It’s pretty amazing to find that you have family all around the world. Our missional community, a group of 12ish people (plus ? kids), have become the closest circle of that. They have cared for us so well.  They’ve also been able to connect us with all their friends who don’t yet follow Jesus.

Often small groups can fall into one of four types when it comes to their involvement in God’s mission.  (This came out of some time Tomas and I spent with a guy named Steve Timmis two years ago.)

 

#1 | A community of friends.  Nothing wrong with this per se.  We need friends.  But if those friends remain simply friends without ever looking beyond themselves, we do have a problem.  If we are a group of followers of Jesus, we should be a group of friends that looks to serve others, not just a group that looks to meet our own needs. (Philipians 2:4)  So the next group is…

#2 | A community that serves.  Often a community of friends can shift from just being a self-serving community by simply finding a way to serve together.  This could happen with a simple neighborhood project or even just stacking chairs at a Sunday gathering.  Moving from self-serving to others-serving is a great and needed step! We serve because we have been greatly served! (Philippians 2:8)

#3 | A community of missionaries.  Beyond just being called to be a servants we have also been called to be missionaries.  If someone can go from being self-serving, to serving others, to seeing themselves as a sent missionary, then hey – that’s awesome! We can be missionaries wherever our day takes us, and actually we already are, whether we realize it or not.

But, I think that the greater apologetic for the gospel than a community of missionaries is when that group comes together around a mission.  (John 13:35)  That’s the next group.

#4 | A missionary community.  The difference here from the previous group is that we begin to be missionaries together rather than only individually.  Yes, everyone has some relationships that we are individually sent to. That will always be the case, and it should be! But when people who don’t yet follow Jesus are able to experience Jesus followers in community together, well, they get a chance to see what it would be like to be a part of the family of God before they’re ever a part of it.

I believe that this last group is a healthy expression of being the body of Christ to an unbelieving world.  Our missional community is exactly that.  Our “common mission” is nothing more than a collection of friends.  Friends that are no longer “his friends” or “my friends”, but “our friends.”  Some of them meet with us occasionally when we have meals together on Mondays.  Some of them play soccer with us on Tuesday evenings.  Almost everybody shows up for birthday parties.  This last Sunday we had a baby dedication for our little Lulu, and in a Catholic setting like Slovakia, that’s a great moment to invite them to a Sunday gathering.  We did and some came.

We’re thankful for this crew.  Thankful for their care.  And thankful that we can continue to learn what it means to be on God’s mission with them.  Together.