House churches, neo-monastic communities, ministry teams, small groups, and neighborhood gatherings, and missional communities are all examples of the Church becoming increasingly communal as it becomes increasingly mission-focused. This emphasis among emerging church adherents is refreshing, many of whom are 18–35, though not limited to that age. Less interested in building churches, emerging church leaders strive first to become the church, seeking a dynamic and fluid communal life centered in the places where people work and live. Being the church is essential—that means serving neighbors, a presence in the community and a desire to live in proximity to those not affiliated with a church.

Group life in this emerging environment is more organic and less programmatic. But nonetheless, small groups of people—gathered for prayer, study, service, “hanging out” at the coffee shop—are central to the way of life espoused by these various communities.

As I speak with emerging leaders and communal architects, it is clear that smaller groups and expressions of community are essential to their mission. Just this week I met with a number of leaders. Some are moving into apartments, starting a small core community of 5-7, and beginning to connect with others. The goal is to become the church in that space, and then to replicate that. One leader envisioned an area of apartments and rental properties filled with such groups, describing it as “missional acupuncture.” He targets these areas because here in Chicagoland, over 40% of people live in such areas and less than 5% of churches have any ministry there. These are dense, small areas, ideal for starting missional groups and communities that embrace the value of small groups but have a more organic fluidity because of relational proximity and density.

In suburban culture, there is a great desire to connect and recover a communal life lost during the fragmentation of the modern era. As a result, neighborhood gatherings are beginning to become the hub of community life, spawning small groups, short-term learning communities, serving teams and a variety of ad hoc gatherings. While some house churches are larger (40–60) many new house church movements have 9–12 people per church, and intentionally reproduce if the group gets much larger. Reaching people where they live requires a model that is flexible and easily reproducible, void of the constraints of traveling to a church building across town.

To be continued...

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 1700s, 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 1960s have we seen such a church-wide emphasis on community.

The small group movement that burst onto the scene in para-church groups in the 1950s-70s began to find a home in the church in the 80s–90s. Meta-church models, cell churches, mini-churches, discipleship groups, recovery ministries, and evangelistic groups emerged. As a result, churches began to embrace group life as important for growth, but still treated this form of community as a program: “We do groups.” The last 10 years has seen a move beyond that narrower focus—where groups are still essential to spiritual growth, but where they are connected to larger mid-sized communal gatherings.

To be continued...

Session One of the Ancient-Future Community conference featured Scot McKnight. He gave us a glimpse into the small group that Jesus led, the table fellowship they enjoyed, and the acceptance they shared. Preceding Scot's talk was an awesome worship set led by Matt Lundgren, and a video called Fast Forward that looked back at the history of the church.

To see additional clips from any part of the conference, click the Sessions In Depth link at the right, under Ancient-Future Community. There you will find not only video clips, but outlines, photos, notes on worship sets, and links to other resources by conference speakers.

Watch Video: Ancient-Future Session One Highlights