What is a Missional Community? – Pocket of People

This is the fourth post in the series “What is a Missional Community?”  We have defined a missional community as:

A community of Christ followers on mission with God in obedience to the Holy Spirit that demonstrates tangibly and declares creatively the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a specific pocket of people.

—–

Finally, we turn to who the community exists for: “A Pocket of People”.  God’s grace in Jesus is good news for those in the church and those outside the church – we all need the gospel!  

Just as the Father sent the Son to a specific time, place, and people, so the Spirit does with the church, sending us to specific groups of neighbors.  A missional community is seeking to wrap their lives up with the pocket of people that God has placed them in.

For us, a “neighbor” is anyone you cannot avoid or anyone who has needs that you have the resources to meet.  Your neighbor may be those who live next-door, those you work with, those you play with, or those with whom you share some sort of affinity.

Your neighbor may also be someone you have little in common with but whom God has placed squarely in your path or specifically called or commanded you to care for. 

A missional community is a group of people who have a common set of neighbors and are intentionally living lives among them together.