Category: faq
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Aren’t Missional Communities Just Small Groups?
Recently I was asked by a reader on this blog and partner in our church: Is the bar so high in missional community that no one can reach it? Or, only a few groups can reach it? In the end, don’t you essentially have a small group ministry with different terminology? In healthy churches, aren’t…
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Where Do We Do Third Place?
Recently I was asked: As I am trying to lead our small groups toward missional communities, my people are starting to get the concept of third place. One thing that would be really helpful is if you could give examples of what several different missional communities do in terms of 3rd place, frequency of different…
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Multiple Third Place Environments
Recently I received the following question on Third Place: We planted our church in ’07. Currently, our Gospel Communities meet for a meal together and Bible discussion twice a month (every other week), and people meet in tripods (LTG’s) the other two weeks. While our GC’s have certainly done “Third Place” gatherings, that is not…
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Suburbs and Missional Communities
Over the next few weeks, I’ve asked several members of our team at The Austin Stone to write on different aspects of missional community in different contexts. Today, Jon Dansby is going to share some learning points from practicing missional community in the suburbs of Austin. Jon serves as a campus pastor at our St.…
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Implementing LTGs in a Small Group
In a recent conversation with a pastor from another church, I was asked: “Practically, how do you go about forming Life Transformation Groups in a small group that is used to meeting once a week?” I actually get that question quite often, so I thought it would make a good topic for a post here.…
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Why Don’t We Call Missional Communities Churches?
Friday FAQ Recently I was asked: “What would keep you from calling the missional communities “churches”? It seems to me that they are actually functioning and reflecting what a church is supposed to be.” That’s actually a question I’ve received fairly often, especially from those in the more “organic” or house church world. I have…
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Transitioning to Missional Communities
Friday FAQ I am often asked: “What recommendations would you give a church that relies (and has relied for quite some time) on a traditional Sunday-school or small group model?” While every situation is different and requires specific situational wisdom, generally I would say a few things: Affirm what is excellent about an existing model…
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The Family Meeting – What Do You Talk About?
This series will drill down on the missional community practice called “The Family Meeting”. Although there isn’t a formula, here are some things to consider putting into practice: Sharing a Meal What Do You Talk About? An Evening of Prayer Celebrating Communion —– In the previous post, I covered the meal part of our gathering.…
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The Family Meeting – Sharing a Meal
This series will drill down on the missional community practice called “The Family Meeting”. Although there isn’t a formula, here are some things to consider putting into practice: Sharing a Meal What Do You Talk About? An Evening of Prayer Celebrating Communion —– How to Conduct the Missional Community Family Meeting Rather than dive into…
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Missional Community with Different Ages of Children
Perhaps the single most frequently asked question I receive with respect to missional communities is “what do we do with our children?”. For this next series, I’m going to focus on answering that question from multiple different angles: Why involve your children? Kids and the Family Meal Kids and LTGs Kids and Third Place Kids…
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Kids, Missional Community and Demonstrating the Gospel
Perhaps the single most frequently asked question I receive with respect to missional communities is “what do we do with our children?”. For this next series, I’m going to focus on answering that question from multiple different angles: Why involve your children? Kids and the Family Meal Kids and LTGs Kids and Third Place Kids…
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Kids and Third Place
Perhaps the single most frequently asked question I receive with respect to missional communities is “what do we do with our children?”. For this next series, I’m going to focus on answering that question from multiple different angles: Why involve your children? Kids and the Family Meal Kids and LTGs Kids and Third Place Kids…