The First Time I Tried Starting a Missional Community I Failed
Have you ever tried starting a missional community from scratch?
“Missional” is a label we give to the qualitative and descriptive aspect of how a church or group of people actually lives. My buddy Hugh Halter says it simply,
“It’s about how much like Jesus people become… how much they influence, woo, and transform the culture in which they are placed.”
A family, group of friends or church that lives like this… Sounds good!
Well, a few years ago my friends all thought so too. We were excited to be rebels who were starting a missional community.
Excited, that is, until things progressed to where we moved beyond our weekly meal and discussion about being missional. It was time to start heading out and building new relationships, serving those in need in our city… actually making disciples.
That’s when everyone recoiled a bit.
Let’s Try This Missional Community Thing Again
Now I’ve learned how to make discipleship and mission a reality–something simple that everyone can live out in everyday life.
What I didn’t know back in those earlier days of starting a missional community was that while most Christians want to make disciples and live on mission with God, they also feel way to busy!
Often, when moving toward a lifestyle of discipleship and mission, people become overwhelmed with what they perceive as the risk of their family time, “margins” and sanity!
The secret is moving from “additional” to “intentional” in our thinking.
Discipleship is not a set of activities we need to jam into our lives, or a series classes that we need to take. And a missional community is more than just a weekly meeting of our small group with a name change.
It’s a series of simple, rhythms or “moves” we can easily, and intentionally, engage in our everyday life. Step by step.
Imagine…
- Making new friendships that naturally lead to “doing life” together.
(I can show you how.) - Or knowing how to talk with others about spiritual things without feeling awkward or pushy.
Discipleship becomes a way of life that includes your kids, close friends and neighbors.
That’s what my family and friends now experience.
If you want it… I’m here to get you started without all the headaches, stop/starts and frustration.
The best part? It’s 7 simple steps.
This process takes a little effort and intentionality. But it’s not complicated. And it’s one of the fastest ways I’ve discovered to get started with others making disciples and building community.
(You can do Steps 1 and 2 today!)
I want to give you access to this free Start-Up Guide (including ‘How To Start a Missional Community From Scratch’). Just click the button below and I’ll send it over.
Gospel Fluency For Your Family and Church
Every sin and emotional issue that stands in the way of our faithfulness to God’s design, and Jesus’ commands, is ultimately a Gospel issue. The Bible teaches that all sin is the outcome of unbelief in God. We can learn to apply the truth about God and the Good News to every area of our lives.
In this episode, Caesar is joined by two different disciple-making practitioners as they talk about how they’ve learned to speak the good news of the Gospel into their family life and with those in their church. This is a very practical example of Gospel Fluency in action.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- How Tina has learned to “gospel” her own heart and areas of unbelief.
- Why taking the time to learn and practice the language of the Gospel is essential.
- The ways Pastor Tim is using his Gospel Fluency in leading the church.
- The importance of learning to speak, live and enjoy the Gospel in ALL of life!
What is the Difference Between Common Grace and Common Good?
Once upon a time in a city far, far away I was part of a missional community that decided that we wanted to bless our neighborhood; to do something for the common good of the ‘hood.
We knew of a seriously neglected community garden near us that needed some love, so brothers and sisters spent weeks organizing an “extreme makeover” of the space. The goal was to give back to the neighbors something that would be good for everyone and build a sense of community among the residents.
That would be awesome, right?
7 Evangelism Mistakes You’re Probably Making
Evangelism has almost become a dirty word in our culture. Sadly, it’s not all that different in many churches. We either go all-in with enthusiasm only to find that most people aren’t interested, or we’ve quietly given up on it altogether. But what if we’re missing the heart of evangelism?
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we’ll define what true biblical evangelism is (and what it’s not) while uncovering the 7 worst evangelism mistakes Christians make today.
Even when we’re confident in our faith and what the Bible teaches, how we communicate and carry ourselves speaks volumes about who God is. God isn’t pushy—he’s patient. He’s gentle, loving, and always available. Our approach to evangelism should reflect that same heart.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- What the Bible actually teaches about evangelism.
- Are all Christians called to be evangelists?
- Why so many believers are looking for ways to “opt out” of evangelizing.
- The 7 biggest evangelism mistakes today—and a better way forward.
Is Your Church Successful? New Benchmarks
Jesus was immeasurably the most successful person in human history. In every way. Yet, if we were to measure his lifetime effectiveness using today’s Church benchmarks of success, Jesus would probably find it hard to get hired on at most churches. What are you measuring?
This week on the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we look at why some of the traditional ways we’ve been measuring church success are not producing kingdom growth and mature disciples. Here are the new benchmarks of a successful church.
Your church or community really can shift toward missional engagement. By changing what you measure, you’ll begin to change your focus to accomplishing the Church’s true mission and its ultimate purpose.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- Why what your church is measuring may actually be toxic.
- How our current standards of success are very different than Jesus’.
- What happens when we begin to measure and fund different goals.
- 10 new benchmarks of a successful, missional church.
5 Things You Must Do: The Secret To Making Friends Quickly
I have noticed that a lot of folks seem to have lost the art of making friends. Maybe its just a modern culturural phenomenon for everyone, but it sure seems to be the case amongst our tribe.
I get asked all the time how my wife, Tina, and I can have so many friends and deep connections with people. “Oh, you guys must be super extroverted…I guess I’m just not like that.” Nope, that’s not it. We may be more extroverted than some folks, but that’s not why we have a lot of friends.
Let me share our secret to making friends quickly. I’ll break it down into 5 main categories. (more…)
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ABOUT ME
I am the author of the top selling book, The Gospel Primer. My latest books, Transformed and Small is Big, Slow is Fast came out recently on Zondervan.
I help those with a high commitment to intentional living in the areas of their discipleship, family and mission acquire the leadership skills and tools necessary to succeed and leave a lasting legacy.