to inspire people to JOIN God’s mission, we will:

DISCERN personal and systemic needs

Because there are unmet needs in each community, we will

• Discern common personal needs in each community through surveys, interviews, and conversations
  • Discern populations affected by unmet needs, including
    • Children
      • Especially Elementary School students behind in reading level
      • Foster Care children and parents
    • Immigrants
    • Unemployed
    • People living paycheck to paycheck
    • Addicts
    • Hungry
    • Elderly
• Discern systemic needs that are contributing to common personal needs
  • Discerning the root of unmet needs, far beyond relieving symptoms
  • Discerning systems that lead to the visible, immediate, individual needs
• Build relationships with community leaders to determine systemic needs:
  • City officials, law enforcement, school officials, etc.
    • Encourage Christians to serve on or interact with city’s/county’s faith advisory council
  • Church and non-profit leaders
  • Christian school leaders
  • Leaders of groups who have gathered for a cause/need

What can I do?

• Join our prayer team, who will be focusing their prayer on the discerning of needs.
• Let us know what you believe the most pressing personal and systemic needs are in your community.

 

ENVISION solutions

Because Christians can work together to envision solutions to unmet needs, we will

• Envision solutions that are:
  • Creative
    • The gravity and complexity of the systemic and personal needs warrants high-level creativity, inspired by the Creator.
  • Comprehensive
    • Solutions must seek to fully address or eliminate needs.
      • For example, the solution for orphan care in the region is not to simply find homes for some of the orphans, but to develop a solution that results in ALL of the present and future orphans finding homes.
    • Shining light onto all spheres of society, including government, education, arts, media, business, family, etc.,

• Large in Scope   
  • The scope of the solutions must be enormous due to the pervasiveness of the needs.
  • The scope can be enormous because of the synergy made possible through missional unity.
  • Community Life will partner with local governments to maximize impact.
• Proactive
  • Solutions should not merely be reactionary, but should ultimately be “upstream” – influencing the systems, culture, and people who are “downstream”.
• Life-giving
  • While implementing solutions, Christians should make the most of every opportunity to share the gospel clearly and creatively in word and deed.

What can I do?

• Join our prayer team, who will be focusing their prayer on the creative process of envisioning solutions.
• Let us know what holistic solutions you are dreaming about to meet unmet needs in your community.
  • Pray and dream big.  Here’s an idea to whet your faith appetite: instead of praying about helping a few orphans, start praying with us about finding a home for every child in your community.

 

MOBILIZE congregations on mission

Because congregations can experience renewal through mission, we will

• Inspire congregational leaders to lead congregants on mission
• If appropriate, train congregational leaders to form Missional Communities:
  • Cast vision for missional communities
    • A missional community is a group of 30-50 people who encourage and challenge each other to follow Jesus Christ as they partner together on mission.
  • Empower and train missional community leaders
    • Each missional community will be led by a dynamic leader who will serve as a teacher and shepherd.
  • Recruit attenders to join a missional community
    • Invite
      • Identify “next step” action for attenders to take on Sundays.
      • Extend a personal invitation to attenders.
    • Assimilate
      • Follow-up with those who are interested and guide them toward joining a missional community. 
  • Teach congregants to understand that following Jesus includes loving God, loving others, and living the love
  • Encourage each missional community to mobilize their members on mission.
    • Each missional community will focus on implementing one of the envisioned solutions to the identified needs.
    • Additional mission opportunities could include meeting needs of the church.
  • Challenge missional community leaders to disciple missional community members in the context of mission.
    • As individuals and groups go on mission, missional community leaders and other leaders must help each person connect discipleship and community to mission.
      • The goal is to lead people to love God, love others, and live on mission (see Renew Congregations above).
      • Lead people to do more than merely attending missional events (OUT only).
  • Focus each missional community on implementing one of the envisioned solutions to the identified needs
  • Lead current small groups to form missional communities
  • Motivate small groups, ministries, and individuals to join the missional communities as they implement one of the envisioned solutions to the identified needs.
    • Individuals from small groups and ministries in the congregation could join a missional community on a mission event.
    • A ministry from the congregation could focus their outreach on one of the envisioned solutions.
  • Begin new missional communities.

What can I do?

• Contact us so we can help mobilize your congregation through missional communities.

 

FACILITATE missional partnerships

Because joining God’s mission together is strategic and evangelistic, we will

• Coordinate with local expressions of unity
• Lead Community Life, a partnership of churches, non-profits, and individuals who will partner together to create missional unity.
  • Expand number of partners (Christian organizations who give life by partnering together to lead people to experience eternal and abundant life by sharing the gospel in word and deed), helpers (people or organizations who give life by volunteering), and supporters (people or organizations who give life by investing financial or other resources).
• Invite congregations to partner with Community Life who are unlikely to participate in other unity expressions.
  • congregations from demographics in the minority in a community
  • non English-speaking churches
  • smaller churches who often have struggle to partner with larger churches
  • Protestant congregations who are presently not living our their unity with people outside of the Protestant tradition
  • Catholic congregations who are presently not living out their unity with people outside of the Catholic tradition
  • Orthodox congregations who are presently not living out their unity with people outside of the Orthodox tradition
• Cast a vision of partnering widely.
  • Help congregations, non-profits and individuals imagine the possibilities of partnering together
• Partner with Community Life partners who are experts at accomplishing envisioned solutions
• Work with secular organizations to accomplish envisioned solutions
• Utilize Workship program at Palm Beach Atlantic University to facilitate partnerships between students and the community
• Lead Community Life partners to implement envisioned solutions to systemic and personal needs.
• Invite everyone to participate:
  • Invite and include anyone who cares deeply about the needs or is willing to help implement the solutions – even if they aren’t yet following Jesus.
• Help struggling congregations partner with healthier congregations/organizations:
  • Upon invitation, audit struggling congregation.
    • If a congregation is moving slowly in the direction of living on mission:
      • Cast vision for missional unity.
      • Facilitate a partnership between the struggling congregation and a congregation/organization who is effectively on mission.
        • Going on mission together will create missional energy while accomplishing the mission itself.
        • Fueled by the new missional energy, help the struggling congregation to start missional communities that can sustain missional activity.
• Develop the Pray App, utilizing a GIS platform to share real-time prayer requests and answers to stimulate focused, intercessory prayer for missional activity.

What can I do?

• If you are an individual and you are ready to partner with others on mission, let us know.
• If you are a leader or member of a congregation or organization, especially one which its struggling, contact us (or encourage leaders to contact us) to explore a missional partnership.
  • If an organization already has a partner in mind, we would help you and your partner(s) work together on the envisioned solutions to the discerned needs in your community.
  • Partnering with a congregation who is stronger n the area of living on mission can be a powerful catalyst for mission in your congregation. You will be leading your people on mission, and at the same creating missional energy within your congregation. Fueled by this new missional energy, your congregation can enter a season of sustained missional activity.

 

SHARE resources

Because missional partnerships require resources, we will

• Cast vision for the necessity of sharing resources as the envisioned solutions are implemented.
• Brainstorm the types of shared resources that can fuel mission:
  • Intellectual property
    • i.e. Sermon outlines, ministry ideas, best practices, training
  • Virtual property
    • i.e. Graphics, videos, life group resources
  • Physical property
    • i.e. Buses, tents, Vacation Bible School materials, sound systems
  • Events and programs
    • i.e. Conferences, ministries
  • Financial donations, including
    • Donations given to Community Life to support Community Life
    • Donations given to Community Life and passed on to congregations, non-profits, and individuals
• Help congregations identify their resources that can be shared.
  • Develop the Exchange App
    • App will utilize a GIS platform
    • App will create a virtual hub that will revolutionize the way Christians share their resources by providing the conduit for Christians to share resources they have and access resources they need
    • Existing examples include MeetTheNeed.org and 4Kids‘ Care Portal.
  • Use this same system to help congregations discover, receive and use others’ resources.
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What can I do?

• Sign up to be notified when “Exchange” is ready to launch.
  • Fill out the form below, and we’ll make sure you are the first to know!

 

REPRODUCE Community Life nationally and globally 

Because every community needs to experience missional unity, we will

• Share the methodology and model of Community Life by writing, speaking, and leading worship at churches, denominational meetings, conferences, etc. across the country and world
• Export the methodology and model of Community Life to local communities throughout the country and world.

What can I do?

• If you live in a community that Community Life hasn’t started working in yet, contact us so we can help you create missional unity in your community!
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What’s the next step? ⇒  Join Community Life