Life in a vibrant gospel-centered community –a missional community– is an amazing thing to experience. It’s something I believe we were all created to enjoy. But what does this really look like? How is it different than your current church or small group situation? Let me tell you a true story that will help illustrate the beauty of this.
A Broken Family
Good friends of mine, Greg and Mary, came to faith and become part of our community a few years back. They pretty immediately began to loop others into this life with us as they learned to live as full-time missionaries. One of the very first families that Greg and his wife Mary began to invite into their lives was a 16-year-old girl named Kirstan and her widowed mother, Julianna. They had a pretty rough story.
This family had suffered from multigenerational drug abuse, addiction and violence. Kirstan’s dad spent years in and out of jail while her mom was a functional alcoholic. At one point she ate nothing but meals from Jack in the Box for six months because it was the only thing she could walk to from the low-cost motel the family was living in at the time.
A few months before Greg met them, Kirstan’s dad had committed suicide by hanging himself in her grandparent’s garage. A very, very sad story. Eventually homeless, and not sure what to do, they wandered into the offices at Network where Greg now works with others providing shelter and care for homeless families.
A Place at the Table
Kirstan looked a little like one of those Goth kids, dressed all in black with long, fortress-like bangs covering most of her expressionless face. She failed the necessary drug screening that was required to get into an apartment, but showing them grace, Greg decided to take a chance on her and Julianna and moved them in to one of the two-bedroom units.
Greg and Mary started praying and looked for ways to get them beyond the meeting table at the housing offices and to their dinner table at home. It took three to four months and several invites before Kirstan and her mom finally, reluctantly accepted.
That first evening Kirstan was very quiet and her mom ate as fast as she could so they could leave to go watch American Idol. They chit chatted through dinner, but for some reason Julianna expressed that she wanted to be a part of a church. Weird. Greg told her about the weekly dinners they had with some of their friends on Thursday nights and invited them to join them. They started coming to have dinner with the missional community the very next week.
Beginning to Believe a New Story
For the first few months they were pretty much just observers…quiet, feeling out relationships, but not saying very much or entering too deep into their personal life-situations with the group.
Julianna was a servant who loved to bring food, though she was a little scared of being vulnerable with others. Totally understandable! But as time, and many regular and daily encounters passed by, Kirstan and her mom realized that this crazy group of Jesus-people were more interested in them being part of their family than getting them to start “going to church”, or to stop doing this or that in their lives. They began to ease up and lean in to relationship a little more. Their thinking was, “family can hurt you and that’s scary”–but they were beginning to trust.
They were starting to believe a new story. [clickToTweet tweet=”True gospel-centered communities are an irresistible call to return Home.” quote=”True gospel-centered communities are an irresistible call to return home.”]
A Gospel-Centered Community
At one of these Thursday night “family dinners” Julianna really opened up for the first time, talking about how hurt and angry she was at her husband for killing himself. For leaving them alone, for hurting her daughters. She was crying as she shared, and for the first time Kirstan moved from her safe corner where she usually sat, into the circle of friends to comfort her mom. She never left the circle after that. Full of great insights and questions, she had so much to offer the group. God, faith and family were beginning to become real to her.
One night Kirstan mentioned that she was sorry that she had dropped out of high school. One of the young fathers in the group asked her what was keeping her from going back and finishing? With a puzzled look on her face she said, “I’m not sure really.” After that, everyone in the missional community came around her and helped pay for her to get a GED (high school equivalency diploma). Once all of the pieces were in place, Kirstan ran with it and did everything she needed to do. She was amazing!
A Big Win!
A few months later, at the age of 17 she completed the courses and walked the stage in cap and gown to receive her diploma. What a day. God rewrote her story from being a homeless dropout, to getting her diploma and graduating a year before everyone else! Greg and others from her missional community went to the ceremony. They have a picture of her that day, hair long and flowing in her tasseled graduation cap, smiling, glowing. Her mom is there in the picture, so proud and happy.
What a contrast from when they first walked into his office looking for any help they could find. Kirstan’s bangs long, covering her eyes and most of her face. Her moms face swollen from crying, wondering where her kids were going to sleep that night. What a change. What good news–for them and for us–as we saw grace, restoration, trust and hope in action…in the flesh. A true picture of the Gospel.
Words and actions. All very good news.
This is Our Story
In so many ways this is all of our stories.
None of us have a perfect family, or have been the perfect son, daughter, mother, father, sister or brother. We have all, at times, lived for our own “glory” and tried to manage life and relationships to suit our own personal comfort and liking.
Or perhaps we have been sinned against and felt abandoned. We have found ourselves on the outside looking in and wondering if things could be better or ever really change. Is this how all of life will be? We all long for a more loving father, a brother or sister who will lay down their life for us, a place in a family that is safe where we can just be ourselves.
We Get to Live This Way
All of us were created to live in grace-based relationships. That is why true gospel-centered communities are an irresistible call to return home. Our Family represents the open arms of God and a place at his dinner table. [Get information on how you can learn to live this way in community.]
This is not a lifestyle we should live with others. This is the life we get to live because of Christ. The next best time to get equipped to start living this way, is now. I am here for you and would love to help. Drop me a line or any questions you may have in the comments below.
You can watch the video about life in a gospel-centered community here on Youtube.
