what kind of bread and wine

what kind of bread and wine - from third space, a small missional community in matlock - worship trick 74 in the third series.

small missional communities seems to be an area that is growing in interest and practice. i mentioned a while back that ian adams has been writing a series on getting one started - since i wrote that he's added a few more pieces - i'll update that post shortly to include them. he is also facilitating a network in the uk with cms . i noticed too that there is a US network transFORM that has recently got started. so if that's what you are up to you might like to connect.

i can hear already a critique - is this just the latest fad, a change of language because we get bored so quickly?! i don't see it that way. i think it's got a unique edge and welcome it - communities that are smaller, a bit more organic, and exist for mission and the way i see it don't usually need to employ anyone to run them which may be the key factor as the church reshapes for a sustainable future. emerging church, alternative worship, deep church, new monasticism, fresh expressions - all have different edges but the fact that they exist shows that the church is changing, adapting, reshaping herself to respond to the new context(s) she finds herself in. from my personal point of view the key issue is contextual mission - as long as that is the question at the core that is good news.

Comments

[Ed]

are small missional communities not the idea of Church? is that not we are supposed tot do?
when did it become something else?

[Becky Garrison]

Thanks for the thoughts - I hope that these communities can celebrate what they bring to the table and not feel pressured to grow - bigger isn't necessarily better. And at least here in the States, we have a market of people hiring themselves out as consultants to the church who either have never run a church or have been out of the scene for so long that they aren't really tuned in to what's happening on the ground. What they have are "ideas" they want to test out as though missional communities are like lab rats. I hope these groups can learn and grow from each other instead of bringing in "experts" to run experiments on them. :)