Life together is an integral part of the Christian faith and the Kingdom of God.
What does a healthy church community look like? So many churches are trying to get larger. They put a lot of time, energy, and money into their pursuit of getting bigger. And yet size does not always equate to quality. A true gospel community is going to be good for the church body, ‘attractional’ to the watching world, and conducive for discipleship.
In this series summary today we are going to focus on community. How to create a culture that supports community; how gospel community serve as an apologetic for the faith, and how true discipleship is essential for creating a community of growth.
First up…
Culture for Community
Church community is not a once or twice-a-week event- it’s a matter of doing life together. But this kind of synergy does not happen automatically or without effort. In my post, The Right Culture for Community, I provided excerpts from a book I co-wrote with Eric Geiger entitled Transformational Groups. Small groups, groups in general are key to forming community. Being strategic with your groups is also key.
When it comes to group development, churches appear to be either prone to strategy or prone to organic experience. With strategy churches can fall prey to an assembly-line mentality. With organic experience they may never do anything. There is room for a third category: a strategic culture of community. We need to create systems that move people from being passive spectators to becoming active participants in small-group life.
This kind of strategy is essential form creating a culture conducive to community. Once this is done, we should not underestimate the power of our group in demonstrating the gospel to a watching world, which brings us to the second …
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