North America
|
Canada
Missional Churches Coming Soon...
USA - West
Generation Church - California, USA
Generation Church
|
Contact: Tim Parlier - tim@gotogeneration.com
|
Website: gotogeneration.com
|
|
At A Glance: Mission: To lead people into healthy relationships with Jesus and each other.
We are convicted that all the things we hope to see in people's lives will be the FRUIT of ROOTS that are growing in health and in deep dependency to the soil of Jesus. We have a very diverse and multi-generational church family so we use that as a strength to get people out of their comfort zones and also to find deep meaningful connection. Many of our leadership is drawn to seeing people grow in emotional and relational health so we put a lot of resources into marital health, discipling students, and pursuing mentors outside of our age groups. We see this impacting guest/not yet believers that truly seek mature Godly wisdom in difficult seasons of life. |
|
OUR MISSIONAL STORY:
1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized? |
Our church was originally planted in 1952 as a Southern Baptist Church to reach military families in our city which borders the largest U.S. Marine Corps base in the western U.S.A. Most of the population was affiliated with the Marine population in our city.
70 years later the church has been through many growth and decline cycles. Under the current leadership (some of which have been around the last 5-10 years) there has been a gradual shift "from the stage to the table". When the prior Pastor transitioned out in 2020 and I stepped in (Tim) it was our expectation that we would continue this revitalization effort and expand missional mindedness to every person in the church through a focus on missional communities with call "Life Groups", DNA groups, and other various ministry functions that allow us to live be on mission together as God's Family in Oceanside. |
2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from? |
We were heavily influenced by the Soma Communities family of churches, Saturate, City to City, Verge Network, para-church movements, etc. We as Elders see the church as a missionary sending entity so that conviction for us is essential to our understanding of the Gospel Identity of every follower of Jesus. We believe Charles Spurgeon nailed it when he said "Every Christian is either a missionary, or an imposter."
Personally I also come from a family tree littered with full-time vocational international missionaries on my mother's side. My conviction toward reaching the not yet believer has been something I've carried my whole life and desire to see domestically/internationally. |
3. What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church? |
The Elders, staff, and increasingly the church family see mission not as something we do, but who we are. Our Elders and staff are leading by example in living missional lives and inviting others into that. Missional living seems to be caught more than taught. We are increasingly living from our missionary identity and trying to equip everyday people for Gospel ministry wherever God has placed them.
|
4. How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision? |
We're structured to have our Elders and leaders investing in life on life missional living with others. This allows for transference of knowledge and application.
We also organize with both - Church gathered, and church-scattered. Gathered: Sundays and events have equipping/sending/attractional elements to them. Scattered: We have missional communities (we call Life Groups) and DNA groups that provide a framework for ongoing discipleship and multiplication. We have men's / women's ministry and other events that are great first steps into relationships for not yet believers as well as local missions partners that help us step into opportunities to serve our city with and alongside not yet believers. |
5. How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality? |
We currently have a bi-monthly leader roundtable for DNA/Life Group leaders to attend for ongoing support, training, prayer. During our New Member classes and intentionally on Sundays we also talk and explain our emphasis on missional living as part of what it means to be a healthy contributing part of the body of Christ. Every function or our staff we consider the missionary opportunities that could come from our efforts. Gospel Identity is the lense with which we make decisions and plan for the ongoing rhythms of the church.
|
6. What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church? |
1. There's no silver bullet... other than Jesus. He's the savior, and He alone changes hearts... no system, mission statement, or group structure will ever be our savior. This is good news.
2. Missional opportunities are often in places you find life and joy. Mission doesn't need to be found on some wild excursion or crazy restructuring of your life. 3. Growing into Missional people is what we're after. Not changing what you call your groups or what content you're using. 4. Amidst the discouragement of life... We MUST celebrate the small and big wins... God is always doing vastly more than we're noticing and if you're a leader you probably only see what God "hasn't" done yet or "isn't doing". Our people need to celebrate and notice what God IS doing! Myself maybe as much or more than anyone. |
Missional Progress
Coming Soon...
CHURCH INSIDE OUT - TULSA, OK USA
Church Inside Out
|
Contact: Mike Lehew - mike@mobile missionsnetwork.com
|
|
At A Glance:
We are a church of House Churches with each House Church being led by House Church Shepherds who help our church become a family of missionary servants sent to our neighbors, community, and city to make disciples who make disciples. Our accountability comes from the Word of God, Elders and House Church Shepherds who help shepherd our church. We simply want to equip ordinary people to Be the church. |
|
OUR MISSIONAL STORY:
1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized? |
I been at a church for 14 years and saw God do some great things. We saw kids and students becoming missional partners in the Gospel and had a vision to see if it might work with parents of making disciples who make disciples..
We stepped down from our church one week and started a gathering of believers the next with the sincere desire to simple gather as the church and then Monday-Saturday be the church in our contexts. I simply asked a few people who had the same vision if they might want to partner to make this a reality. There were about 10 others that joined Sarah and I. What started as a House Church gathering grew into eventually 90 people and we knew what we knew to do and that was to go to a school and meet weekly while being the church daily. That is when we officially became Church Inside Out. For two years we met at a school and then COVID hit and it allowed us to change gears as simply meeting each week doing the "same-o, same-o" was not what God called us to do. He called us to equip ordinary believers to be the church, so we stepped out in faith through that COVID season and went back to House church utilizing our small group leaders as the new House Church Shepherds. Our leadership grew as we gave it away and empowered them to shepherd a small group of people. It gave ownership, it gave ministry, it gave purpose and belonging. So for the last two years we have been meeting in house churches three times a week and once a month all of our house churches meet together for Family Reunion Sunday where we celebrate all that God is doing in our House Churches. These five years have been quite the adventure. (We are now in the process of replanting as we have taken over leadership of an aging congregation and will have a home base. It will operate like a house church, but in a traditional setting) We also started a non-profit called Mobile Missions Network whose purpose is to "Be a Bridge to the Church." Our aim is to go where there is no Gospel presence and establish and on-going ministry hoping to connect them to a follower of Jesus or a local church. We have mission teams come in through the year to help us go into our communities to do ministry. We also buy mobile homes, remodel them and put them in these communities as a Gospel outpost. Through this we do free meals, after school programs and camps. |
2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from? |
It all first started by just thinking, "There has to be another way."
I loved what I did as a Families pastor overseeing preschool, children and students, but it felt complicated and I felt each Sunday like all I was doing was a re-run: Convincing saved people to keep loving Jesus. There was a tension. So, while we were focusing on that, my heart grew for those that didn't know Christ and so I engaged our students and kids to help me reach the lost. We saw a great movement in our family ministry of kids and students and adults taking up the mantle of making disciples who made disciples. God was also opening up doors in mobile home parks to go and BE the church. We went into these communities to love them and give our people an avenue to GO and BE. This soon spread to multiple communities and we sensed God moving us forward to not just go to church, but to be the church. It was hard to find people that didn't think I was crazy. I read a book called "The Gathered and Scattered Church" by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay and the same concept was literally what I had been thinking and I realized I am not alone. I shortly thereafter, joined a cohort through Forge America just to put my "feelers" out there and the very first thing that Terry Ishee said in that cohort was, "You are not crazy". I had found a tribe! As I maneuvered through this season taking one step at a time, I came across SOMA, Leaders in Training (out of Ft. Worth) and then when I went through our church planting assessment, our leader Jimmy Kinnaird, introduced us to this concept of missional communities and put us in touch with Todd. Through all of this, the Lord has, one step at a time, revealed what's next. I just knew from the very beginning that if I were to survive in ministry, I couldn't keep doing the same thing over and over. Could there be a church of missionaries already set to make disciples who make disciples? Could we invite new believers into an already made culture of making disciples who make disciples? That is our goal. |
3. What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church? |
Our gathering is important but equally important is that we have a mission outside of that gathering to pursue people so they can know Jesus.
Our aim is that every house church and hence, every person in our church, has a mission whether that is their work, one of our mobile home communities, neighbors or a specific calling for a specific ministry. Our aim is that missions is not an event or activity, but it is a lifestyle that permeates not just our gathering but our homes. |
4. How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision? |
1. We have D.N.A. groups which really is the most important element of what we do because it is through these that we learn to abide in Christ. This is the fuel for ministry.
2. We have our House Churches. They are designed to be our opportunity for worship but each House Church is intentionally placed to be a lighthouse to their neighborhood. 3. We have multiple opportunities to be on mission through our mobile home parks, our homeless ministry and house churches. 4. Our leadership consists of me (Lead Missionary), Elders, House Church Shepherds, and our Church Inside Out Lead Team that serve in various leadership capacities. 5. We also have a whole other arm which is a non-profit called Mobile Missions Network which helps us get into communities to share the Gospel. |
5. How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality? |
I meet monthly with our House Church Shepherds to train and coach. I also meeting with each House Church individually once a quarter to encourage and equip.
House Church Shepherds meet weekly to worship and to continue to keep the vision in front of them. We have a training center for up and coming DNA Leaders and House Church Shepherds to multiply. We have a yearly SERVE retreat to bring all of our leaders together to encourage, train and equip. |
6. What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church? |
1. Abide in Christ. It is so true.....apart from Him we can do nothing. I recognized when I operate in the spirit and when I operate in the flesh. Things go terribly wrong when I do it my way. Even through the obstacles, pressing in to our Savior has been the key to remaining joyful and optimistic in times of deep peril.
2. I can't do it alone. I need voices of encouragement who are on the same journey with me. Our Missional Made Simple cohort has been so helpful as each of us are at different places and I take away something new each time we meet. 3. Empower people. They most of the time do it better. It will always be a tension, but to see people "get it" is worth it all. 4. There is no such thing as failing. To a degree, we are in uncharted waters and we simply say yes to Jesus. Obedience isn't the outcome, it's simply saying yes. If you "fail", try again. Admit when we do and try again. My church has been so gracious to follow through the crazy steps of faith. 5. Obstacles: a. people will think you are crazy. It's hard to get church people to see a different way. Simply love them and just go. Don't wait. b. The enemy WILL discourage you from moving forward. Keep following Jesus and what He told you to do. c. Time. It just takes time. Think crock pot rather than microwave. Let things simmer and follow the lead of the Holy Spirit. |
Missional Progress
Coming Soon...
PROVIDENCE ROAD - NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, UNITED STATES
Providence Road
|
Contact: Jeremy Hager - jeremy@provroad.org
|
|
At A Glance:
We are a church in Norman, Oklahoma with the mission of glorifying God by leading people to find freedom and joy in Jesus. To accomplish this mission we prioritize five Biblical values: 1) Gospel Centrality, 2) Formative Community, 3) Everyday Discipleship, 4) Missional Living, and 5) Planting Healthy Churches. We want to see these things happen through rhythms of gathering and scattering throughout the week in contexts such as Gospel Communities, Discipleship Groups, and Sunday All-Church Gathering. |
|
OUR MISSIONAL STORY:
1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized? |
In 2010 my wife Nicole and I (Jeremy) moved from Austin, Texas to Norman, Oklahoma. We were joined by five others to begin planting the seeds of what would become Providence Road Church. We wanted to begin being the church from day one, so we began doing the things we believe the church should do from day one. We wanted Biblical Church DNA to be in the church so that as we grew we would be healthy. We emphasized and trained in things like Gospel Fluency, Community, Everyday Missional Living, and Discipleship from the very beginning. We waited almost two years to have weekly services to make sure the people who were a part of the church were living out the values/DNA we wanted.
We chose to plant in my hometown of Norman after several years living in Texas. We felt God leading us back to Norman for many reasons, but primarily it was for strategic purposes. Norman is a city of 125,000 people and home to the University of Oklahoma, the largest public university in Oklahoma and one of the largest schools in this part of the country. At the time of planting, Christians made up under 20% of the population, well under the typical numbers for a city in Oklahoma. Norman is strategic, mainly because of the University. Approximately 12,000 graduate each year from the university and most of them leave for larger cities, making it a great sending location. |
2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from? |
We believe that God through His Spirit has chosen the church (big "C" and little "c") to be the center of His Glory being made known to all nations. From God calling Abram (Abraham) in Genesis 12, to Jesus gathering his disciples, who would be empowered and sent by the Spirit, to plant churches (Acts 1:8); we see the "sent" nature of God's people throughout the Scriptures. Therefore, we believe the church doesn't just have a mission, or a missions department. We believe the church is the vehicle for mission. Or to say it another way, Jesus the groom is awaiting His bride, the Church, to be complete so that he may return.
|
3. What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church? |
Within every area of the church (Gospel Communities, the larger Sunday Gathering, Students, etc) we have missional DNA/thread running through everything we do. We teach and equip toward demonstrating and declaring the gospel in everyday life. We are intentional and work hard at evaluating and measuring progress in these areas.
|
4. How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision? |
In our large Sunday morning gathering, we create a Biblically hospitable environment where any person joining us can clearly hear and understand the gospel. Our liturgy is intentionally centered around the gospel story and done in a way where believers and unbelievers understand it. We also have Gospel Communities which consist of 10-15 adults who commit to doing life together in normal everyday activities. When believers gather in these "GC's" we hold each other accountable to living on mission. We encourage each GC to have a few "third places'' so people outside the community can experience what life looks like inside the community (John 13:34-35). It is also the primary environment where demonstration and declaration of the gospel takes place. We also are "minimalist" in our church calendar and programming, so our people spend less time at the building and more time out amongst people in their GC's and neighborhoods.
|
5. How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality? |
We've set up our larger Sunday Gatherings to model what mission might look like in everyday life through things like hospitality, prayer, teaching, and the language we use. We have quarterly trainings that are for our GCs' core leadership teams, but anyone can attend. We give the core teams practical ways to take the content back to their GC and reproduce the training within their GC.
|
6. What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church? |
First, we've learned to be patient with our people and the church as a whole when it comes to bearing fruit in mission. We've learned we need to lean in to God's sovereignty in mission and trust He is moving in his timing. Secondly, we've learned that we must be ok with and train towards flexibility within mission. What being on mission looks like for a 19 year-old college student will look different than what it looks like for a married couple in their 30's with three kids under the age of nine. We've learned we have to equip our people toward an end goal, have a few simple things we are training them in, and then allow individual people and families, through the leading of the Spirit, figure out what this looks like for them.
|
Missional Progress
Coming Soon...
REDEEMER CHURCH - NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, USA
REDEEMER CHURCH
|
Contact: Paul Kingery - paul@redeemerchurch.cc
|
|
At A Glance:
At Redeemer Church our vision is to see all of life redeemed through the life, death, and resurrections of Jesus Christ. Our values are: renew, relate, restore. Renew: As believers, we must be made new in the work of Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, to the glory of the Father every day of our lives. Relate: We have been adopted into the family of God. It is through the fellowship of this family that has been forged by grace, that we are most filled with the fullness of Christ. Restore: God is working to restore all things to Himself. Our labor here at Redeemer is to be ambassadors of this ministry of restoration. We aim to live out these values through our corporate Sunday morning gathering and our scattered regroup communities throughout the week! |
|
OUR MISSIONAL STORY:
1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized? |
Redeemer Church was planted out of First Baptist Church in Newcastle, Oklahoma in 2010 by Andy McDonald. Since then we’ve moved through several gathering spaces and at the end of 2021 merged with another congregation in Norman! We moved into their building and their entire church came under our leadership, constitution, and name. This has become our permanent church home and we couldn’t be happier! God is faithful!
|
2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from? |
Our vision to be a church that was outward-focused came from our lead pastor’s decade of college ministry in Norman. Through his time in that community he was given a vision of church-planting that has helped shaped Redeemer over the years.
|
3. What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church? |
Redeemer Church is heavily focused on our Regroups, our version of missional communities. We gather together, collectively breathing in on Sunday mornings, and then exhale as we scatter into our regroups throughout the week.
|
4. How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision? |
We believe that all of life is redeemed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of that, we are catapulted into our communities through our regroup gatherings.
|
5. How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality? |
Through preaching on Sunday mornings, weekly gatherings in our regroups, seasonal discipleship trainings, and gospel coaching (our one-on-one discipleship program).
|
6. What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church? |
All church work is messy, but the messiness involved in being “missional” is significant. Living and breathing in the real world while trying to maintain an apostolic view of ministry is extremely difficult. That’s why we believe our people become best equipped to love Jesus in their neighborhoods by consistently being told the story of the gospel in their regroup communities, week after week.
|
Missional Progress
Coming Soon...
USA - East
HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CHURCH - COLLINSVILLE / IL / USA
Heights Community Church
|
Contact: Corey Johnston
|
|
At A Glance:
We focus on Gospel, Community, and Mission. The primary way that we make sure we are walking these values out are through Missional Community, Sunday Gathering, and DNA (smaller group discipleship). |
|
OUR MISSIONAL STORY:
1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized? |
Our church plant originated 10 years ago. There were seven of us who felt lead to start something different in the St. Louis Metro East Area! We spent a year together reading the scriptures and learning how the gospel lead us to be a community on mission. After that year, a really interested argument about communication (imagine that!) we asked a simple question, "Is this what it looks like to be family?" That moment proved to reveal just how formative our time together had been. From there, we invited 40 other people to help start Heights. Ten of those individuals were not yet believers. They were in our lives regularly, hearing and seeing the gospel work itself out, and wanted to help! That set the standard for how our whole church has functioned as a family who aims to live on mission in the everyday stuff.
|
2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from? |
I was not raised in the church. As I started reading how Jesus engaged people, and how the church in acts engaged people, it seemed clear to me that there has to be a high value for the church Gathered (Sunday gatherings, for example) and also a high value for how the church scatters out into the community. Spending time in the word lead me to aspire to not let the pendulum sway too far either direction.
|
3. What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church? |
We have a regular rhythm for teaching folks to process through the gospel as a story, and we aim to equip them to learn how their story fits into the grand narrative of the gospel. Once people have this understanding they are what we call "gospel fluent". That is, they can speak the story of God into the lives or story of other people. We have seen countless people come to faith through this process. 90% of people who are actively involved in all of the environments within Heights have come through relationships, CrossFit, the grocery story, work place, etc. The people of Heights have actively sought out sharing the story of God with people in an effort to show how their story fits into the gospel. Our programs are our people, and they seem to be effective for the last 8 years.
|
4. How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision? |
The primary way that we ensure mission and discipleship is happening is within our Missional Communities. We have incredible leaders that share the responsibility of leading within those Missional Communities that we call a Shared Leadership Team. This helps to disperse the weight from landing on only one family. Our elders/pastors are all assigned a Missional Community to help oversee through engaging with the primary facilitators of that Missional Community. This allows us to keep a clear pulse on how people are doing. Just as we do not want a single family to bear the weight of all the responsibility, so also, we do not believe only one elder/pastor should bear the weight of overseeing all of the Missional Communities. This is how we oversee, and from this oversight, this is how we begin to resource our Missional Communities to actually take the gospel into the community as a community on mission.
|
5. How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality? |
First, you have to model what you want to see modeled. Second, we do monthly "Huddles" where we discuss what the facilitators are experiencing. We take time to reinforce the vision and direction, gospel our leaders through their needs, celebrate, and have quality time with one another. Ultimately, we try to be available to model what we want to see being modeled from our Missional Communities and the leaders that exist therein.
|
6. What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church? |
The most important lesson is that you cannot live on mission for the sake of living on mission. If mission becomes the main thing, it is because the emphasis has drifted from the gospel. Just as too much of anything can be a bad thing, so also too much of an emphasis on mission can actually lead to legalism and a hardened religious heart. The gospel must always be what drives the mission, and if we are not FIRST seated in front of Jesus to be reminded of our place in the story of God why would we ever want to go out and try to share these beautiful truths with someone else? The goal is not mission. The aim is not mission. The means is not mission. The goal, aim, and means is Jesus and relationship with him. It is subtle, but it is really important that mission flows from the gospel.
|
Missional Progress
Coming Soon...
