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.
What Gospel Fluency Sounds Like
Most of us grew up with a gospel that was mainly about the afterlife. Avoid hell. Get to heaven. Manage sin in the meantime. But quietly, you start to wonder — is this it? Is this all Jesus came to give us? It’s a fair question, and the answer might surprise you.
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we’re going to unpack what it looks like to live with a bigger gospel — one that has something real to say about your marriage, your money, your identity, and your Tuesday afternoon. We call this Gospel Fluency. And it changes everything.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- Why the gospel is good news for right now — not just the afterlife
- A simple 4-question process for applying the gospel to any situation
- How what you believe about God shapes how you see yourself
- What it looks like when discipleship becomes naturally good news
Who Broke the Missional Movement?
About a decade ago, the “missional movement” promised to transform the Church and make loads of new disciples. It was supposed to break down barriers in our culture, stopping the decline of church attendance nationwide. So who broke the missional movement?
Unfortunately, the answer may be closer than we think. (more…)
The Reward of Being a Lifelong Learner
Most of us hit a point where life got full and learning got quiet. We stopped reading, stopped asking questions, stopped sitting across from people who could actually sharpen us. We tell ourselves we’re too busy — but the truth is, we just haven’t made the decision to keep growing.
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we’re going to talk about what it actually looks like to build a lifelong learning practice — and why this one posture changes everything: your marriage, your parenting, your faith, your work, and the kind of person people see you becoming.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- Why the posture of a learner changes everything else in your life
- How to find and meet with people who are ahead of you in the areas that matter
- A simple system for building a year-round reading list that actually gets read
- The one decision that puts all of this in motion — and how to make it stick
Why Missional Community Will Never Work in Your Context
In this installment of “Ask Caesar” I answer the question of why a missional community will fail in your context. It’s a question I get asked A LOT, one that is most often put to me, though, as an objection. It usually sounds something like this…
“I think that missional community life probably works great where you live, but you don’t understand my context. People are different here… they’ll never have you into their homes, or come over to your place. Folks are just too busy or not open to relationship like this in our city.” (more…)
Marriage, Singleness, and Our Identity in Christ
Most of us in the church have heard the message, even if no one said it out loud: get married, have a family, and you’ll be complete. We’ve built so many of our rhythms and language around marriage as the destination that singleness has quietly become a waiting room.
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we’re going to look at how the church’s narratives about marriage and singleness have limited us — and what it looks like to find real wholeness and identity in Christ, whether you have a ring on your finger or not.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- What the Bible actually says about marriage — and what it doesn’t
- Why singleness in the church gets treated like a problem to fix
- How our language about marriage unintentionally excludes and diminishes
- What it means to be complete in Christ regardless of relationship status
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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.