mDNA - Missional teams and congregations
Continuing our look at mDNA - communitas not comminity and how it applies to Northern Community. The other posts in the mDNA series are here
Missional teams and congregations
At Northern we have experienced the state of communitas every time we have created a new congregation or missional team. We have attempted to structure ourselves simply, in order to enable organic systems to flourish and therefore classify each of our ‘communities’ as either congregations or missional teams. Each of our congregations combines the experiences of our three core values (developing community, deepe\ening spirituality and demonstrating compassion). In contrast, our missional teams may focus on one or two of these core values.
In my last essay I talked about how our missional teams were creating peg communities (see Steve Taylor’s book - The out of bound church for more details) that allowed people to participate in the activity of Northern. Our missional teams are varied but all are outwardly orientated. That is, they are organised around a goal of connecting with people who are not yet, (and may never be) a part of our church. Many of our congregations serve our local community needs but also hold an aim of connecting people with Jesus.
Some of our Northern Careworks ministries such as the opportunity shop and food bank service have involved people from our church, community volunteers and work for the dole participants. There is a strong sense of communitas amongst these missional teams and it is all the more exciting that many of the people involved in the teams are not people who express Christian faith. Participants in the work for the dole program often, after their compulsory six months, stay on and participate as community volunteers one or two days per week. The experience of communitas around a common task can develop community very effectively.
Creating teams of people that focus on missional engagement is not only a way of creating pockets of communitas but also a way of releasing organic systems within the local congregation. I believe that if the energy and creativity that is often invested in the worship event was released for missional engagement then a strong sense of communitas would reinvigorate our churches.