MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES
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What we typically think of church is going to a building on Sunday and maybe a Bible study on another night. The problem with this is that Jesus doesn’t call a building the church, and for the first 400 years or so, the church didn’t have a cool building to go to. Jesus called His people, His family, the church, and for a long time, the church happened in people’s homes, over a nice dinner or maybe over breakfast with some great coffee. Having a building isn’t bad, and God’s people should gather to worship together, but most of life doesn’t happen for an hour on Sunday. You could probably argue (and we do) that most of Jesus’ ministry happened with people over some great food. So that’s how we “do” church, and we call these small communities missional communities (MCs). We typically hang out over a meal once a week, but throughout the rest of the week, we encourage each other and spend time in the community with each other. Hanging out with each other, meeting new friends along the way, sharing what Jesus is doing in our lives, and inviting them into the story.
MC
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Missional Communities
GATHER
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So, living life as a family means that, like most families, we get together every so often to celebrate what is going on in our lives. At City on a Hill, we call this the gathering. All of our MCs get together to celebrate what Jesus is doing in our lives, pray for each other, sing worship to our King, and hear the Word preached. Most often, we preach through an entire book of the Bible, ensuring that we teach all of scripture, not just the parts that are easy to preach or what we want to preach that Sunday. Every once in a while, we will preach on a particular topic if we feel that is where the Spirit is moving us. During the worship service, we have children’s ministry and teach through the Gospel Project, which helps form our kiddo’s understanding of the story we are part of. Our gathering is meant to be another opportunity to commune with Jesus together.
We currently gather on Sundays at 10 am.
SUNDAYS
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10 AM
DNA
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If MCs are family, DNA groups are like the best friends that you would tell anything to. Kinda. Think about it this way: if you were hanging out with your family, would you tell them all of your secrets, just an open book about everything going on in your life? Maybe, but probably not. DNA groups are typically three people (same gender) that get together and Discover what God is speaking through the Word and their lives. The group then Nurtures those pains or celebrations through the lens of the Scripture and collectively figures out what they need to do with this new information. You could say that they would figure out how to Act on it. These groups are the most intimate, diving deeper into scripture and our lives than you typically would in an MC or at the gathering.