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"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?” – Jesus (Matt 5:13)
In January of 2012, TFUMC will begin the process of launching a network of missional communities called Salt.
What are missional communities?
Missional communities are groups of disciples, committed to reorienting their lives to reach a specific neighborhood or network of relationships with the gospel. A missional community is not another program to add to your busy schedule, but is instead another way of doing church. Simple. Relational. Missional communities would operate in Thomasville much like a group of missionaries who would be dropped into a foreign culture: participants would enter into the surrounding culture, intentionally build relationships with those who don’t know Christ, invite them to join their community which is intentionally serving the needs of the city, apprenticing them as missionaries as well, and looking for opportunities to plant more missional communities.
What would a missional community look like?
• The primary gatherings would be in the homes of participants for scripture reading, prayer, and sharing a meal together, though these communities would also gather with the larger church body for worship, celebration and visioning.
• A missional community would identify a specific mission field such as a particular neighborhood, school or workplace. They would then invest their time there, building relationships, meeting needs, and sharing the love of Christ in tangible ways. Most missional communities will regularly host parties or events for their unchurched friends.
• Curious non-Christians are welcome to join in. As they get up close and personal they can get a “taste” of what following Jesus is all about. If they choose to follow Jesus on mission they join the rest of the group in being discipled towards serving God with their whole life and maybe eventually leading their own missional community.
What is the purpose of missional communities?
The purpose of Salt will be to reach and make disciples of people who would probably never attend a church service in the first place. Consider these statistics. On any given Sunday in America, 65% of the Builder generation is in a church service. 35% of Boomers can be found in church. 15% of Generation X. And for Generation Y (those under 30 years old) only 4% can be found in church on Sunday. Even though these numbers may look slightly different here in the Bible Belt, you can see where this is headed. Instead of us saying, “If you feel comfortable crossing all the cultural barriers, we have a meeting on our turf that you are welcome to attend,” missional communities is an attempt to enter into the world of those we wish to reach and “be the church” in their world.
How are missional communities different than other small groups or Sunday school classes?
While small groups and Sunday school classes are a very important part of a church’s efforts to disciple its members, they are not the same as missional communities. Small groups and Sunday school are primarily focused on helping church members grow in their faith through Bible study, prayer, and sharing. On the other hand, missional communities are directed primarily towards those who are beyond the walls of our church with the aim of helping them become disciples of Jesus. Missional communities are often larger than the typical small group and may have small discipleship or accountability groups within the larger group.
What is the plan for implementing missional communities?
Anything new must first begin with a pilot – an “experiment” if you will. Over the last few weeks, Chris Goff has been meeting with a group of families who will be a part of launching our first missional community in January 2012. They have been learning what it means to live as a community on mission and praying about their initial mission focus. As we learn from this initial “experiment” additional missional communities will be multiplied out of this original group, and other interested groups will be assisted in starting additional missional communities. After this first year, TFUMC will evaluate the development of Salt and determine the direction for its future.
Who can participate in missional communities?
This is not a closed group. Anyone who is willing to join a community of disciples in reorienting their lives to reach others with the gospel is welcome to be a part of a missional community.
How can I learn more about missional communities?
First, Chris Goff will be teaching a Sunday school elective about missional communities on November 20 and 27 at 10am in the Chapel. You can choose whichever date is more convenient for you. Chris will teach on missional communities and try to answer any questions you might have.
After November 27, Chris would be willing to visit your Sunday school class or small group to share about missional communities and answer your questions. Contact Chris here to schedule a date.
Here are some other resources if you’d like to investigate missional communities yourself:
• If you are a visual learner, here is a great video about a missional community in Washington. Of course it would look different in our context, but this gives you an idea of what a missional community might look like.
• Verge Network is a gathering spot of information on missional communities with great articles, videos and other resources. Check out their website.
• For missional community basics, you might want to read this Wikipedia article on missional communities.
• If you'd like to read a good book about missional communities check out The Tangible Kingdom.
Why the name Salt?
In Matthew 5 Jesus talks about his followers being the salt of the earth. The Message translation puts it this way: "Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?” As believers, our lives are supposed to add something distinctive to the world around us – to give others a taste of God. But salt that remains in the salt shaker cannot fulfill its purpose. Unless we allow ourselves to be scattered into the world we will not have the influence on our community that God has purposed for us. Salt is an attempt to equip disciples to follow Jesus into our community and give those who might never come to church a taste of God’s kingdom.
If you have additional questions, get in touch with Chris Goff. If similar questions come up repeatedly we’ll post them here as well.