Perhaps It's Not What You Think It Is...

The natural question that follows, when we say The Table - Lancaster County seeks to plant Missional Communities is …

What is a Missional Community?

Missionary: "one who is sent on a mission" (TheFreeDictionary.com)

I love this explanation of “missionary”!

Mission: “a special assignment given to a person or group” (TheFreeDictionary.com)

Community: “a unified body of individuals: such as… a group of people with a common characteristic or interest, living together within a larger society” (Merriam-Webster.com)

Using these definitions, I think it is safe to state the following:

A Missional Community is “a unified group of people, doing life together, who share a common characteristic, and who have been sent on a common assignment”.

Defining that common characteristic and assignment will be the topics for many future blogs. Today, however, please allow me to just make mention of some of the functions that characterize this community of people, and state that their assignment can be summed up in some of the last words spoken by Jesus Christ while He walked this earth… Go therefore and make disciples…”. (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV)

If this Missional Community is authentic, and true to its purpose, we hope you would see the following functioning within the community, and also lived out by the community, as they carry out their mission/assignment in the world around them.

1. A PRESENCE with one another on a regular basis 2. LISTENING carefully to the stories of others 3. SHARING their own stories, and how they intersected with Jesus’ story 4. INVITING others to take their next step with Jesus

5. TEACHING and modeling - through the process of Waiting on the Holy Spirit… Watching where He is working… and Walking in the fruit He is bearing

(These functions are listed, and further explained, in Slow Down: A Timeless Approach,

by Russ Johnson, Gino Curcuruto, and Tony Sorci and can be found at TheTableNetwork.com)

* Next: Finding The Perfect Presents