We decided to ask around and see if anyone else was doing something like this. We couldn’t find anyone. Lots of churches were embracing a “Missional Community” model of 10-14 people living in the same area and doing very intentional, in-depth life together — really being family for one another and thinking together how they could reach their neighborhood.
Although we understand that model and have seen its effectiveness in some places, it didn’t make sense in our context. The lakeshore area is smaller and more spread out, and because most people are from here and have family and school friends in the area, “community” is not a strongly felt need.
We were looking at groups of 30-75, serving together, and being a catalyst for spiritual steps as they served. Then our friends at Gateway Church in Austin, TX came on our radar. I had followed @JohnBurke for a while, we had both gone to the same seminary, and his book, No Perfect People Allowed, was HUGE in my understanding of effectively reaching people who didn’t know Jesus. But, we didn’t know that they had started on a process they called “Networks” about six to 10 months before we did.
About a year ago, Mark flew down to Austin, TX to hang out with their team for a few days, and learn anything we could from them. They do Networks a little differently, and their context is totally different: Texas, lots of singles, professionals, artsy. Even with Gateway and their wisdom, they were new at Networks, so we felt like we were plowing some new ground. It was all one big experiment. An experiment that we are still in the middle of.
Here is a list of our preliminary findings:
- It has taken two years for Networks to become a part of who we are, not just something we do.
- We have done WAY more in our community through a decentralized approach than we would do as one big church.
- We have seen people jump into serving in a network before they come to The Journey (and some who still haven’t come).
- This year, we developed “Connection Nights” to provide consistent communication and touch points with the Network. It’s helping connect people, plus gives them a taste of Journey Groups.
- We are infiltrating our communities with love and are gaining a positive reputation in our communities.
- We are watching people join a network to serve, develop some connections, then be willing to jump into a group, and all of that is leading to steps in their relationship with Jesus.
- It has become the easier step for people to take.
We are the same church we were two years ago, but we’re different. We haven’t “become missional.” We were always missional (and attractional). But our system of Networks is helping us be more effective missionally.