In part 3, I shared a FAQ list regarding mid-size communities (MSCs). You can get a good feeling as to what an MSC is by reading through the FAQs, or by looking at this infographic, but what’s the theological rationale for them anyway? Are MSCs just a repackaged version of Adult Bible Fellowship? Are they just the new hot thing? Or are they merely a different version of missional communities?
Well, let’s dig in. In order to look at the theological rationale for MSCs, we first need to ask more of a fundamental question: What is the church and what is her mission?
Is the Church, as Hans Kung suggests, the visible church building that people can belong to, as well as the invisible global Church composed of all true believers? Or is the Church better described, in a biblical way, as “God’s household” (Eph 2:19), “the body of Christ” (1 Cor 12:27), and a place where all of the biblical “one another’s” are lived out?
There is nothing wrong with describing the Church in those ways, but perhaps a better way to understand the Church is to begin with the end in mind? What if the Church was defined and understood through the lens of its mission? If it were, then the Church would not fall into the trap of being a loving community for its own sake or be mistaken as a rotary club. Although William Rush states that “the more the Church understands its own nature, the more it gets hold of its own vocation,” I actually believe the opposite is just as true. The more the Church understands its own mission or vocation, the more it will grab hold of its own nature.
So what is the mission that God has given the Church?
What is the mission of God? In Acts 1:8, Jesus commissions the Church by saying, “You will be my witnesses.” In Matt 28:18-20, Jesus uses the imperative to command the Church to “make disciples of all nations.” Furthermore, Paul explains the mission in Acts 13:47, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” According to Christopher Wright, the mission is “the committed participation of God’s people in the purposes of God for the redemption of the whole creation. The mission is God’s. The marvel is that God invites us to join in.”
There is no greater mission for the Church than the participation in the mission of God. Every local church needs to communicate this mission in everything that they do. However, the way that this message needs to be communicated depends on the context. For our increasingly post-modern and post-Christian 21st century North American society, I am going to suggest that Lesslie Newbigin’s motif is the dominant way that churches need to communicate the mission of God. The church is to be a sign, instrument, and foretaste of the kingdom of God (see this link for more information)
Michael Goheen summarizes it well,
The church now has a foretaste of the salvation that God intends for the whole creation. God uses the church as an instrument for his work of healing, liberating and redeeming his world. As such, the church is a sign that points human beings beyond their present horizon to the coming kingdom of God which can give direction and hope.
Viewing the church as a sign, instrument, and foretaste of the kingdom of God is not only a clear way of explaining the Church, but it defines it with the end in mind, using mission as its framework. After all, mission is not merely a task of the Church, it is the essence of the Church.
As Emil Brunner has said,
The Church exists by mission as fire exists by burning.
Viewing the Church in this way is also an effective way to contextualize the gospel to an increasingly post-modern and post-Christian society. It is conducive for post-moderns since this framework offers a word-picture reality that they can experience and live in, rather than an ethereal argument to weigh. It is also advantageous for post-Christians since this framework does not assume a prior knowledge of the biblical meta-narrative. This framework simply invites all people into a relationship with a community of Christians, since the congregation is the most effective hermeneutic of the Gospel.
So what is the theological rationale for MSCs?
Through MSCs, churches can truly become a sign, instrument, and foretaste of the kingdom of God. First of all, through MSCs, there are more opportunities for a church to connect with God by worshipping and studying Scripture together. Secondly, there are increased opportunities to grow through community because of the sheer number of people and since MSCs are more about the relationships than they are about the meeting. Lastly, there are numerous opportunities to serve because of the increased chances and roles to lead, exercise one’s spiritual gifts, and participate in sustainable mission projects as a group.
I love how St. Thomas Crookes Church puts it,
Mid-size communities are “a community that is small enough to have a common vision, but big enough to do something about it.”
By having a community that is clearly inclusive, biblically grounded, increasingly growing, and passionately missional, non-Christians will have a place to belong before they believe, and thereby experience church as a sign, instrument, and foretaste of the kingdom of God.
That, my friend, is the theological rationale for MSCs.
What are your thoughts?
Join us next time as we explore the sociological rationale for MSCs.
Hi Daniel,
I like what you did to turn what Rush says around, that “The more the Church understands its own mission or vocation, the more it will grab hold of its own nature.” I actually see the dynamic and waking up going both ways, one feeding the other, each in turn send the dynamic back the other way. Identity drives purpose, nature expresses itself through calling; and then realizing our purpose/calling and doing it shapes our understanding of who we really are.
I also resonate strongly with Church (is his name not totally ironic?) “Mid-size communities are “a community that is small enough to have a common vision, but big enough to do something about it.” I have hoped for and engineered on-mission communities always with this desire and understanding; He just puts it into words so simply and well.
The exercise in many churches will be the expansion of belief and practice to go bigger than small for those who adopted small groups into their life rhythm, and the conversion to go smaller than big, for all those who continue to prefer and practice being God’s called-ones solely as a big crowd.
Exactly. These posts aren’t necessarily a manifesto against small groups – they are a plea to move our churches to becoming and acting more like the church as God intended it to be!