Lynne has written some reflections on the emerging church hui that they recently had in New Zealand. Check out her full post here but her comments on the Multi Congregational approach I think we spot on:

The multicongregational approach
It was hugely encouraging hearing the stories of hope, particularly from around New Zealand, of people and groups who are meeting people where they are at, forming or being church for them, and growing together. It was also encouraging to hear from people who were desperately keen for the people with whom they work to become involved in churches, in the gathered Body of Christ, whilst recognising that for a variety of reasons, they do not fit within the existing church.

I became even more committed to the idea of a multi-congregational approach being an ideal model for missional involvement, where the church itself and the senior pastor and leadership are generous and robust enough to allow and encourage different expressions of church, including some that may not connect for them.

There is a downside to being a sodality. How much simpler life and ministry COULD be with the support of a local church, offering prayerful, practical and moral support. Of course, this again requires much generosity, trust and understanding on the part of the local church and leadership.

It would be exciting to see local churches being “home” to a variety of missional expressions of church. Many of the costs of the new congregations could be absorbed by the church as a whole, for example hall hire, multimedia equipment. Further congregations and congregational leaders can benefit from the wisdom, generosity, and resourcing of the wider church family.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 16th, 2005 at 3:42 am by phil and is filed under challenges for the church. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.