Why Missional Communities (Mid-sized Groups of 20-70) may be the best way to reach the unchurched

[James Nored]

The major focus of this year's Exponential New Churches conference (a church planting conference) was on missional communities. Besides people like Alan Hirsch laying down a foundation for this, many of these sessions were led by Mike Breen and Alex Absalom, authors of Launching Missional Communities. Breen and Absalom had great success with missional communities in England in very unchurched settings. Four years ago they came to the US, however, in Oklahoma and now Ohio, and they have used these groups successfully in these places as well. Some may have heard of these missional communities as "clusters," another term for them used in England.

Breen and Absalom very specifically define a missional community as being a “mid-size group” of “twenty to more than fifty people who are united through Christian community, around a common service and witness to a particular neighborhood or network of relationships . . . [They share] a common mission focus that is the key glue for the shared sense of togetherness.” (p. 18)

 

These size groups are important in the life of any church, and hugely important for missional outreach. There are four types of social spaces:, and the church needs to be manifested in each one of these:

• Public - Approximately 100 or more, up to thousands; this is a great sized group for a worship celebration
• Social - 20-70 - this is the mid-sized group (more on this below)
• Intimate - 3-12 - this is the typical "small group size"; great for sharing
• Personal - 1-2 - a spouse, or a close friend

(For more on social spaces, see the work The Search to Belong by Joseph P. Myers.) At best, most churches have a public (worship) and intimate (small group) expression. In regards to outreach, the public worship is good for people to check out a church anonymously. And there are seekers who are still willing to do this. Of course, without intimacy, it is hard to retain people. An intimate size (small group) is great for sharing. But it is intimidating for many seekers to go to this group. They are afraid that they will be asked something they don't know or be put into an awkward situation. Once people make friendships with some one in the group, they are more likely to come. We lead a lot of people to faith in seeker small groups, using the Story of Redemption.

 

The mid-size group (20-70) is often the best sized group for reaching out to the truly unchurched as a first point of contact--and it is virtually non-existent in most churches. This social group is the "party sized" group. And when these group gatherings are held in the community (not in a church building), their outreach potential is truly huge. This can be manifested in "block parties," for instance, in which a whole neighborhood is invited to join in a barbecue with some church members. Church planters intuitively realize the need for this type of gathering, either throwing these types of parties or going to them. As to block parties, since most suburbanites (and most other Americans) are disconnected with few relationships, many will go to these types of gatherings, where they can easily and informally make connections with people. No intimate sharing is expected in this size of a group, though this can develop later in a more intimate setting/group.

 

These mid-sized groups are also great to serve or adopt a particular people group or neighborhood. More can be done with 20-70 than with 3-12 (and because of people's schedules, this small group size often dwindles to an even smaller number when they go out and serve). In a typical existing church, this type of gathering could be used either for Sunday evening or for a midweek type of service. To really fit into the life of the community, however, a Saturday evening gathering might be best (5 or 6 PM?). It all depends on when people typically go to these types of social gatherings. Then these groups could be subdivided into small groups either as part of the missional community gathering (an hour in the public group, 20-30 minutes in a small group), or small groups could be held at a different time. People need all of these "social spaces" in their lives, but perhaps not every single week.

 

If established churches and church plants could have a strong mid-sized, missional community structure that intentionally reaches out to a neighborhood or people group (e.g., single moms), many people could be reached for Christ that are not currently being reached.

 

What do you think of missional communities? What are some different types of missional community gatherings that a church could have? What are some neighborhoods or people groups that could be adopted by a missional community?