Nurturing church plants to have BOTH a mission mindset and strong relationships with the local community (Part 1)

This blog was done for Radstock ministries and appears on their blog here.

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Since planting 3 years ago, by God’s grace, we have grown in two ways. Firstly, a small but growing group of mission-minded Christians have moved into the area from outside to play a part in reaching the local community for Christ. And secondly, local people have joined the church community through a variety of means (Sunday meetings, midweek meals and Bible studies, socials… In time we hope young men will join us through the free weights sessions we run for them, but that is a longer term goal).

As I reflect back on recent years, we have experienced a twofold challenge:

• · For church planters build relational connections in the community and
• · For local Christians to capture a vision for mission to their friends and neighbours

Here’s why…

In these early days, the church community is clustered into two main groups:

1) Planters - mission-minded, but relationally unconnected:

These guys are Christians who have moved into the area for the sake of mission through our local church. They have born the cost of leaving prior church families, and intentionally made mission a priority in making work, financial and housing decisions! They are highly committed to mission.

However, in almost every case, (having moved in for the purposes of the plant) they have no prior friendships or connections to the community we seek to reach. These guys are “starting from square one” relationally (and inevitably take some time to understand and adapt to the local culture). (These guys are Cluster A on the graph).

2) Locals - relationally connected, but often less mission-minded:

These are members of the local community who have joined us. In many cases they are longstanding residents with strong connections to the area through extended family, friends they have grown up with. They have years of shared history having lived through the defining highs and lows of their neighbours’ lives. They instinctively “get” the local culture.

However, generally these guys are less mission-minded, either because they have taken on some of the culture's pluralism, or because they lack a clear grasp of the gospel (many in our church community would rightly not identify as Christians). (These guys are Cluster B on the graph below).

(Continued...)