What is a Missional Community?

Earlier in the week I mentioned being in Philly for the Acts 29 regional conference. The theme was building and multiplying missional communities.

So what exactly is a missional community? Jeff Vanderstelt, who was the main speaker for the day, defined the term this way:

A missional community is a gospel-formed community that lives out the mission of making disciples together in a specific area and to a particular group of people by demonstrating the gospel in tangible forms and declaring the gospel to lead people to faith and formation in Jesus Christ.

A mouthful for sure, but worthy of serious reflection and prayer. Vanderstelt uses some key words to remind people of this calling: family, missionaries, servants and disciples.

If all this sounds like a lot of extra stuff to add to an already busy schedule, I particularly was challenged by this statement from Vanderstelt:

"I'm not asking you to add anything to your life; I am asking you to live differently."

As I posted earlier, resources from Vanderstelt explaining how he has worked out this understanding of mission among his people in Tacoma can be found here.