6 Principles
"Listening to the Community." In contrast with communities developed by people outside of the community that bring in resources without taking into account the community itself, listening to the community residents, and hearing their dreams, ideas and thoughts.
An Inward and Outward Movement
Spiritual formation occurs during and as a result of the journey toward the center where Jesus dwells and reflects the true self as image-bearer. The very act of Jesus—the indwelling-reflecting-transforming-illuminating presence—propels the image-bearer outward to the world that was birthed through Jesus and loved by a Holy God. Both are necessary for transformation, to be spiritually formed. Being a part of the effort (the church) to make things right in the world (justice) purifies, makes holy the soul, the whole person (sanctifying grace).
A Group Effort: Equal, while Unique Gifts
When Kent Carlson and Mike Lueken of Oak Hills Community Church in California declared co-pastor status, Lueken says of Carlson, “He was the one who had to be willing to surrender some control and power. He has repeatedly let it go.”[1] Rarely practiced—the deliberate, conscious, yielding of some power so that another might be entrusted with more.
[1] Mike Lueken & Kent Carlson, Renovation of the Church: What Happens When a Seeker Church Discovers Spiritual Formation (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011), 91.
Intentional Spiritual Formation
If one is not mindful of the position of self or other, imbalance of power and influence almost certainly will result, and freedom to become who one is created to be most truly in the image of God is, in the very least, arrested. Spiritual formation is relational. That the church needs to “redefine success” is clear, given that it has historically relied on numbers as a gauge and found wanting.[1] A change in the reference due to the baggage the term, church planter, brings, is in order. And, while missional now too carries a fair volume in baggage we have hovered around the phrase, creative missional community, with a view to develop a network of missional communities.
[1] Lueken & Carlson, 102-103; David E. Fitch, The Great Giveaway : Reclaiming the Mission of the Church from Big Business, Parachurch Organizations, Psychotherapy, Consumer Capitalism, and Other Modern Maladies (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2005)., 43-46.
The composition of communities is continually in flux and appear to only grow increasingly so. Significant impact on spiritual formation, then, must be focused, deliberate, and, since authentic formation happens in the context of relationship, the approach demands personal interaction. Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch offer a compelling argument for “critical contextualization” describing authentic encounter in the community while being distinctly Christian.[1] The philosophy and mission of the Christian Community Development Association also compel us (more below).[2]
[1] Frost and Hirsch., 91.
[2] Christian Community Development Association, http://www.ccda.org, accessed, July 9, 2013.
Pray, discern and develop mature leaders
Develop and Grow Relationships
It takes time to garner credibility and develop authentic friendship with neighbors. Our neighborhood is diverse—racially and socioeconomically. Wholistic spiritual formation occurs in a community, directed by leaders operating from a variety of gifts (Eph 4).[1] Also, mature, spiritually formed leaders accompanying the missionaries bolster the healthy success of a developing, new community. Much as with giving up power so that another’s might be used, more established churches are reluctant to give up members (numbers) to augment the leadership of another group. We are in the process of discerning those who God has ordained to join us.
[1] Frost and Hirsch., 165.
Frost and Hirsch observe that currently, “people are searching for an inclusive community that is democratic, nonpatriarchal and compassionate. Their preference for a group is that it be raw, not refined; earthy, not sophisticated; concerned with action, not just theory.”[1]
[1] Ibid., 134.