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Small Groups and the Emerging Church
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The Emerging Church and Small Groups: What does the future hold?
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It is no secret that there are multiple movements taking place across the kingdom landscape. Only time will tell which ones survive and thrive. One thing is for certain, however, communal life is central to almost all of the current emerging expressions of church life. More intentional than the previous generation, the rising cadre of church leaders consists largely of communal architects, shaping the church into smaller communities for greater missional impact and presence. Not since Wesley’s little bands of the 1700’s, the haystack prayer gatherings of 1806 and beyond (starting from a small group of 5 and launching prayer groups still today), and the Jesus Movement of the 1960’s have we seen such a church-wide emphasis on community.
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Sensational Community: Building Community that Connects with Emerging Generations
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The Emerging Church movement is a new expression of the ancient roots of our Christian faith, and community is the master key to its desire to sense and share the Lord in ‘non-traditional’ ways. It consists of believers who are endeavoring to understand the postmodern worldview, critique it through a biblical lens, and harness it in order to articulate the story of Jesus Christ in ways that can touch the soul of emerging generations.
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Small Groups and the Emerging Church: Not Missing the Forest for the Trees
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All the signs point to the fact that the emerging church does not worship like the previous generations. The elderly builder generation preferred traditional church services—hymns, preaching, and a strict order of service. The boomer generation, now in their 40s and 50s, chose more pizzazz and creativity. This boomer mindset gave rise to the seeker-sensitive movement, in which high tech professionalism characterizes boomer worship.
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Small Group Community: A Church Program or an Emerging Missional Organism
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In the early 1990’s, I began working for an organization that consulted with churches in alternative ways of being the church. The founder of the ministry challenged the programmatic way of church life and promoted an organic way of being a missional people through small groups. Almost every day, I would field phone calls from pastors who longed to find a different expression of being the people of God. I remember one specific phone call. A pastor from the Allutian Islands (which is located off the coast of mainland Alaska) called sharing how they had been ministering for 30 years and had spent most of his ministry looking for an alternative expression of church that would impact his small island. I felt honored to listen to his story and offer a little hope.
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The Emerging, Relational Way of Being the Church
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“Small Groups and the Emerging Church.” - The topic was intriguing and yet so humongous, so ponderous, so weighty that I did not know where to start. It reminded me of a 60’s phrase …“Wow, that’s heavy, man.” Then, I began reading a new book by Scott Boren, The Relational Way, and things began to come a little more into focus. It is still “heavy, man,” but Boren’s perspective definitely helped me lighten the load.
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