I think we need to be careful about adopting an "either/or" mindset with small groups, i.e. "We can either be inward-focused and oriented toward Bible study, or we can be outward-focused and oriented toward being 'missional' in the community." It doesn't have to be either/or, and I'm not convinced that it *should* be.
The most truly missional small group I have been in had in-depth Bible studies, and out of what we were learning from those studies (and from the regular meetings of the church on Sundays and Wednesdays), we were inspired to live missional lives, *in everyday life.*
Coming to know God better, and to know His heart for the church and for the lost better, built up community among us *and* gave us more missional hearts for the communities-- not just the communities that looked like our church but those all over the city and elsewhere.
If we are truly coming to know God better as Christians (not just intellectually but with every part of ourselves), we will desire and *organically* "create" community among the body, and desire and *organically* "create" a missional mentality which the body will then take out into the world.
This is *not* to say that there is no room for careful teaching and exhortation, from the pulpit and in small groups, on these subjects. There is a huge, even crucial, role for teaching and exhortation here.
From what I have seen though, trying to "create" community and missional mentalities, by *focusing* on them, does not often work. Focusing on truly knowing God better, with thoughtful obedience in all areas of life being the *natural result* of that knowing, does work in creating community and missional-mindedness-- or at least, I have seen it work.
“When we aimed simply for community, we got neither community nor mission. But when we aimed for mission, we got both mission and community almost every single time.”
I think that’s a really important point in light of the purpose of the church. We don’t want to create an unbalanced group, and one might say that focusing too heavily on “mission” might be to neglect the gathering of believers for worship and serving one-another. But, here we see the idea that it’s *on mission* together that we form the lasting relationships where we can worship God, study His Word and serve one another in a deeper more meaningful way.
3 comments:
Wow. Quality video and a really important idea. I honestly hadn't realised this before.
I think we need to be careful about adopting an "either/or" mindset with small groups, i.e. "We can either be inward-focused and oriented toward Bible study, or we can be outward-focused and oriented toward being 'missional' in the community." It doesn't have to be either/or, and I'm not convinced that it *should* be.
The most truly missional small group I have been in had in-depth Bible studies, and out of what we were learning from those studies (and from the regular meetings of the church on Sundays and Wednesdays), we were inspired to live missional lives, *in everyday life.*
Coming to know God better, and to know His heart for the church and for the lost better, built up community among us *and* gave us more missional hearts for the communities-- not just the communities that looked like our church but those all over the city and elsewhere.
If we are truly coming to know God better as Christians (not just intellectually but with every part of ourselves), we will desire and *organically* "create" community among the body, and desire and *organically* "create" a missional mentality which the body will then take out into the world.
This is *not* to say that there is no room for careful teaching and exhortation, from the pulpit and in small groups, on these subjects. There is a huge, even crucial, role for teaching and exhortation here.
From what I have seen though, trying to "create" community and missional mentalities, by *focusing* on them, does not often work. Focusing on truly knowing God better, with thoughtful obedience in all areas of life being the *natural result* of that knowing, does work in creating community and missional-mindedness-- or at least, I have seen it work.
“When we aimed simply for community, we got neither community nor mission. But when we aimed for mission, we got both mission and community almost every single time.”
I think that’s a really important point in light of the purpose of the church. We don’t want to create an unbalanced group, and one might say that focusing too heavily on “mission” might be to neglect the gathering of believers for worship and serving one-another. But, here we see the idea that it’s *on mission* together that we form the lasting relationships where we can worship God, study His Word and serve one another in a deeper more meaningful way.
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