Missional Ecclesiology: Problems and Pitfalls (Part 2)
...Unhealthy MC’s see it as the elders’ job to make disciples; as a result, the MC becomes little more than a social group to keep people connected to the church until someone else makes them into disciples. Healthy MC’s are gripped with the realization that 1) Jesus has commanded them to make disciples, 2) the Holy Spirit has gifted them to make disciples, and 3) they will answer to God for their faithfulness in making disciples. They view themselves as a vital disciple-making community and they expend every effort to faithfully accomplish that work. Their commitment to making disciples keeps them from rigidity. But the weight and importance of disciplemaking helps them honor biblical authority and avoid going rogue.
Missional Ecclesiology: Problems and Pitfalls (Part 1)
Combining a high view of eldership with a decentralized ministry model creates the possibility for two opposite errors at the missional community level: MC’s can go rogue or become rigid.The Rogue MC is a missional community (or missional community leader) that operates without elder accountability or oversight...The Rigid MC is a missional community (or missional community leader) that can’t (or is unwilling to) function without constant elder/staff oversight...We’ve seen both these mistakes in our church over the past six years. We’ve learned that to avoid both rogue and rigid missional communities, church leaders must clearly answer three questions...
Missional Communities: How to Assess Health
Over the years we have used a number of different metrics to determine the health of Coram Deo's missional communities. Last year I sat down and asked the question: what are the intuitive marks of a healthy MC? When the movement leaders around me point to an MC and say "that's healthy," what are the common denominators we're identifying? Here are the four indicators I came up with...
On the Beauty of "Forced Community"
We ask everyone at Coram Deo to be involved in a missional community. People who object to this structure commonly complain that missional community is forced community. “It isn’t made up of friends I’ve personally chosen. These relationships have been imposed upon me. They’re not natural.” Or, to say it another way: a missional community is a little too much like a family. Which is, of course, quite biblical.
Training Event: Evangelism & the Missional Church
What does it mean to “share the gospel?" Some of us don’t even know. Others of us are jaded by bad experiences: pushy people, emotional manipulation, gospel tracts devoid of relationship. Most evangelism training methods are stuck in the 80's, rooted in cultural assumptions that are no longer true. To borrow a metaphor from Tim Keller, we tend to assume the "intellectual furniture" of God, man, sin, Christ, and faith is already present in our hearers' minds and just needs to be rearranged. But what if the furniture isn't there in the first place?Coram Deo's leaders have seen a pressing need in our church for better training in this area. So, in partnership with Porterbrook Omaha, we’re bringing in a friend: Reid Monaghan, a fellow Acts 29 pastor from New Jersey. Reid will train us in the “how-to’s” of sharing the gospel – in the context of a missional church and a post-Christian culture. No tract-bombing. No canned gospel presentations. No “close-the-deal” salesmanship. Just a theologically rooted, biblically faithful, contextually appropriate way of talking about Jesus.We're excited to open this event to all of our friends in Omaha who might benefit. Please help us spread the word. For further details or to RSVP, go here.
Redemption Stories: Lisa
One of our favorite projects is telling Redemption Stories - stories of real people who have been changed by Jesus. We do this both through video and through writing. Here's the story - in her own written words - of God's grace in the life of Lisa, who has been around Coram Deo for about four years now and recently became a church member along with her husband Ryan. During the services at Coram Deo, I remember I would look around and see people worshiping. I felt so out of place. It was scary to look next to me, to see changes happening in Ryan. I felt like I was being left behind. Ryan’s heart was starting to change. He developed a love for the homeless. He was no longer interested in going out drinking with me. He wanted to discuss how we were living sinful lives. For fear of an impending breakup, I started attending a small group through the church called a missional community (MC). Ryan had been attending and connecting with this group, and after all, I figured they were the lucky ones to have me. I could put on a good front, loving Jesus, loving others, while still living the same lifestyle.
"Being Missional"
Coram Deo is a missional church. As such, we talk a lot about the mission of God, about our identity as His missionaries or "sent ones," and about what it means to live on mission. But sometimes when I stop and listen, I'm frustrated with all this missional talk. Using the word "missional" doesn't make us good missionaries.
Video Interview: Why We're Merging Our Churches
Recently, Justin Dean sat down with me and Ethan Burmeister to talk about how the Coram Deo/Core merger came together and what we've learned in the process. Here's the video.