Introducing our final two Innovative Faith Community Types
Last week, we introduced two more of the six types of Innovative Faith Communities (IFC) Mission Alive can help you launch in your community: the Missional House Church and the Missional Church. As you remember, all of these six missional initiatives differ in two distinct ways: 1) whether you launch them while remaining part of an established church and 2) by how deeply you will invest in a missional/incarnational approach to ministry. In this article, we will explore the last two types which involve a deeper investment in your community: Missional Community Network and Neighborhood Missional Parish.
Missional Community Networks and Missional Neighborhood Parishes look quite different from traditional churches. They both start by focusing on missionally engaging the community or neighborhood and allowing a spiritual community to develop through those relationships. They don’t start with a worship gathering or Bible study. In many cases, public spiritual gatherings such as bible studies or worship services do not start for 2-3 years after their launch.
The difference between Missional Community Networks and Missional Neighborhood Parishes comes down to the breadth of mission and geography. Missional Community Networks identify a very specific need among the marginalized and address that need throughout the community. Missional Neighborhood Parishes identify a very specific neighborhood but provide a variety of missional engagements within that smaller geography.
Mission Alive comes alongside both the Missional Community Network and the Neighborhood Missional Parish to help identify either the specific area of need within the community or to identify the community on which to focus. We then provide context-specific training and coaching along the way so that you maximize your impact.
If you sense God stirring within you to launch a Missional Community Network or a Neighborhood Missional Parish, we encourage you to learn more HERE or schedule a conversation with Tod Vogt or Steve Shaffer.