE The exhaustive guide to Missio Dei s Church discipline can be found in the document MDC Church Discipline Manual, and can be provided by a Regional Elder. The basis for church discipline can be found throughout the Bible, most notably Hebrews 12:5-11 and Matthew 18:15-20. Missio Dei believes: discipline is an expression of God s love, every Christian will be disciplined, and discipline makes us holy and happy. There are two types of discipline, informal and formal church discipline. The Missio Community partakes in both of these. Informal discipline is what a member of the church is called to practice on a continual basis and is the call to spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24). This happens through informal conversation, informal calls to repentance and rebukes for sin, and through ongoing relationships. This should be a continual occurrence. Informal church discipline is the extraordinary call on a community to point each other closer to Jesus in daily life. Secondly is formal church discipline. Formal church discipline only begins when informal discipline is not achieving its desired effects. This is where the church and the pastors become involved. If church discipline is happening in a healthy way, it should start within a Missio Community and will always end with Pastoral involvement. Missio Dei has a carefully crafted process of formal church discipline. First, church discipline starts within Missio Communities. Every covenant member of Missio Dei should be in a Missio Community. That means each of our covenant members are in submission and accountability to each other in the context of community. So as sin is found it should be first dealt with between offenders. Then the community can come in, usually with the support of the Missio Community Leader. The Missio Community Leader steps in to offer some authority in shepherding the community toward true repentance and faith. Next, the Missio Community Leader will get the Regional Elder involved if the refusal to repent persists. Then the Regional Elder will carry out church discipline as needed. The Missio Community is never the final say in church discipline, and even as the Missio Community Leader is involved and the issues resolved, the Regional Edler should be aware. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 9
PART 1: The Purpose of Missio Communities NEIGHBORHOOD FOCUSED Missio Communities are neighborhood focused. Missio Dei has a grand vision to be city focused. That means that Missio Dei seeks to serve Cincinnati and be focused on multiplying churches and spreading the gospel throughout our city. Missio Communities accomplish this on a smaller scale. As people at Missio Dei sign up for communities, we ask them where they live, work, and play. The purpose of this is to generate communities that are geographicallybased instead of affinity-based. This means that Missio Communities do not become singlefriendly or parent-friendly, but focus on a specific neighborhood. Participating in life with Jesus means participating in the mission to advance the Kingdom of God. Missio Communities strive to connect the people in our neighborhoods to Jesus mission and life with him. Missio Communities are not just a benefit of the ministry of leaders in the church. What that means, is that while Missio Communities seek to help connect the gospel to life for the members of the community, they are not inward focused groups. Missio Communities and their members are to look outward and participate with the church in ministry. MISSION Missio Communities are Missio Dei s primary means of mission in our city s neighborhoods. Missio Communities, through sermon discussion and group events, equip the members of Missio Dei to take the gospel with them into their workplaces, their recreation, and out to their neighborhoods. As we apply the gospel to life, it empowers and equips us to represent Christ and seek the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Missio Communities should then serve as formal events, and informal relationships that represent Christ to newcomers and outsiders. Missio Communities serve the neighborhood for the good of their neighbors. This is why geographical centrality is an important aspect of Missio Communities. Commuting into community is an obstacle to unified mission. The Missio Community should work together to tangibly serve and invite outsiders into its rhythms. The Missio Community should also spend time serving together. They should be continually inviting outsiders into their rhythms and welcome them. Practical questions and evaluations of measuring a community in mission can be found in PART 8: Benchmarks of Healthy Missionaries. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 10
PART 1: The Purpose of Missio Communities CHURCH COMMUNITIES Missio Communities are church communities. The gospel connects people to one another in Jesus in a binding love of gospel-shaped community. This gospel-shaped community develops a place of belonging for God s people. Missio Communities exist under the leadership and shepherding of a Missio Community Leader and exist that joyful obedience may be cultivated in one another. They exist, as it says in Hebrews, to spur one another toward love and good deeds. The gospel does not allow for the Christian life to be one of isolation and individualism. It calls us to step up to serve each other. The Christian life calls individuals to think of themselves less frequently. Consider Paul s words in Philippians: So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped - Philippians 2:1-6 ESV The belonging and care found in gospel centered community is what fuels the metaphor of communities as family. Family, in its purest form, provides a sense of belonging in spite of our failings. To see practical questions and benchmarks, see PART 7: Benchmarks of Healthy Belonging. CARE The Missio Community Leader should be guiding his Community as the point person in rallying the group to support individuals needs. If a community members has a major life event (e.g. losing a job, moving, having a baby, or losing a loved one) the Missio Community Leader should help create avenues for the Missio Community to step in to serve in time and resources. If the assistance needed is beyond what the Missio Community can assist in, additional resources can be available through Missio Dei church. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 11
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PART 2: The Missio Community Leader PART 2 THE MISSIO COMMUNITY LEADER MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 13
PART 2: The Missio Community Leader THE HEALTHY MISSIO COMMUNITY LEADER A healthy Missio Community Leader starts with a healthy individual. Missio Community Leaders are assessed individually and developed into healthy leaders. In order to gauge whether an individual is qualified to lead a Missio Community, they are assessed on the following categories; calling, character, competency, and capacity. The new leader assessment process walks potential Missio Community Leaders, their current leaders, and their community members through evaluating the potential leader s health. Current Missio Community Leaders should always be giving reflection and receiving feedback on their own continual calling, character, competency, and capacity. CALLING A healthy Missio Community Leader starts with a healthy individual. Missio Community Leaders are assessed individually and developed into healthy leaders. In order to gauge whether an individual is qualified to lead a Missio Community, they are assessed on the following categories; calling, character, competency, and capacity. The new leader assessment process walks potential Missio Community Leaders, their current leaders, and their community members through evaluating the potential leader s health. Current Missio Community Leaders should always be giving reflection and receiving feedback on their own continual calling, character, competency, and capacity. CONFIDENCE The Missio Community leader should be able to articulate a sense of God s directing him/her to serve in the role of Missio Community Leader. The confident calling of a leader is more than a inward calling and should be affirmed by Godly people and leaders around them. This calling should be clear to himself/herself, his/her spouse (if applicable), his/her Missio Community Leader, as well as others in the community. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 14
PART 2: The Missio Community Leader COMMITMENT A healthy Missio Community Leader has a commitment to the intentional community where he/she exists. He/She has a history of participation and support for their Missio Community. CHEMISTRY A Missio Community Leader is a leader. He/She is someone whom the members of their community are willing and eager to follow their example and leadership. Other leaders in his/her region should express an eager willingness to be leadership peers with the him/her. The Regional Elder should be able to express eager willingness to entrust the leader with shepherding a community. CHARACTER God pursues the hearts of men and women in His work by transforming them into the likeness of Christ. Therefore, evaluating the character of an applicant is essential to determine his/her readiness to lead in ministry. While outward behavior (and personality, to some degree) may change from one environment to the next, character remains constant. Therefore, we assess a person s character across the environments of home, church, and the world. A Missio Community Leader should be held in high regard by those around him/her. His/ her life should be an example of a healthy pursuit of Jesus. He/She is honored within the home by their family. His/Her Missio Community should respect him/her, and he/she is respected by the leaders and members of Missio Dei. Outside of the church, a healthy Missio Community Leader is respected and seen as honorable among outsiders and non-christians. HOME A Missio Community Leader s lifestyle is oriented toward a love for Jesus in his/her speech and conduct. If married, he/she demonstrates faithfulness to prioritizing his/her family. If unmarried, the Missio Community Leader demonstrates godly contentment with his/her singleness. He/She should have a sustained history of sexual honesty and victory. The Missio Community Leader has a healthy selfawareness that includes humble submission to Jesus and ongoing repentance. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 15
PART 2: The Missio Community Leader CHURCH A healthy Missio Community Leader is known and honored in the church for his/her love of Jesus and has genuine friendships with believing people inside the church. He/She faithfully and humbly submits to elders without being either combative or cowardly. A Missio Community Leader should demonstrate an others first mentality when it comes to churchwide gatherings and is admonished by other Christians for his/her leadership. WORLD A Missio Community Leader is known and honored in the culture as an honest person with integrity and has genuine friendships with unbelieving people outside the church. He/She should also express a Godly burden to connect people to Jesus, His people the church, and His mission through the gospel. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 16
PART 2: The Missio Community Leader COMPETENCY It is not enough for the inner man to change without behavioral change. We are God s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works and we should walk in them. The competency to perform tasks is essential for leadership. There are five qualities of leadership competency for which we are assessing. Missio Dei desires convictional, creative, collaborative, courageous, and celebratory leaders. A Missio Community Leader is a healthy covenant member of Missio Dei and holds to, or is willing to submit, to the theological statement of Missio Dei. He/She can explain the gospel and its application to daily life in a way that is bold and pushes people toward Jesus. CONVICTIONAL People do what they say and will become like their teachers (Luke 6:40). Convictions are those things we know, of which we are so thoroughly persuaded, that others would declare us guilty of believing them. This is why it takes conviction to lead. A Missio Community Leader: is an active member of Missio Dei Church can accurately articulate the gospel, not only thematically, but in life application can describe instances where the consultation of Scripture, prayer, and community input directed him/her in making a significant life decision participates in consistent rhythms of Scripture study and prayer can describe, and explain health benchmarks they are nurturing in community (belonging, learner, worshiper, missionary) MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 17
PART 2: The Missio Community Leader CREATIVE Leadership requires us to see beyond what is in front of us in the flesh. Leaders must be able to conceive of a possible future that inspires others. We call this ability vision. Vision is a dream of what could be, coupled with the conviction that it must be, and the commitment to go there. A Missio Community Leader: has the ability to cast a compelling vision for his/her community that excites people, motivating him/her to action spends time each term praying for the Spirit to renew him/her with clarity and endurance for the given vision can share one or two activities for his/her community that will encourage a deepening sense of being a gospel centered, neighborhood focused individual COLLABORATIVE Leading alone is a wearisome task fueled often by pride and/or fear. God has called us into community so that together our work can grow and develop to God s glory. Combining conviction and creativity with collaboration creates momentum. A Missio Community Leader: can recall a time within the last month or two where he/she worked with a team to accomplish a task. can recall a time within the past year that he/she was able to draw people together to complete a task and the participants can affirm that they were actively involved in the entire process (not merely doing the bidding of the applicant). can share a few lessons and abilities he/she has learned from other participants in a collaborative task from the past year. can share a time when he/she lead a discussion within a diverse group that included and encouraged group participation. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 18
PART 2: The Missio Community Leader COURAGEOUS Courage is not the absence of fear but the willingness to proceed in spite of it. A leader must be willing to move beyond fear with courage knowing that salvation is secure prior to and apart from our accomplishments. Vision with courage yields a legacy. A Missio Community Leader: can articulate a time in his/her life when he/she was compelled to obey God in spite of the cost. can articulate a time in his/her life when he/she had to make an unpopular decision. can share a time in his/her life when he/she had to confront someone who was walking in disobedience. can share a time when his/her decision turned out to be the wrong decision and what lessons were learned. CELEBRATORY People can either be projects to manage or persons to encourage. A celebratory leader is gifted in finding ways to celebrate the people around him/her. A celebratory Missio Community Leader: can recall a time that encouragement gave him/her enough emotional stamina to complete a task. can name at least three people he/she has encouraged, thanked, and/or celebrated in the last month as the result of an accomplished task. CAPACITY The capacity to lead is a culmination of the above aspects of leadership. A leader should be able to have the resources to commit to leading the people around him/her. A Missio Community Leader can devote 5 to 10 hours a week to tasks related to Missio Communities. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 19
PART 2: The Missio Community Leader THE ROLE OF THE MISSIO COMMUNITY LEADER A Missio Community Leader assumes the role of a neighborhood leader. He/she can lead a group of between 8-20 people of various ages and backgrounds toward the gospel. He/She is involved in the lives of the people in their community. He/She has the role to develop a plan to develop communities into gospel centered, neighborhood focused, church communities. SHEPHERD As Missio Dei grows larger, the burden of the Elders to be a shepherd to each individual member of Missio Dei becomes an infeasible task. This is where the Missio Community Leader, as shepherd of the church scattered, becomes crucial and its role should be carefully defined. The Missio Community Leader is considered the first layer of shepherding and care for the members of Missio Dei. They are the gatekeepers, so to speak, to those who need Pastoral care. This means that it is the Missio Community Leaders responsibility to know what is going on in the lives of the people he/she is leading. He/She should be able to pray for, provide care for, and bring the gospel to the members of their community. It also places a burden on the Missio Community Leader to be communicating with his/her Regional Elder to seek assistance or guidance, as necessary. The Regional Elder, then, has a task to regularly meet with and ask questions of the leaders in his region. He should step in, when necessary, to shepherd the people of Missio Dei Church. As a Missio Community exists for discipleship, assistance, and church discipline, a Missio Community Leader acts as shepherd in order to disciple, assist, and discipline the members of his/her community. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 20
PART 2: The Missio Community Leader DISCIPLESHIP A disciple is someone who joyfully submits to the Lordship of Jesus in all of life. A Missio Community Leader is a discipling leader. He/She has reached a level of Christian maturity where they can submit to the Lordship of Jesus and lead others into joyful submission as well. Through group discussion and one-on-one meetings (when needed), Missio Community Leaders push the people of their community toward joy and health in pursuit of Jesus. The template of discipleship is striving for growth in the four benchmarks of belonging, learner, worshiper, and missionary. Patterns of discipleship can look different depending on the person and the area where the leader is seeking to cultivate growth. Discipleship, however, should be both vocal and action-oriented. For example, is not enough to shepherd people in the context of belonging by explaining how the family of God works. It should also initiate action toward the individual, the Missio Community, and the Missio Community Leaders household. CARE A Missio Community Leader should be guiding the members of his/her community to come alongside to assist and serve each other. When members of a Missio Community fall into tough times in terms of health or resources, the Missio Community Leader will shepherd the people of his/her community to give and serve the hurting member. This is part of belonging to the Missio Community, which will be explained further in PART 7: Benchmarks of Healthy Beloning. It is ultimately the responsibility of the Missio Community Leader to be cultivating this within his/her community. It is also the role of the Missio Community Leader to involve the Regional Elder and other church leaders as necessary. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 21
PART 2: The Missio Community Leader DISCIPLINE The exhaustive guide to Missio Dei s Church discipline can be found in the document MDC Church Discipline Manual, and can be provided by a Regional Elder. The basis for church discipline can be found throughout the Bible, most notably Hebrews 12:5-11 and Matthew 18:15-20. Missio Dei believes: discipline is an expression of God s love, every Christian will be disciplined, and discipline makes us holy and happy. The Missio Community Leader should be continually participating in informal discipline with his/her community. Informal discipline is the encouraging one another toward Christ that is shared between members of a community. This discipline moves between all members of a community and does not need formal church involvement. The Missio Community Leader s role in the formal church discipline process is tricky. The process for church discipline should be involving only the necessary leaders at the necessary time. It will help to walk through an example: Joe, a member of Missio Dei, is in the Norwood group. It is found within his DNA Group that he is in unrepentant sin. The members of his DNA have informally rebuked him and called him to repentance. Joe refuses and wants to continue in his sin, saying that it is not a big deal. His DNA Group then confronts their Missio Community Leader about it, asking him to step in. The Missio Community Leader will then meet with Joe and his DNA Group to hear what is going on. If the Missio Community Leader sees that Joe is in unrepentant sin, he will also call Joe to repentance. Then the Missio Community Leader will notify his Regional Elder and ask him to get involved if Joe continues in unrepentance. A Missio Community Leader should not make the call bring him in front of the church (Matthew 18) by bringing the problem up to the entire Missio Community. Instead, the Missio Community Leader should always be deferring to the judgement and decision of his/her Regional Elder. Additionally, Missio Community Leaders should be working with their Regional Elder to hold members accountable to participation in Missio Communities. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 22
PART 2: The Missio Community Leader MISSION Missio Communities are Missio Dei s primary branch of mission in our city s neighborhoods. The Missio Community Leader is to equip members to take the gospel with them into their workplaces, their recreation, and out to their neighborhoods. The Missio Community Leader is the vision caster for how the community could serve together. Through group service or events each term, minimally, the Missio Community Leader guides in serving its neighbors and outsiders. DEACON Missio Dei has a carefully drawn out vision. Missio Dei seeks to be a gospel centered, city focused, church community. This vision has been established by the leadership of Missio Dei. It is the role of the Missio Community Leader to shift his/her community into the vision of Missio Dei Church. This is the Missio Community Leader as Deacon. Seeking to be a gospel centered, city focused, church community works itself into every working of Missio Dei Church. Part of this includes preaching the gospel to outsiders, leading them into church involvement, and pushing them to become discipling leaders themselves. This overarching vision also works itself into the vision of Missio Deo and Missio Communities to serve the city around us and multiply our groups and churches to reach more neighborhoods across the city. The Missio Community Leader, as a deacon, seeks to accomplish Missio Dei s vision through church involvement, community vision, and community multiplication. CHURCH INVOLVEMENT As people visit and join Missio Dei, one of the first places they are encouraged is toward Missio Communities. As the primary establishment of the church scattered, they are important to Christian health and church involvement. As the Sunday gathering pushes newcomers toward Missio Communities, it is the responsibility of the Missio Community Leader to facilitate the transition from newcomer to members who belongs. This means the Missio Community Leader encourages his/her community members toward volunteering and ultimately covenant membership with Missio Dei. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 23
PART 2: The Missio Community Leader COMMUNITY VISION The main vision of Missio Communities is contained within this document. However, each year, a Missio Community should be guided by a vision to grow in health and numbers. An individual plan for a community should be developed by the Missio Community Leader. Is it the role of the Missio Community Leader to establish a vision with the Regional Elder and other leaders and communicate that vision to the community. While it is ultimately the responsibility of the Missio Community Leader to see the vision through, he/she can, and are encouraged to, rely upon the leadership of others within the community to carry out certain aspects of that vision. COMMUNITY MULTIPLICATION Missio Communities should be always moving toward multiplication. If a Missio Community has consistently remained stagnant with no plan for growth and multiplication it can be assumed the Missio Community is unhealthy. The Missio Community Leader should be casting vision for multiplication and searching for members of the community to step up into leadership. More on how to accomplish multiplication well can be found in PART 4: Multiplying Missio Communities. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 24
PART 3: Missio Community Rhythms PART 3 THE MISSIO COMMUNITY LEADER MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 25
PART 3: Missio Community Rhythms MISSIO COMMUNITY RHYTHMS Healthy rhythms are vital to cultivating healthy communities. A rhythm is nothing more than a structure of community. The world around us is marked by chaos. Without the discipline of structure, the default of our hearts will be to slip into that brokenness. Cultivating healthy rhythms leads the church into healthy discipleship. An error may arise, though, to place the structure of the rhythm over the freedom to experience Jesus through community. It is because of that potential that the rhythms of Missio Dei have been created with fluidity to bring healthy rhythms while leaving room for the Holy Spirit to guide the church. RHYTHMS AS MISSIO DEI CHURCH Missio Dei as a whole has developed rhythms that seek to cultivate a healthy relationship with Jesus and His people. Part of the rhythmic structure of Missio Dei is the breaking up of its calendar. These rhythms allow for people to make easy transitions into the church and community. TERM SYSTEM Missio Dei as a whole has developed rhythms that seek to cultivate a healthy relationship with Jesus and His people. Part of the rhythmic structure of Missio Dei is the breaking up of its calendar. These rhythms allow for people to make easy transitions into the church and community. CONNECT MONTH The first month of each term is referred to as Connect Month. Sermon series at Missio Dei are planned around the term calendar. At least one Connect Month each year is set aside to take a break from longer sermon series and conduct a short series to cast or correct the vision and direction of Missio Dei Church. Connect Month is also a time to offer classes for the members and attenders of Missio Dei. This is when member classes are offered to people who want to connect in covenant with the members of Missio Dei Church. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 26
PART 3: Missio Community Rhythms Additionally, Connect Month creates an easy entrance point into volunteering, community, or learning at Missio Dei. Connect Month contains trainings for Missio Community Leaders, the Sunday Experience Team, and begins a new cycle of Gospel School. These are opportunities to connect into leadership and grow in knowledge as a church. These various trainings and classes, as well as vision-casting sermons, allow Missio Dei to pause and put into practice everything that has been learned and taught over the previous term. RHYTHMS AS MISSIO COMMUNITIES As Missio Dei as a whole conducts its rhythms around terms, Missio Communities rely heavily on the term system. Multiplication, assessment, evaluation, growth, and rest are born out of the rhythms of the calendar. AS PART OF MISSIO DEI S RHYTHMS To understand how term-based rhythms affect Missio Communities, it is helpful to walk through a hypothetical term. In January, Missio Communities change their normal rhythms for Connect Month. This means that Missio Communities should pause from formal sermon discussion and take the month to practice what they have learned. For example, a Missio Community who spent October through December focusing on becoming a better as a church community should create space and events that allow its members to experience belonging. This pause from regular sermon discussion also allows the Missio Community Leader to rest. During the Connect Month, MCLs will gather together for training and to assess new potential leaders. The break allows the MCLs to help develop these new leaders and evaluate themselves. During this time, Regional Elders should be meeting with leaders to provide coaching and care. They also will develop a strategic vision for the regions coming term. For the community members, Connect Month frees some time and capacity to attend Membership Classes and Connect Classes where they can be learning from the leadership team for Missio Dei as a whole. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 27
PART 3: Missio Community Rhythms The pause in sermon discussion does not mean a pause in community. A healthy community should see informal sermon discussion as they participate as families, learners, worshipers, and missionaries together. At the end of Connect Month, everyone at Missio Dei is asked to sign up for their Missio Communities. By asking each person to sign up, it forces them to commit to presence in a term. It also allows people who have been attending Sunday service an easy on ramp. Finally, it gives leaders the opportunity to multiply and transition leadership. Sign ups each term should not become opportunities to flee from conflict in an individual s existing community, this would be corrected by the leadership of Missio Dei. February starts a new term of formal sermon discussion. After the Connect Month, Missio Communities commence their normal rhythms of formal sermon discussion and mission. It also starts a new set of rhythms, developed by the regional and community leaders, to cultivate health specific to that communtiy. INDIVIDUAL COMMUNITIES LOOK DIFFERENT Each community will have a different set of rhythms that vary based upon age, life stage, and community size. However, the rhythms should be in line with the rhythms of Missio Dei as a whole. Certain communities may spend each week doing formal discussion as a whole group. Others may spend a week each month working together for outreach. The vision of these rhythms should be cast by the Missio Community Leader with his/her Regional Elder and then explained to the community. Some examples of healthy rhythms Missio Communities can adopt, depending on strategic vision and capacity, are: group sermon discussion, split discussion by gender, community-wide dinner, outreach, Bible study, and specific night of singing and prayer. The rhythms of a Missio Community should always be approved by the community s Regional Elder. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 28
PART 4: Multiplying Missio Communities PART 4 MULTIPLYING MISSIO COMMUNITIES MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 29
PART 4: Multiplying Missio Communities WHAT IS MULTIPLICATION? The goal for Missio Communities is to experience healthy growth. Part of experiencing healthy growth is to be casting a vision to multiply Missio Communities. Multiplication is a good thing, but can be difficult to navigate. So before the process of multiplication is executed, the purpose of multiplication should be understood. PURPOSE Missio Communities are the primary function of Missio Dei as the church scattered. As new people visit Missio Dei, they are encouraged to plug into a Missio Community to experience Jesus through God s people. Missio Communities also serve as missionary groups themselves. A healthy community should be reaching new people with the Gospel and growing their community. As people connect to growing Missio Communities, the community may become large enough to multiply. MULTIPLICATION, NOT DIVORCE Multiplication is not a divorce or a split. When a group multiplies, friendships should not cease. A multiplication does create two groups with different leaders, in different homes, on different nights; it does not, however, aim to split a community. One of the aspects of Missio Communities is being a church community. Church communities exist to point one another toward the Cross of Christ in all aspects of life. Being a church community also means that we should experience a sense of belonging. Belonging is one of the core benchmarks used to assess the health of a community or individual. Think of the metaphor of a biological family. When you are born into a family it starts small. Within your immediate family you have a few brothers and sisters and parents. As time goes on, family members grow, get married, and have kids. Before we know it, our dinner table is both larger and smaller. Our tables become larger as we celebrate together, but smaller each night. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 30
PART 4: Multiplying Missio Communities A Missio Community is like that growing family. In time, the family has become smaller, growing families. Your siblings have their own families, their own homes, and their own tables. Yet, at the same time, their collective table is growing and ever present. When our siblings have kids, do our own families not grow? Since we no longer share the same roof, is our brother any less our brother? Multiplication is the expanding of the community of healthy people whom God is claiming for himself. It is an expansion of Missio Dei Church and the Kingdom of God. This is the key to understanding multiplication in a healthy manner. Missio Communities are broken up into regions. These regions are geographically based and lead by a Regional Elder. Since Missio Communities are also neighborhoodbased, the goal is that multiplication should also grow the region. As multiplication happens, regional health becomes even more important. CHURCH GROWTH THROUGH REGIONAL GROWTH As multiplication happens, the structure of the community region is realized. Missio Dei has a desire to plant more campuses than to grow a single campus. As a region grows, there becomes an increasing plan to see a plant in that area. When Missio Dei hits a breaking point in growth at the main campus, it turns to its regions to select the next campus. If regions are the seeds of a potential church plant, the health of a region is important. The region needs to see growth and health based on the benchmarks of belonging, learner, worshiper, and missionary. A region that lacks healthly belonging could become a campus with an unhealthy view of belonging. Multiplication is how regions grow. Healthy multiplication leads to health regions, and the health of the regions determines the health of the church. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 31
PART 4: Multiplying Missio Communities PROCESS Each Missio Community is unique in its rhythms and members. Therefore the exact way a Missio Community multiplies differs slightly from one to another. When it comes time for a community to multiply, its health and members must remain a top concern. If a community refuses to multiply when necessary, it can delay continual growth and place stress among its members to maintain health. If a Missio Community multiplies prematurely, it may produce two struggling communities. To protect the health of communities, the timing and leadership involved in multiplication will be primarily based on assessment in place of a strict process. CASTING EARLY VISION Part of protecting health in multiplication means casting an early vision for when that time comes. Healthy Missio Communities will produce more healthy Missio Communities. This is a similar model of Missio Dei. As Missio Dei produces and multiplies into healthy campuses, each campus should be growing to multiply again. Within Missio Communities, a potential barrier to healthy multiplication are the relationships themselves. To help, it is the role of the Missio Community Leader to cast an early vision for multiplication. If a Missio Community strives toward health while seeking multiplication as an expected fruit, it should cultivate within itself a healthy view and excitement around multiplication. GROW, DEVELOP, MULTIPLY The guidelines around assessment are rooted in the unique abilities of each leader and each Missio Community. This affirms the church s value of people over process. GROW Healthy communities should be growing numerically. As part of being a gospel centered, neighborhood focused, church community, the community should be engaging unbelievers as well as welcoming newcomers to the church. Both of these should result in growth. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 32
PART 4: Multiplying Missio Communities DEVELOP As Missio Communities grow and cast vision for multiplication, its leaders should be continually identifying potential leaders. In 2 Timothy 2:2 Paul admonishes that we are to entrust to faithful men the Gospel he has proclaimed. As leaders are identified, they are assessed. This assessment will determine the development of the individual. These assessments take place after the Connect Month training each January, May, and September. The applicant will be assessed by their Regional Elder and Missio Community Leader. After the assessment, the applicant will be given a development plan that will vary depending on the individual. MULTIPLY Once a leader has been identified and developed, a community will send out its leader to plant a new community. The question becomes, how is this done in a healthy way? First, remember that a multiplication is not a divorce of community. In order to help facilitate healthy multiplication it should be done in stages. The first term after a multiplication, the two communities should seek to have a monthly rhythm of meeting together. This should help establish a wide sense of belonging among both communities. Secondly, as communities multiply, the region should be creating more rhythms. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 33
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PART 5: DNA Groups PART 5 DNA GROUPS MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 35
PART 5: DNA Groups CHRISTIAN ACCOUNTABILITY, DNA GROUPS Developing a healthy Christian identity relies heavily on discipleship. One of the main functions of Missio Communities is just that. Christians should always be both disciples and disciple makers while we grow in our own dependence on Jesus. Beyond group discussion, DNA Groups serve as a great tool for discipleship. DNA Group are groups of three or four men or women (DNA Groups should never mix gender) who meet regularly to share what they are learning and how they are growing as believers in Jesus. They, at the core, are accountability groups; places where the Christian can take the messiest and most joyful aspects of his life and be pointed to the Cross of Christ. DNA Groups, though optional, are an important aspect of Missio Communities. WHAT IS A DNA GROUP? A DNA Group is essentially an accountability group. DNA stands for Discover, Nurture, and Action. They are, simply put, groups of three to four men or women who meet regularly to share what they are learning and how they are growing as followers of Christ. DNA groups provide structure around gathering to cultivate gospel-centered discipleship and glad obedience. DISCOVER Within the context of discovery, DNA Groups listen and learn about each other s lives. They open the Bible together, keeping the Word of God central, and talk about where it challenges them. The DNA Group discusses what they are learning from personal reading, sermon discussion, and reading together. NURTURE Within the context of nurturing, DNA Groups repent and believe together. The DNA group members confess sin to one another and move toward repentance and belief of the Gospel. They address sin, anger, fear, and anxiety in each other s lives and push each other toward the truth of the Gospel and forgiveness in Christ. MISSIO COMMUNITIES THEOLOGICAL VISION: Establishing Gospel Centered Community 36