VISION


Community in North Church 

Community Groups are essential to the mission of North Church. In light of our biblical convictions that community is a critical part of sanctification and growth of a believer, and a crucial aspect of our ability to image God, we want to see everyone living out their faith in a Community Group. For this reason, being in a Community Group is required for membership and is the vehicle through which one becomes a member of North Church (See Appendix 2 for the member process). As well, Community Groups are our primary vehicle for discipleship and an important strategy for the mission of the church. Therefore, understand that your leadership in the Community Groups Ministry is vital to the mission of North Church. You will play a huge part in determining the legacy of North Church and transforming our city.

What is a Community Group?

A Community Group is a group of disciples who live life together for the purpose of sanctifying one another and giving glory to God. Consequently we would expect that the same attributes of a disciple would manifest themselves in community. It is a group of disciples who find their identity in Christ, who worship Jesus together, who care for one another and spur each other toward godliness and who own the mission to see more people glorify God. A Community Group is not an event. It is a lifestyle of discipleship, shared lives with Gospel Intentionality. We will discuss expectations of what happens in a group in the spaces and rhythms sections below, however for now let's look at how Community Groups factor into the mission of North Church.

Neighborhood Strategy

The mission of North Church is huge. To simplify the mission statement, our goal is to transform our city and see the name of Jesus exalted. For those of us without a microphone, website, blog (that’s actually read) or other platform, it can be difficult to grasp how we fit into the plan. Don’t be fooled! You and your community have a huge role to play as stated above. As we endeavor to transform the city, there are two equally important parts to the strategy. The first is the proclamation of the Word (Sunday* gathered preaching and worship) and the incarnational living out the Word in our lives (Community Groups). The goal of our Community Groups is to live out the conviction from God’s Word in a way that transforms our lives and the lives of those who see God’s work in us. This is where the Neighborhood Strategy comes in. The concept is simple. Although your Community Group may not be able to affect the whole city, it can affect your block and your neighborhood. If the other groups in your neighborhood do the same, and the groups in your church affect their neighborhoods, eventually we can transform a city. This is the body of Christ each doing their share that adds up to mission greater than the sum of its parts. We see in 1 Cor. 12 that this is how God designed the church to work for His glory and our joy. What makes this more significant is the fact that you and your group can reach people and people groups that would never darken the door of the church building. You have to opportunity to contextualize within your group at a deeper level then a church, and therefore reach people who otherwise would never hear the gospel. As Sunday gatherings and Community Groups work together, this city will never be the same.

Neighborhood: a neighborhood may be defined differently depending on your church size and context. Generally it designates a region of your context that has specific cultural distinctives, which separates it from other regions. It defines a scope of missional oversight for that particular region.

Belonging Before Belief

Much has been written on this subject but the idea is simply this: In our culture today, many people want to belong to a community before they actually commit to belief in their values. They want to see if the values you profess are actually lived out in your life. They want to participate and may even be willing to further your cause before committing to belief. This is an amazing phenomenon. This means that a non-believer wants to participate in your group and watch you be Christians to see if your life is different because of the Gospel. They may even participate in the mission with you. This should change the way we think of our Community Groups. Our groups need to strategically think about providing opportunities for engagement in the culture and the ability to invite non-believers into their community in accessible but authentic ways.

Replication

One of the key elements of a Community Group is replication, which safeguards against becoming lost in complex rhythms and spaces. (It also allows room for new people to join and see lives transformed by the gospel.) As these groups continue to grow and replicate, we make steps towards our goal to transform our city. Replication is an opportunity to plant another community in your neighborhood and provide another outpost for the gospel. Every group should strive to plant more communities and saturate their neighborhood with the Gospel of Jesus. Every group should have an apprentice leader being groomed to plant a new group (see appendix 2 for the leadership process). You should be replicating when your group participation is around 14 or more (see section IV for a replication plan).