The word missional is being tossed around a lot right now. I even mentioned living missionally on my “about page”. The video below is Scott McKnight giving a little insight about what it is to be a missional community.

It’s only about 2 minutes long so have your coffee cup full. It won’t take you long to watch this so just look around the blog here while you finish your coffee break.

Any thoughts or comments?

He who receives you receives me [Jesus], and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. – Matthew 10:40 NIV

Grace and Peace,

Terry

Beth and I had the opportunity to go to her family reunion last weekend at the home of her brother. We had a great time visiting with relatives and friends although the attendance was not as large as in past years.

I was able to observe how people informally gathered into smaller groups for conversation. There were often 12 to 15 people in the living room/kitchen but I never saw a group larger than 4 engaging in conversation. After a while, a member of one of the groups would leave and join another group or the groups would disengage and new groups would assemble.

It reinforced for me that the smaller the group, the more time you can spend with other members of the group. It is also easier to participate in the conversation.

Using Ralph Neighbour’s formula in The Shepherd’s Guidebook we can calculate the following number of conversation channels:

When your cell group, small group, or simple church meets, the lines of communication are important. The larger the group becomes, the easier it is for members to be left out of the conversation. More passive members will move to the fringes and more talkative members will dominate. After 15 persons, the ability for people to know each other intimately is greatly diminished.

Comments?

Grace and Peace,

Terry

Leaning forward in her chair as tears welled up in her eyes she shared the hurt of the previous day. We had prayed with her and shared her hopes, so it was our hurt as well. Except for her church friends, only one other person came.

The birthday party for her preschool son was to be more than just a party. She had hoped that it would bring two relational groups together – her church friends and her friends who don’t follow Christ. She longed to see the two groups mingle. To see new friendships established. To let her fellow Christ followers join her in the harvest.

Her pain was not for her son. He had a great time doing life with his simple church family. The presents were plenteous and the cake delicious. The laughter and fellowship flowed like birthday punch. We had a great time – but they didn’t come.

What did we do?

Sitting with her, we identified with her hurt. She shared her pain and we encouraged her. We committed to keep on working.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. – Galatians 6:9 NIV

We like to share our victories and shy away from our disappointments. But we can learn a lot from those difficult times.

Grace and Peace,
Terry

Church is more than having a weekly meeting – large or small. It includes doing life together. Being part of God’s family is about being connected in friendships. Besides needing a group of friends with whom we can spend a lot of time, doing everyday stuff together is just plain fun.

Let me encourage you to find a group of Christ followers with whom you can…

• celebrate special occasions
• have some place to go on the holidays when you have no family near
• hang out with watching the Final Four, Dancing with the Stars, Lost…
• call on in the middle of the night for help in a crisis
• share food, fun, laughter and tears

Randy Frazee writes:

“For most of the last decade of the twentieth century, two television shows, Seinfeld and Friends, consistently received the top awards from the People’s Choice Awards…What both shows have in common is a small group of friends that go in and out of each other’s lives and apartments spontaneously more times in a half hour than most ‘real’ Americans experience in a year. Seinfeld even promoted itself as a show ‘about nothing.’ Why would busy Americans watch a show about nothing? Because it wasn’t about nothing—it was about a group of great friends spending lots of spontaneous time together, talking about everyday stuff and loving every minute of it.”- Randy Frazee; The Connecting Church, page 123

Get together with a group of friends this week and enjoy being together.

Grace and Peace,
Terry

Join the Conversation: What are some things your simple church or small group does to experience life together?

This Easter I read the accounts of Christ’s final week before the cross looking for insight as to what his activities teach me about his mission. I wanted to know how I could better participate in that mission (John 20:21). I gained some new perspectives on the 7 days leading up to Easter.

Christ’s post-resurrection activities.

I’ve been thinking about what shape Christ’s mission took in his post resurrection activities. What did Jesus do during the 40 days between the resurrection and the ascension?

Today I read “Jesus is Risen but What Happened to the Kingdom?” by Christine Sine over at Godspace. She writes,

“No neon lights, no CNN interviews, no leading armies against the Roman legions. All we see is a man spending time with his friends – sharing meals, (even cooking breakfast for them) calming their fears, dispelling their doubts and overturning their confusion…”

It got me to thinking about how Jesus did life together with his followers. He sends us as agents of reconciliation in  his Kingdom mission but he also models for us the life habit of doing everyday stuff with fellow sojourners.

Christine draws these conclusions and I resonate in agreement with her,

“…maybe the kingdom looks like us living as representatives of that loving God – loving others as God loved us – sharing meals and other resources, calming fears, dispelling doubts and in the process laying the foundations for a loving, caring community such as we see portrayed in the book of Acts.”

Grace and Peace,
Terry

Join the Conversation: How does spending time with other Christ followers fulfill the Kingdom mission on which we are sent by Jesus?

Our prayer retreat was a family retreat. Sometimes the children romped and played children’s games with one another but we also did a lot of things intergenerationally. We ate together, sang together, told stories together, played board games together, studied the Bible together and prayed together.

Doing things together.

I got to spend some time in conversion with Joelle and P.J. during dinner on Saturday evening. Joelle and I talked about her favorite subjects and her 2nd grade friends.  She told me about a close friend who was going to move because her dad was looking for a new job. Her mom and dad also joined in the conversation.

Around the campfire we shared some great stories. We did not limit our singing to fun songs with motions and actions. The children sang along with us in praise and worship.

David was bold and slept in his tent with four boys, preschool to age 12.

Several adults and the children played board games together. Their laughter was contagious and heart warming.

Studying God’s Word Together

One of the most rewarding things for me was the intergenerational nature of our Bible study on Saturday afternoon. We examined the prayer life of Jesus form the gospels. We were divided into two groups and the children were grouped with their parents. They read scripture and asked and answered questions. We did not “dumb” down the study time but simply included them in the conversation about the times and manner of the Jesus’ prayer life.

We need to remember that Jesus’ parents found him, at age 12, in the temple sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. (Luke 2:46-52)

Don’t take your children for granted and don’t send them off to a back room to watch a video. Sit down and talk with them. Play a game with them. Study God’s Word with them. Pray with them.

Father, help us understand that corporate prayer means intergenerational prayer.

Grace and Peace,
Terry

Join the conversation: What are some ways we can be more intergenerational in our church gatherings?