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CHURCH INSIDE OUT - TULSA, OK USA

​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.

CHURCH OF THE VALLEY - SANDY, UT, USA

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

In 2014, our family moved from Wichita Falls, Texas, to Salt Lake City, Utah. We had a desire to move to a city that was growing, a city that would encourage family flourishing, and a city that lacked a diversity of churches. As we moved to the city, we spent a year gaining vision and participating in a church planting residency to be equipped to live on mission effectively. We made friends, gathered people in our home, and began serving the needs of those close to our family. We also received coaching that would allow us space to process what we were learning. This led us to our first vision night in February 2015. We gathered people in the living room of our home and began modeling what it looked like to be a family of missionary servants. We would continue this rhythm for several months until we began to meet publicly in a local art theatre. In September 2015, "Church Of The Valley" began its mission to see the Salt Lake Valley saturated with the good news of Jesus!
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2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

Our conviction to be a Missional Church first came from the life and modeling of Jesus. We see in the Bible the mission of Jesus to seek and save those who are lost. In the same way, we have been sent and given the great commission to go and make disciples of all nations. As we moved into a new city, we began envisioning what it would look like to reach people across the valley with the good news of Jesus. We became convinced that we could not station up somewhere and solely invite people to come to us but that we needed to go to them. This wasn't just a practical solution to grow our church or effectively reach more people. Just as Jesus looked out across a city and had compassion because he saw people that were like sheep without a shepherd, our hearts broke for our city, and we longed to share the good news of Jesus with them!

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

Our mission is to see the Salt Lake Valley saturated with the good news of Jesus. We make it a priority to reorient our lives around others and discover how we can bring the gospel into our everyday conversations and engagements. Just as Jesus was a friend of sinners, we long to be known as “friends” to our city. We live within the mission of God as missionaries, not as an additional task we add to our already busy lives but with gospel intentionality as we go about our daily lives, schedules, and rhythms.
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4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

Along with our vision statement, we believe gospel saturation begins with the individual and then moves outward into the community. We continually ask how our lives are being saturated with the good news of Jesus and how that is pouring over into our families, work, neighborhoods, and acquaintances. We also adopted a few ministries where we are seeking to have gospel influence. Through a local organization called Care Portal, we are given the opportunity to connect with the needs of families who are working with the Department of Family Services. We are also partnered with planting other churches in the Western United States and Brazil.
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5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

Missional intentionally surfaces in all of our disciple-making environments at Church Of The Valley. This is present within our Sunday Gatherings, Community Groups, and Equip Groups. As an example, all of our community groups follow an acronym, R.E.A.D, which stands for Read, Examine, Apply, and Do. We close every Community Group by praying through the text and reflecting on what God has declared to us. This practice helps usher the Bible from the head to the heart/hands. We ask the Holy Spirit to give us direction/wisdom/opportunities to share what we have learned with others throughout our week.​

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

One of the most important lessons I have learned as a leader in a missional church is the need to model mission for God's people. There is a lot of teaching on what it means to be a missional church, but people still struggle to discover what it looks like in the everyday. I have often told our leadership that more is caught than taught.

I also have learned the importance of teaching people the role the Holy Spirit serves in the mission. We are to listen and depend on the Holy Spirit to know who, how, when, and
where to bring gospel influence.
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CROSS CENTRAL CHURCH - CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

Our church began in 2018 in a high density, impoverished urban community. The owner of a large building made it available for a church plant. We started by developing a contextual profile of the area and spent 6 months, walking, talking, listening visiting and exploring. We then began with community outreach programs while the church building was being renovated. These initial programs were, a sewing program, teaching English to refugees and a homework centre for the children in our community. We officially launched in April 2019.

We did not parachute people into our new community, but started with a core missional small group of 7 believers. The community we are reaching into, is made up of refugees from all over our continent and over 100 00 university students from all over South Africa. Over the last three years and especially during COVID we have seen our gospel community grow to over 80 adults and around 50 children. COVID provided a wonderful platform to assist families physically with food and care. It also enabled us to start many "job clubs" which are missional small groups made up of unemployed families in our community.

​We are not able to meet in people's homes as many families live in a single room or flat. So our church building has become a hub that facilitates small groups and regular DNA groups during the week. It has been remarkable to see the gospel advancing and our church growing.

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

The context for Cross Central church in Parow can be described in one word - "Missional". In a 5 kilometre radius of the church we have at least 18 different nationalities represented for all over Africa. Families and refugees all converging in Cape Town to find a better life, work and safety. Parow is crime ridden, impoverished and in great need, with an unemployment rate of around 60 percent. The gospel opportunities are therefore endless. On any given Sunday we are around 12 different nationalities represented and around 20 different languages spoken. Every tribe and nation is a reality of our gospel community. Having an eye on the nations lies at the very heart of our DNA. Our hope is to be able to disciple, grow and shape families to return home one day - taking the sole with them.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

The gospel, and sharing it in the context of community lies at the very heart of our DNA. Our church is highly relational and reflects the African sense of "Ubuntu" (togetherness) and community. This shapes the way that any ministry takes place.

​The discipleship process in our church always has as it's end goal - believers being equipped to reach out in creative ways in their everyday life. Contact, connection, sharing the gospel, maturing believers and sending them out into the world. Our gospel community is also intentionally active in meeting the needs in our community with sustainable, contextual solutions. We have a number of missional programs aimed at loving and serving our community in very practical ways.

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

Our gospel community is not program driven but rather values driven. Who we are shapes what we do, our identity shapes our activity. We have our large Sunday celebration service, we then have a network of missional small groups meeting during the week. Some of them formed around a common cause, others by geographical proximity and others built around age and interest.

​We further have smaller DNA groups - spontaneous weekly discipleship and 3 - 5 people meeting together. We do not have many church activities or organised events - due partly to safety issues in our community, transport issues (90% of our congregation walk or use public transport) and space limitations. This has forced us to "decentralize" much of the ministry at CCC and see it happening in the context of smaller groups.​

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

One of the advantages of living in a community with such diversity and such close proximity to others - and also with an inherent community dynamic, is that doing life together is part of everyday life. In any 3 bedroom flat in Parow - you will have 3 different families, each living in one of the rooms, sharing a bathroom and kitchen and living space. This makes for constant conversation and interaction. We are simply encouraging families to be sharing and carrying each others burdens.

​We are equipping believers to understand their role in their families and community. There is a spontaneous, yet intentional, senes of purpose flowing out of our togetherness as a gospel community. It is wonderful to see and experience growth that comes not from a program but families with a desire for those around to share in our community.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

I have had to learn to not try to "control" everything. There is a messiness that comes with relational ministry and doing life together. Learning to let go and trust the leaders and co-workers has been an enriching, liberating, yet tough journey. The traditional idea of what church should be, is a very difficult hurdle to cross. The African understanding of the Pastor as the "man of God" has been a very difficult worldview to break. The expectation is that the Pastor does everything and His prayers, visits and personal care are seen as the far more important that of a fellow brother or sister in Christ. To get people to understand the priesthood of all believers has been one of the most difficult bridges to cross.

CROSS CULTURE CHURCH - JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

We are a church plant of the Reformed Church Randburg (a white Afrikaans-speaking church community). This local church realised that the only way to reach the rapidly diversifying community around the church building was to plant a new local body. The church plant is intentionally cross-cultural.

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

In traditional churches, people may be very involved with the programs, but really don't get to do life together, or to know each others' spiritual struggles and joys. This limits evangelism to something added-on to church life.

Our calling to plant a cross-cultural church sent us back to God's Word where we see the church together 24/7, devoting themselves to the Word, to fellowship, breaking break together, and to prayer, with the result that God added to their number daily! We are endeavoring to make this vision real and tangible here in the north-west of Johannesburg.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

We have learned that reaching people from very diverse cultural and economic backgrounds does not work with programs, but with relationships. By creating spaces of real and honest fellowship we get to know each other well, deal honestly with our differences, and, in that, grow together in the Lord. We have experienced people - some who have been hurt by the church in the past or are still unbelievers - being drawn to these spaces and meet Jesus.

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

We have our whole church community organised into area-specific Missional Communities. Within these we have started some effective DNA groups which meet regularly. We also have wider men's and ladies' groups who meet together for Gospel-centred fellowship. These are structured to be accessible to people who still have doubts and questions about the Faith.

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

We begin with reminding people of the Biblical call to live in community in our preaching and our worship times. New members are taught the Missional Community vision in membership classes.

We are constantly inviting people into these Communities and modeling fellowship and hospitality.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

Communication for a scattered network is a real challenge. We need poly centred leadership - so some people leading on network gatherings, some leading on local gatherings, some focussing on encouraging mentoring and training, some on missional and outreach and so on. If it all points to one couple we hinder growth but if it is all flat level collaboration it also stagnates. Helping people co-lead a scattered network is key. Gathering as a large network and as small houses is key too. Resisting the 'normal' props and patterns of ministry is key too or we may as well just all do more of the same!

F-J

GARDEN CHURCH ​- NORFOLK, UK

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

I used to lead an HTB resource church in Norwich, planting and revitalising other churches in the City. My wife and I went on sabbatical and explored We Are Church with Francis Chan. We were looking for a simple way of doing life, planting, sharing the gospel and being family that was low cost, closer to the picture in Acts 2 and healthier for us as a family. The Garden begun as part of a vision on returning to Norfolk in May 2019 after that sabbatical. We felt a call to "re-disciple the disciples for when the Church of England closes its doors". To encourage simple, replicable, deep discipleship in the home.
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2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

The vision and conviction came from the Holy Spirit speaking into "casualty, context and character". I had seen how burn out can happen through striving and planting large scale churches with budgets, bands and buildings. I saw the context in Norfolk, which is often scattered, rural villages with hundreds of ancient buildings and not a lot of money to repurpose them. I saw how Jesus calls us to follow him and grow in character and the best place to learn this is in simple communities and relationship focussed on love and Scripture. The main conviction and clarity came from We Are Church and it was 'boosted' and encouraged by Todd Moor.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

We seek to integrate our everyday lives into the source of life, Jesus by reading Scripture daily, and focusing on the Acts 2 values of D L E S S (Devoted Worshippers, Loving Families, Equipped Disciple Makers, Spirit Filled Missionaries and Suffering Sojourners). If we grow in these things we will be fruitful.
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4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

We are a decentralised collaboration of missional communities in varying contexts that have no building and no budget. We operate as a family or network of missional communities. We are united by core values and relationship.
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5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

I am still learning how to do this! Using videos, apprenticeship, raising up and releasing leaders. Sending experienced leaders to accompany new leaders. By living it and sharing it.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

Communication for a scattered network is a real challenge. We need poly centred leadership - so some people leading on network gatherings, some leading on local gatherings, some focussing on encouraging mentoring and training, some on missional and outreach and so on. If it all points to one couple we hinder growth but if it is all flat level collaboration it also stagnates. Helping people co-lead a scattered network is key. Gathering as a large network and as small houses is key too. Resisting the 'normal' props and patterns of ministry is key too or we may as well just all do more of the same!

GATHERED.CHURCH - ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

​In 2018 a handful of us, within an existing Missional Community, saw a large need to reach and care for the 72% of Aussies who grew up in the church that we now disconnected and drifting (these were pre Covid stats). We found that many we actively avoiding religious buildings, so we set out to create spaces where we could be the church without buildings or staff.

This led us to forming a small network of Micro Churches, seeking to create spaces and opportunities for everyday people to experience Jesus.  We now see the need to reach 3 very different groups within Adelaide. with 3 different strategies. First, equipping and supporting the existing church; Second, caring and loving the disconnected; Third, thinking cross culturally to reach our post-Christian friends and neighbours.​

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

Jesus. He lived and breathed a life engaged in the world, eating, celebrating, morning and doing life with those who were far from God. And He didn't do it alone, not only did he have a small group of disciples with him, but he lived with a complete dependence on the Spirit. It only makes sense for those who call themselves followers of Jesus, that we would follow in his footsteps. Life others, intentionally engaging with the world and totally dependent on the Spirit.​​

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

Each Micro Church has an intentionality about it, to connect regularly (2-3 times a week) with each other, and to create spaces where we can listen and encourage those who don't know Jesus. Every member is aware of our call as ambassadors to reflect the Gospel in everyday life, but we don't just talk it, we make it a priority. Regularly we meet and connect with each others friends (who don't know Jesus) and we see the fruit of listening, praying, partnering and drawing others to the Good News of the Kingdom. ​

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

We have Kingdom Families (a core group of 3-6 people) committed to doing family life together. They have a location that is their main missional focus, usually consisting of natural connection and friendships in a specific area. Each Kingdom Family will have 5-10 others floating around them (christians and those leaning in) this forms a Micro Church. Micro churches will meet weekly and ideally with 1-2 other MicroChurchs on a regular basis. At these Gatherings we equip and train one another as Kingdom Apprentices to continue being Salt and Light as everyday Ambassadors of Jesus. All the Micro Churches form one larger church with Elders, a strategic team and a soul care team... each with the purpose of helping the body BE the church - God's People, empowered by God's Spirit for God's Purposes.​

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

Weekly training the Body to listen and Obey the Spirit (during our Gatherings and DNAs) and every term we have a half day training time equipping the body in different areas. We also have an intro course called Body.Living which helps normal people understand the Gospel, our Identity and practical ways to be missional. ​

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

We have learnt that Mission is not the main point. If we put that first we see People turn into projects. Mission and worship are an overflow of us knowing who God is, what he has done and who we are in light of that. The Good News of Jesus and His Kingdom must be remembered daily/ We simply get to enjoy the Father and intentionally point others to Jesus. If your people don't know that, then at best, "Mission" will become an awkwards script people feel guilted into, leading to more damage than help. And at worse it will become the means of pride, judgement, competition (stats) and spiritual abuse. ​

Generation Church - California, USA

​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."
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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.
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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.

GOSPEL CITY (PSEUDONYM) - SOUTHEAST ASIA

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

We started with a core team from an international church. We spend about 6 months training the core team about mission, family and gospel. Then we started intentionally inviting our muslim neighbors and friends to join for dinner and MC events. We grew from there.

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

Jesus
Acts
10 years of incarnational ministry in Los Angeles, Kaleo Church, and Todd Morr.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

We seek to join Jesus on His mission to proclaim His rule and glorious salvation through intentionally living as a Christ-treasuring, family of disciples on mission together.

​We structure our time and treasure around reaching our neighborhood together with the truth and sacrificial love of Jesus.

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

We are a network of missional communities that seek to live and be on mission together to those in proximity.

​We meet a few times a month for corporate worship as well.

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

Slowly and carefully. Primarily through modeling and then giving them a chance to be part of the leadership teams. But also through one on one discipling with key leaders.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

Often people are seeking to belong before they are seeking to believe.

​The importance of proximity, consistency and scheduling around the mission are a constant growing opportunity. Getting people to be hospitable with their home is very counter-cultural in an asian context.

GRACE CHURCH - STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

Grace Church started in Stockholm in the summer of 2012 around a kitchen table with 7 adults and 4 young children. The vision was, and is, to see a church community that honours the word of God and delights in the presence of God making disciples, training leaders, planting churches and caring for the poor,

Those convictions have led us to gathering a growing number of people from all over the world and working these things out in multiple languages, cultures and communities.

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

Mark 3:14 has a wonderful description of Jesus' motivation for his chosen twelve disciples. It says, "that they might be with him and that he might send them out..." That captures in one short sentence so much of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus: to be with him and sent by him!

In Sweden which is thoroughly secular nation if we are to make disciples then we need people who have been with Jesus and who are sent by him into every community and workplace that they are in. We need disciples who understand their identity as both loved (be with) and missionary (sent).

So there is a contextual imperative to be missional but really it stems from wanting this description of Jesus' disciples to apply to us.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

Because we believe Jesus is Lord and that His Lordship applies to every hour of every day and not just for two hours on a Sunday. That has an impact on how we see our working lives, our social lives, our neighbourhoods - we are 'sent' everywhere we go.

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

This is a challenge for us in a constantly changing urban context as people keep moving! But what we are are consistently working towards is a structure of Sunday Gatherings (in various languages), midweek communities and within those DNA groups. Each context presents different challenges & requires different solutions but the aim in each is to encourage people to live with and by faith as Jesus' sent ones into the world.

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

Sunday gatherings are places to hear the Word preached but also to be freshly commissioned. Most services end with a reminder of our calling to be reflective lights of the world & to be reminded of our identity as bearers of his image, carriers of His presence and messengers of His grace.

Midweek communities are the places for fellowship & prayer where local context comes into play and DNA groups where we have the opportunity to work through with others the Lordship of Jesus in our lives.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

That missional almost never just happens. Like most things it requires intentional thinking, attentive leadership & prayerful actions to graciously help people see this is as an integrated approach to life following Jesus. It is so easy to drift from things you really believe even with all the best intentions.

HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CHURCH - COLLINSVILLE / IL / USA

​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.
​

HOPE CHURCH - DAWLISH, ENGLAND​

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

Dawlish Christian Fellowship had tried various forms of revitalization (2006-2016), but the depth of change that was needed necessitated replanting as Hope Church in 2022. Central to this was our awakening to relational disciple-making in the context of everyday life on mission together (2012-2019). Having pioneered missional work in the community over the last decade (2012-2022), we had created little 'missional pull' to see the church engage with lost people in an intentional way.

​It took a series of revelations from the Holy Spirit (concerning UP/IN/OUT, and 'both/and' ministry, and relational disciple-making) in our core leaders (2018-2021) to bring about a paradigm shift in what we believe the church is for. This has been disruptive and challenging for some and has taken 30 months from the initial moment of crisis (2019) to a spiritual agreement reached by the whole church (2022). As a result, we are now a missional church and missional community, though small, is an accepted and growing part of the church family.

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

Between 2006-2012 we were asking 'what is a disciple and how do you make one', but could we not find anyone who could offer us a coherent answer within the UK church. We first met a Brazilian disciple-maker in 2012 (a long-term missionary to the UK) who took Mark Jones, our then church leader, to Brazil in 2015 where he had an immersive experience of 'discipulado'.

​Ramon introduced Mark to the Verge Network resources, where he encountered Soma and through them, Todd Morr in 2019. Alongside this, we had a big heart for community, which led, simultaneously, to the setting up of a charity (ROC Dawlish; Redeeming Our Communities) to bridge the gap between the churches and the local community, which has opened doors for the gospel and has given the church much credibility.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

Our vision is: "More People, More Like Jesus, in More Places". We are committed to seeing this happen through healthy, replanted conventional church with its life groups, working alongside newly-planted micro-churches and 'sowing' of new missional communities, all working alongside each other under the same umbrella, but independently of each other.

​Our first missional community is 'for' the unchurched people, not just accepting of them. We very much operate with a 'belong first' strategy, rather than a 'believe first' strategy.

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

We set up ROC Dawlish (see above) and Missional Community to meet new people and disciple them in the heart of the missional context. We have also built a state-of-the-art £1.8M church community centre to bring the community in to and send the church out from.

​Our church leadership team has been replanted to facilitate this, with a one-size fits all 'Church Leader' being replaced by two new roles: Missional Leader and Ministry Leader, who are responsible for the 'Out' and 'In' elements, respectively.

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

Although we are using DNA material to make disciples in missional community, we are also planning to offer our DNA material to the whole church, regardless of which context they currently serve in. We anticipate life groups transitioning to micro-churches and micro-churches transitioning to missional communities as people understand and believe their gospel identity and increasingly live out the reality of who they are in Christ.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

Reaching lost people is the easy part. Getting the church fully on board and reoriented towards mission is the hard part. It's been like repainting a battleship at sea during an ongoing conflict, without the luxury of dry dock. Also, we havee learnt that you need to just begin or you will end up wasting ten years or more talking about what it would look like if we were living 'on mission'.

​We don't really need another sermon series on this, we just need to cut our teeth and do it. This creates a wonderful practical problem that has to be solved and gets people sharing the stories which inspire faith and courage. Just begin as mission itself is the best classroom.

ICR VITACURA - SANTIAGO, CHILE

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

We started as a replant attempt 4 years ago. A sister church wanted to help and sent 2 families to help. We've been since developing a Missional Culture and after lock-down we are launching a full on missional church approach.

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

From Scriptures. I was struggling with Mathew 28 and the Great Comission. I came to understand that is a call for every christian everyday everywhere. And the church should be the family of those who are trying to trust and obey Jesus in that direction.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

Our way of understanding the Gospel, as the renewing of all things in Jesus. Our way of understanding mission as the interpersonal sharing of life towards Jesus. Our way of shaping the structure of our church rhythms to strengthen and encourage people to become part of the family of Jesus, living under his love and wisdom and with a thirst to serve, love and share the gospel with the people our Lord puts in our everyday life.

We are missional, because we understand our identity as images/reflections of the missional God that sent His Son to heal and save the world.

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

We have 3 main structures:
Sunday Celebration (with an emphasis on centering our lives in Jesus)
Growth Groups (with an emphasis in praying and organizing our rhythms to live on mission),
​and Life groups (small groups of fellowship with an emphasis on mutual pastoring under the word of God and the power of the Spirit).

Besides, we have a Missionary Team that is in charge of driving the church to really be a family, centered in Jesus and focused in Mission.​

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

We have a monthly meeting to enjoy lunch, work together for the church, and get missional focused training. Also we have periodical coaching meetings with those who are leading others.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

1.- The church is not a movie theater. Church in the western culture have develop a client-mindset. And it thinks of the church as an event we witness, instead of a community we are part of. The Jesus defined church is not a show, is a family living in the purposes of God in Jesus.

2.- The gospel is not just about our eternal salvation. The gospel is also a message about Jesus being king of our lives and the whole world. We can do mission because our Lord is king of the whole universe and He is the one in mission, we get to be invited to go with him.

3.- Missional living is abundant life. To live by and for Jesus everyday, means you get to be who you are. You get to be in your place, and it is eternally fulfilling. This is not just a discipline or a thing we do, is who we are and how we live as truly humans.

k-0

MAJAK CHURCH - VSETIN, CZECH REPUBLIC

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

Majak Church was planted after 5 years of discussions in our mother church. One of the important things was that we wanted to be send. We didn't want to split the church. The core team was about 20 people. The reason for planting a church was to start a church that will be able to reach people in our town. We came from church that was older and set in its ways.

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

People who decided to join the core team all had some missional conviction. In the first couple of years we had to actually understand what it is. As in many cases, people would like to be missional, but wouldn't really understand the cost of such a life. Also for us learning what that practically looks like was important.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

The short answer for us is that we don't exist just for ourselves as a church.

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

From original Majak network we were able to plant some churches and create Majak network. It is interesting to see that each church has a different approach to its structure, but mostly there is some kind of bit gathering - either every Sunday or every other Sunday. And then there are some smaller communities that are meeting and living together.

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

Over the years we have developed leadership training process starting with teenagers and going all the way to people that are called to vocational ministry. Our main piece is a two year program called pastor institute. It is a program of theological and practical training.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

It is really hard to imagine missional church without being part of it. One thing is to read books and know the definitions and the other things is to find in our context what that looks like and convince people that they should join you.

And then there is a price of missional living. All the churches I know want somehow go out and reach people, but almost nobody understand what does it mean. How much we have to change to get to know some people and how it will change our community when they join us.

It is hard to keep going when you succeed. Most church planters want to plant the church. Once the church is planted it is easy to start feeling like "normal" church. Now we have people and we have to take care of them.

MĀJVIETA - RIGA, LATVIA

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

Church "Mājvieta" was both planted and revitalized. There was an existing older congregation and they invited a young pastor Kārlis and his team to pastor the church. He started to implement some changes towards the church being more missional. Some time later the church was joined by an existing missional community and the church started focusing more on missional community format. Quite a few new people joined including couples with young children. That led to forming a new Sunday school ministry that grew rapidly to about 30 kids.

Parallel to that the church continues serving people in and outside the church organizing various events, picnics, outings etc.

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

Some of the leaders were exposed to the ideas of missional lifestyle back in 2010/2011 from "Soma" church in Tacoma, that organized conferences here in Riga. Leaders from Soma were also sharing their experiences in personal meetings with various small groups around town. A few of these groups had people in them that are now part of the church's leadership. The vision and conviction of "there has to be more to church than just a Sunday sermon" was there before, Soma people just showed how it can be done in real life.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

We try to emphasize the importance of sharing the Gospel not only with our words, but also with our lives.

​We try to achieve that by sharing our lives with other believers as well as non-believers. The recent conflict in Ukraine has provided even more opportunities for the church to live missionaly.

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

We have several missional communities that (try to) meet regularly.

​Each group has a core team of 4-6 people that are committed to the vision and serve with their gifts, time, energy.​

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

We've gone through various training materials as well as inviting people to take part in any training that teach about missional lifestyle. Sunday services also serve as a constant reminder to people not to lose focus on being missional in their everyday lives. That is done from the pulpit as well as in personal conversations.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

None of this will work properly without Jesus.

People need to be constantly reminded of the vision/mission.

People/leaders will let you down.

​Even young people aren't always open to changes.

P-T

PROVIDENCE ROAD - NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, UNITED STATES

​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.
​​

RED DOOR - PRETORIA, GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

Well it started with a realisation that the city was changing and becoming more culturally and racially integrated, yet even though geographical integration was happening, people were still relationally separated from one another. We were a small group of friends that started talking about the possibility of planting a church that would equip people to reach their 'new' neighbours as well as being a welcoming space to people from different backgrounds.

Through these conversations we started developing the idea of what a missional church would look like, and this led us to come into contact with and being introduced to Missional Made Simple that gave us a lot of concrete tools, for the things that we were dreaming about.

As we started gathering a core group, we were 5 adults at the time, the Covid-19 pandemic hit and we were seriously challenged by how we could grow this group. Luckily we were already starting to digest some of the Missional Made Simple material and new avenues opened up, because many people suffered loss and were in great need. The first new member to join our group was my Mexican Neighbour. We didn't know one another before the pandemic, but one morning she experienced car trouble and that gave me an opportunity to serve and get to know her and her family.

We then also partnered with a campus ministry organisation called Campus Outreach. They already had a presence on the University Campus of our city and embodied the missional mindset that we had at our core. We could finally launch our first in person gatherings in March of 2021 as we started with approximately 18 adults.

The pandemic, along with our initial vision has helped the church grow, not around the Sunday services, but around lives captured by the vision that we are to make disciples of all nations. The growth has been slow, but deep and for that I am extremely thankful!

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

I was strongly influenced by David Bosch in: "Transforming Mission". There he explained his view of the "Missio Dei" - The God of Mission. Basically saying that God is the one that has always been on Mission and that He is the primary Missionary agent in every and any circumstance. We don't bring the God to people, we simply partner with God has already been doing and how He has been preparing people's hearts for the message of the Gospel.

The led me to asking the question: "What is God doing in our city?" In Pretoria South-Africa we have a history of deep racial division and discrimination. Even though there are still some strong remnants of this previous regime and system, we have seen how the city, neighbourhoods and workplaces have been changing as the city has become more Metropolitan, creating 'new' missionary fields.

We wanted to plant a church with the mindset to equip people to reach these 'new' missionary fields in fresh and creative ways, as well as have a church that people would feel comfortable with inviting their new friends and colleagues to.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

Culturally we invest a lot of time and effort to make sure that our gatherings are built around hospitality. There is hardly a time when our people gather that food is not involved!

Structurally we have organised the church so that we have less 'church events', so that people are freed up to spend more time pursuing relationships and being social/servant-hearted/intentional with the people around them. The 3 discipleship environments that we have as a church: Sunday Gatherings, Missional Communities, DNA groups, also help to communicate what we value and we have moved away from the cell-group, Bible-study model.

Even as a young church plant we want to spend less money on our Sunday venue and sound system and more money on people and discipleship. We are giving 25% of our monthly income to residency programs, campus ministries, and supporting international missionaries. We want to put our money where our mouth is.

I constantly preach from the pulpit, how the Gospel not only transforms us, but commissions as all as discipleship makers.

Being a multicultural church, most of us need to communicate in our second language, English, and even this helps reminds us that we are not seeking our comfort, but want to live for something more!

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

We have three different discipleship environments:
1. Sunday Gatherings - to equip the Saints
2. Missional Communities - to Strategically live on Mission together (groups of 8-12 adults)
3. DNA groups - to mature believers (3-5 men with men and women with women groups)

We try to keep church 'events' to a minimum to free people up, who are already busy in the city, to have more time for socials, to build relationships and to serve their community.

When we do gather, we always try to have food present - we love our food! We want hospitality to be at the core of all we do. Inviting people into our lives and homes.

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

I have weekly check ups where I follow up with all our Missional Communities to see how they are coping. In the space of a month I would get to all the groups.

We have monthly check-ins with all our DNA group leaders where I can give some coaching and training. We gather online to help both sets of parents be present.

We have bi-monthly social gatherings with our DNA-group leaders. One month the men gather together, and the alternating month the Women will gather. The goal of these gathers is to give soul care and give encouragement to one another.

We meet once a quarter as a church for a 'family meeting' after church to discuss important matters and give feedback. This is also a platform where I reinforce the vision of the church and give some training.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

There will be some resistance to this model of church. People don't always want to move beyond their comfort zones. There will be fear and feelings of inadequacy. People would much rather have Bible studies to first 'grow' in their knowledge, before they can share it. You might even be accused of devaluing/undermining God's Word by not teaching it in every environment all the time, even though the Gospel forms the foundation of every discussion and gathering that we have.

Growth may be fast, but in my experience it is normally slow. This is both good and challenging. Challenging as a young church plant there is always the issues of finances and having enough people to serve and help on Sunday's. It is good for us as we know that we are not an 'attractional' church, so the growth that we do experience is either from people come to faith - which is phenomenal! - or from Christians that are deeply committed to living a Missional life.

We need to relearn and retrain people to recognise good fruit what the measurements/parameters of fruitfulness are, and not just other people, my own heart as well! Building relationships, fostering new connections with people, serving sacrificially and lovingly your community, people coming to know Christ, people sharing their lives with one another, people sharing their hearts/hopes/dreams/fears with one another - these are the metrics that we need to value and they are much more difficult to measure that the simple metric of: "How many people attended church on Sunday". When things are tough, your heart will crave and want to run to that metric - I constantly need to remind myself to stand form in the vision that God has called us to and that He will build His church.

​

REDEEMER CHURCH MANCHESTER - MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

When we first arrived in Manchester, it had less than 2% of people connected to a church that preaches the gospel. In our neighbourhood of Manchester, less than .1% of people were connected to a church that cared about and lived out the gospel. Our neighbourhood is called Chorlton, and there are about 55,000 people living here.

It is the classic spiritual but not religious background: artsy, bohemian, cynical, most people think they now what Christianity is and have moved on.

There are churches around our neighbourhood, but there is a huge need for churches in our neighbourhood. We want to bring the gospel to others, instead of asking others to come to us.

We started in prayer. Praying each month for a year for the government, schools, charities, businesses, and for God's glory to be made known in ways that it hasn't yet. We also were asking the Lord to use us in this process.

This eventually became a missional community, nine of us in our middle room, learning about Jesus and His mission over dinner. We would pray and continue to ask the Lord what might be next.

We held many open invite dinners, throwing parties and inviting all sorts of people to come along. That led to our missional community growing to two missional communities.

It was then that we started meeting on Sundays for gathered worship between two MCs. We met in our house, outgrew that, met in a bar, outgrew that, met in a pub, and we're outgrowing that asking the Lord, what next?

When we began this journey, we have been able to see that .1% grow to .2%. Our big prayer is to see 1% of the 55,000 people in our area be connected to a church that loves Jesus and His Word.

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

My own vision and conviction came from putting into practice what seemed clear in the Bible: God works through people (plural). Being rescued by Jesus saves us from our small missions to His big glorious mission. This mission itself is the discipling context that we all find ourselves.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

We take seriously our identity. As we put it: "we are a gospel formed family on mission." We talk about this often, teach on it often, organise our church structures around it, resource towards this, and even structure meetings and coaching around it.

And when we say "mission" we don't merely mean individual mission, but mission through community. This kind of life does take longer and can be hard work, but it is so much more effective, doable, and just more fun. It's also the pattern we see in Scripture.

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

Our most fundamental building block as a church is a missional community, where we live out being a gospel formed family on mission. Membership goes through MCs, pastoral care and teaching goes through MCs, MC leaders help the group work through what God is calling this particular MC to do and how to live out.

As a pastor I spend a fair bit of my time coaching MC leaders. In our preaching on Sundays we talk often of the MC context and how to apply what we're learning.

We spend a good amount of prayer time for our MCs and their separate shared missions. We also spend time resourcing and training existing and new leaders in how to best shepherd our people on the mission.

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

We have formal teaching times 2-4 times/year where all MC leaders gather together.
Each MC has an intentional coaching time every 3 months to take a look back, and look ahead.
We also have a few one off conferences that we pay for people to attend.
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Our MCs have at least 3 leaders in each of them, so they can lean on each other as they go.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

Taking seriously what the Bible says about doing, on the same level of believing, has been important. An obstacle there has been the idea that if we just believe the right things, we're ok, and anything else is just icing on the cake. To persuade people that doing is an important and necessary part of knowing has been good for us.

An obstacle here would be cynicism toward anything that smells of institutionalism. So we focus on gathering around food as much as possible: in houses, at the pub, in a park (if it's not raining!).

I love to see people get excited about mission, but sometimes that can mean high unattainable hopes and plans. We work to convince people to set the lowest bar possible. We will be at this for decades, Lord willing, and it takes the average person here about a decade to convert to Christianity. So low key, a low bar, means something can be sustainable.

We also found that it's important to not focus on the mission in itself as a primary goal. As believers, our sights ought to be higher: God’s kingdom, His glory, the possibility of spiritual renewal in our city, our changed hearts, the Holy Spirit at work, the big picture of the new heavens and earth, have all been important. We strive to keep the main things the main thing.

REDEEMER CHURCH - NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, USA​

​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.

REDIL BELEN - MEDELLÍN, COLOMBIA

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

Iglesia Redil Belen (A baptist churc), was planted in 2007 but by 2016 the church was facing financial sustainability issues, poor attendance and leadership exhausted from trying different things to grow.
So in 2016 I was sent by the church planter of this community, to start a church revitalization process. It was a difficult process, due to my lack of experience, exhaustion of leadership and financial need, however, along the way the Lord put together with my wife and I, a family of leaders of this church supported our arrival and walk with us in the early years: The Gallego family. Together with them we began a process of getting to know the church, and letting ourselves be known by it. After four months we had some clarity on the process that we had to carry out.
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We begun discipling the membership in the understanding of our calling as a members, we review the foundations of the Gospel that is the engine of our mission, and we begin to pray for a refocus of our mission according to the original purpose of this Church, a sector called "The hill of the Bernal".

The Lord placed some ministry partners who were key in prayer, mentoring and financial support. The First Baptist Church of Covingon LA. During these 6 years they have accompanied us in this revitalization process.

In 2017 we moved the church to a new area with 35,000 inhabitants and no Christian churches inside, and we started a ministry of serving the community through family restoration programs. However we noticed that the mission became "doing events", but it was not the lifestyle of the church.
This reality led us to explore ways to grow in missionary life, and that is how we came to know the ministry of Missional made simple.

By being in dialogue and training with Todd, we began to apply the principles of Missional Communities: "A family on Mission".  It has been a difficult road, especially breaking old parameters about Christian life and ministry. However, we see with joy how the Lord has been allowing us to experience more the ministry of one another, and he has challenged us to go together in the mission.

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

In 2017 we moved the church to a new area with 35,000 inhabitants and no Christian churches inside, and we started a ministry of serving the community through family restoration programs. However we noticed that the mission became "doing events", but it was not the lifestyle of the church.

This reality led us to see the need to review what the mission of the church was, what discipleship meant, and how we could live a life that was truly mission focused. In summary, ways to grow in missionary life, and that is how we came to know the ministry of Missional made simple.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

I believe that the awareness that we now have that we must walk with Jesus also join us in his mission.
This thought has made us, in very intentional ways, seek to build ways to know, serve and love non-believers, while we seek to make liturgies more accessible to them, and groups that literally focus on going together in the mission of serving them, love them as they proclaim Christ.

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

We are organized in a plural leadership, in which we encourage the ministry of one another as a family, but we have also organized the church in Missionary Communities in which we grow together, care for each other and love each other, while going on mission together.
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We have left aside the "programs" a little; because we believe that although they are useful, they are not our first missionary strategy: each member and the family together is.

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

We are doing a training with Todd Morr on a monthly basis, introducing Missional Communities. This in turn has led us to mentor each community on a monthly basis in which we share the vision with the community leaders.
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Now we are focusing on strengthening nuclei that have this same vision, while it has become a constant message in every sermon and liturgy of the church: life on mission

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

I think the main learnings have been:
- The mission is not "only" individual, but as a family it is more efficient
- Each member has a role in the body and the mission. There are no observers or consumers in the church
- Life in family rhythms is the perfect place to see the ministry of one another
- Evangelism and mission is deeply relational

RESONATE CHURCH - PULLMAN, WA, USA

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

On most college campuses in North America, less than 5% of the campus is being reached with gospel community. The harvest is certainly ripe. Resonate Church was first planted in 2007 to reach the campus of Washington State University. A group of Texas transplants felt called to plant a collegiate church with the capacity to reach the mission field of the college campus.

The church grew quickly and within two years multiplied to plant a church at the University of Idaho about 10 miles away.

By 2012 roughly 600 students and community members were gathering between two churches to worship Jesus and reach their peers with the gospel. In 2014 we began to look beyond our local area and planted a church at Central Washington University. In the years following, we pursued a vision to become an urgent, multiplying, collegiate church planting movement. Since 2014 God has allowed us to plant churches on 15 collegiate campuses across the Northwest. This fall we'll send a team to plant at Colorado State University and we're asking God for more.
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2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

Our vision and conviction came from a wrestling with scripture, the limits of historical, collegiate models, and a couple of influences like Alan Hirsch.

In particular, we began to read the book of Acts more carefully and see that missional action as the assumed posture of the new testament church. Paul didn't often teach on mission in Acts, nor in his epistles because it was an assumption built on the great commission. Instead, he taught principles for right christian living so that the churches witness would be bolstered and strengthened by their character and love for one another. Just as Jesus taught.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

We firmly believe that all believers can identify unique ways God has called them to engage his mission and love their neighbors into the Kingdom. We work hard to make sure that every believer is a disciple seeking to obey the commands of Jesus and how others how to follow him.

We also strategically work to train leaders and teams to plant new churches in new places to see gospel saturation on college campuses.
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4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

We are structured as a network of churches each led by local pastors and elders. Our churches are supported by a central hub that provides administrative systems and support. This has allowed us to rapidly plant churches that are relatively low cost to start and it provides and onramp toward growth in areas that typically require significant time and resources before a team can move and engage the mission field.

In addition, our self-funded staff is primarily charged with developing leaders to lead missional communities and coaching those missional families to grow and multiply.
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5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

Every believer is invited into discipleship groups called huddles where we teach them a missional worldview, tools for missional engagement, and help them identify their missional focus.

However, we're learning that there are some gaps in their understanding at times and that can sometimes lead people to engage mission with immature or improper motivation. We're addressing this by developing a more robust training pathway to help every disciple understand the call to make disciples.​

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

Missional Living must be personally and corporately motivated: if it's only personal, you won't see the multiplying effect of family on mission. If it's only corporate, you'll have people sacrificing with the wrong motivations and it won't be sustainable.

Your shepherding capacity must match your sending capacity: While the prevailing church model is too heavy on shepherding and lacks urgency to send people out to seek to the lost, the missional church can sometimes swing the pendulum too far to the apostolic. It's important to match shepherding with sending if you hope to sustain movement. If you don't, people will eventually hit a wall and begin to think mission is the problem.
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TABLE CHURCH - CENTURION, GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

The city where our church is situated is has not always been a very diverse community, but that is starting to change at quite a rapid rate. A small community within an existing church became aware of this and we were very passionate about reaching the diverse community. When we paired this passion with our passion for those who are far from God and without community, it became immanent that God is calling us to plant a church with him.

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

We knew this church needed to be missional, because our hope from the start was that we will see growth by God adding to our number those who were being saved, or at the very least those who are not in Christ-centered community. This is what Jesus has always called us to, as we are called to make disciples. We realised that making disciples isn't just programs for believers, but engaging with and inviting those far from God closer to him. This was a knew revelation for us and our vision is built on this idea that all of us need to be discipling someone into life and someone into devotion.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

I believe the way our groups are set up and the way events are organised in our church. I, however, am convinced that we as a church need to grow a lot in terms of how missional we are.

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

We have a few events built to encourage and equip the believers for the mission. These are our discipleship groups every second week and our weekly Sunday Gathering and our weekly prayer gathering. Then we have quite a strict policy that every event outside of these, should be aimed at reaching those outside the community of faith. This "rule" has even sparked ideas for events we would not have thought of and we have seen God using this to help as meet people we would never have met.

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

The two strongest tools we have found is first by creating a platform where people can share testimonies of things God did when they were living out missionally and the second is to have frequent one on one check ins with individuals to ask what their struggles are and how the are coping with the missional lifestyle they are committed to.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

The most important on we've learned is that we should not love our institutional structures more that the people we are trying to reach. Other than that we have learned that being a true missional community takes time. Reaching people this way is a very intimate process and I can truly say that it makes it hard at times, because we genuinely LOVE the people God placed in our lives to love. This has been a major obstacle for us, as we have tried to streamline this process at times and it simply does not work and even hurts people at times.

THE MESSAGE CHURCH - CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

The Message Church was planted as a student church on the campus of the University of Cape Town, South Africa. A group of students were driving across the city to fellowship at one of our denominational church’s (REACH-SA), and it was proposed that a student service be started. This was a success, however it became apparent that students ministry is very transitional and therefore a core group of people needed to make the viable. This when there began wrestling with a missional community ideas to grow a core of committed believers.

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

Towards the end of 2008 and into 2009 we began to think about who we were as a church and what we wanted to be. What did it mean for us to be the church? Who were we? What did God want us to do? We were gathering faithfully on Sundays and there were a few Bible studies. But was that what being the church involved? Slowly we started to realize that to be the church wasn’t about impressive buildings, well-run meetings or programs or even large numbers at our services. To be the church we had to be about the Gospel and about people. But what did that mean? In short we learnt that to be the church, we needed to be centred on the Gospel, engaging in God’s Mission of making disciples and doing so as the family of God.
Over the last number of years we have sought to live these out in our Gospel Communities (GCs).

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

Understanding the biblical story is the first and most important aspect of The Message church’s desire to be missional. We seek to be shaped by God’s story and our new identity in Christ. At the Message one of the ways we want to foster a missional community is through the pulpit. We want to regularly teach and preach on our identities in Christ. We emphasise 5: Family, Disciple, Missionary, Servant, Worshipper. Each year we preach on these identities and remind the community about our missional identity. That we do not become missionaries when we go to the mission field. Or that mission is not an added extra we tag onto to an already packed life but it is essential to your new identity in Christ. Therefore, live out who God has called you to be.

We add structures to enabling congregants to live out there missional identity. We have created a quarterly event called a evangelism/ apologetic Sunday. This evangelism Sunday is an opportunity for people in the church to invite, colleagues, friends, neighbours to a thought provoking event. For example, we have done the following topics: “Why Jesus Hates Religion,” “Why is there so much suffering in the World;” “What is the Gospel;” “Can I trust the Bible?” Here the hope is that people would be praying for the lost and this Sunday provides an opportunity to invite them to a hot button topic.

Furthermore, we have GC Sundays (Sunday gathering in smaller settings in people's homes). The plan is to have these (GC Sundays, once every six/seven weeks). These are borne out of the same conviction, to make gathering with outsiders, those who are not yet friends with God easy and relational. One of the greatest GC stories was seeing a woman being really loved and discipled by a group of women (during the GC weekly gatherings), after experiencing this for a number of months, she put her own faith in Christ and still seeks to grow in her faith.
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4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

The centre and heartbeat of the church is the Gospel Community life. These are our groups of people that seek to live out the Gospel together. We have deliberately spoken of them as GC’s and not Bible studies or home groups due to the old ingrained mentality that a mid-week meeting consists of prayer and a bible study. We want the GC’s to live out there new Gospel identity in community. We emphasise 5 identities regularly and encourage the Gospel community leaders and core-teams to remember they are seeking to live out their identity together. Within GC’s we have DNA’s. A DNA group is typically a group of 3-4 people, normally either all men or all women, who meet together (approximately) weekly to encourage, train and nurture one another in their discipleship. The ‘DNA’ stands for ‘Discipleship, Nurture and Accountability’. When they meet they will generally study the Bible together, pray together and help one another bring their everyday lives into step with the truth of the Gospel.

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

Because Gospel communities are the ‘heartbeat’ of the church. We have established a core-team of 2-3 families in each GC to carry the load of keeping the groups focussed on living out the three important identities of: Family, Disciple, Missionary. There is little formal training on a monthly basis, but the team meet up with the GC leaders to encourage and remind about the focus and intention of Gospel communities. In addition began identifying key individuals who will be trained up to facilitate counselling to those struggling or suffering. At the heart of biblical counselling and pastoral care is the conviction and desire that all experience Christ centred renewal in every area of life.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

We can talk about it all day every day, but it won’t happen until someone just starts. We have also got to position ourselves well; by really knowing the needs of those we are seeking to reach.

Being able to share your faith or talk about Jesus is something that is going to be caught rather than taught. Not that there is no need for teaching how to share your faith and understanding the central tenants of the Gospel but people will learn more by watching and learning.

Critical mass is vital. If momentum is lost in the efforts to be missional it is very difficult to regain that.
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U-Z

URBAN CROFTERS - CARDIFF, WALES, UK  

​1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized?

We started meeting as a missional community in October 2016 - three families of five meeting in one of our homes. We had a vision to invite spiritually open and curious friends and neighbours along to our weekly meetings. Our first hour has always been sharing in a two course meal together, the second hour a range of different discussions - for example, sharing someone's life story; watching an inspiring video about mission and then discussing what we can learn from this; or an accessible Bible study. We have gradually grown in number and have gradually started new missional communities. We are now a network of five missional communities.

2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from?

Firstly, from the Great Commission of Jesus - this was not a suggestion, but a clear commandment to His apprentices. Secondly, from the Bible - the description we read in Acts is of a missional church. Thirdly, from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit - He is a missional Spirit. Fourthly, from the context in which we find ourselves - surveys show that only about 2% of Wales is committed in personal Christian faith - mission is desperately needed.

3.  What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church?

We are committed to growing our network of missional communities in breadth and depth. Every member of our church is connected to one of these communities. We are eager to develop community activities that expand our fringe of contacts, so that we can develop friendships with not-yet Christian people and invite them into missional communities. These include our community cafe in our church building Monday to Friday; a conversational group for isolated people and immigrants who want to practise their English; a children's choir; an adult choir; Friday evening entertainment; midweek music classes for pre-schoolers. We seek to promote the vision, values and practices of mission whenever we can.

4.  How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision?

We have a team of missional community leaders that meets once a month. The whole church meets in a network of missional communities each week. We have a church What's App group to communicate practical and prayer needs to one another. We organise DNA groups within each missional community to go deeper with the Bible; deeper with God; and deeper with one another in our discipleship journey.

5.  How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality?

Missional community leaders meet once a month for mutual support, sharing stories of what God is doing and to consider leadership skills that are helpful in leading these communities well. We also have a leadership training evening once a month. This year we are focusing on apologetics training to assist in our conversations with sceptics. We use a discipleship curriculum that explores eight key topics: living a Jesus-centred life; listening and responding to the prompts of the Holy Spirit; developing Christian character; developing new leaders; knowing how we are called to serve; practising relational evangelism; spiritual disciplines; and developing a kingdom of God perspective for faith and work.

6.  What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church?

The importance of "having a go" at new ideas - we might not know all the answers before we start something new, but we probably know enough to try something and see if it will bear fruit. The importance of flexibility: through organising ourselves as a network of missional communities it is easy to be able to plan and pivot whenever necessary. The importance of leadership intentionality: it is so easy to lose focus and momentum and leaders need to stay on track with missional priorities. The importance of doing little things well: sometimes the smallest of beginnings can lead to the most significant impact - part of the mustard seed dynamic of God's kingdom.