Strategy and Structure
[The following has been adapted from a CGL Summit on February 10, 2019].
4 Pieces of a Community Group
Regular Meetings
Everyday Life (Life Together)
Events and Initiatives
Service Projects
3 Foundations of a Community Group
If the 4 pieces above are what we want Community Groups to do, then the 3 Foundations are elements that will help get us there…
1. Gospel Community
Gospel Community is a community built around the gospel. It’s a community bound together primarily by Christ, His grace, and His Mission. A community built on the gospel: loves, helps, encourages, and exhorts one another. It bears one another’s burdens, it weeps with those who weep, and it rejoices with those who rejoice. The cross of Christ purchased a people to be built up in love and live in fellowship with Christ forever. A gospel community desires to regularly meet and do life together.
2. Hospitality
God’s people welcome others. A community built on the gospel loves to bring others in. A healthy gospel community has a culture of welcoming others into their lives and their homes, whether it’s welcoming a believer into your group, or an unbelieving neighbor over for dinner. One of the more predominant images of God’s people in the Bible is a family. We call each other brother and sister, and God is our Father. Family signifies a place to belong, and a place to lay down the burdens you carry throughout the day. As disciples of Jesus, we are called to love everyone, even our enemies. Or to put it another way, we should treat others like family, even if they are not, and maybe one day they will be. As a group and as individuals, we should seek to practice hospitality with people in our lives. A culture of hospitality will help us do life together, and plan events and initiatives to welcome others into our lives.
3. Mission
We are God’s people, who serve God’s mission. We are temporary missionaries, and eternal worshipers. This doesn’t make God’s mission less significant, but rather more urgent. If we want to be like Jesus than we must follow Jesus. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and he went to them. He saw them, and he initiated towards them. Our mission stated in Matthew 28:18-20, manifests itself in Events, Initiatives, and Service Projects. The goal of these manifestations is to serve our relationships and meet our city’s needs. Events serve relationships far more than they create them. Events and initiatives serve God’s mission only if they serve and further real relationships.
The Foundations Build
When we talk about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, we talk about being a worshiper, a servant, and a missionary. A gospel community worships Jesus, welcomes others in, and goes out to the lost. To say it negatively, mission will be weak where a desire to welcome others is lacking. Our hearts won’t want to welcome and serve others if they aren’t worshiping Jesus and experiencing the rich community he has purchased.
2 Roles Within a Community Group
Looking back to diagram #1, there are 2 key leadership roles to make Community Groups thrive…
1. CG Leaders
Per the descriptions above: A CG Leader serves the members of Cities Church by assisting the pastors in creating gospel community, cultivating hospitality, and compelling toward mission.
2. Cities Pastors
The pastors shepherd CG Leaders and members by setting an example for the believers, and equipping the saints for ministry. Pertaining to Community Groups, the pastors set an example by leading groups of their own. They also seek to equip CG Leaders to shepherd and serve their groups well. CGL Summit’s and Leader Reports have been the primary means to do this. But now, we are adding one new structure to strengthen the shepherding of and communication to our Community Group Leaders.
New Shepherding Structure
In addition to CGL Summits, we have added CG Leader Clusters. These clusters will:
Be led by a pastor.
Meet 3 times a year between CGL Summits.
Be a place for pastors to shepherd and personally respond to CG Leader Reports.
Be a team of peers to encourage and help one another in leading their group and planning their meetings.
Be a place to help shoulder the load of placing new people that are moving towards our church.
Follow-up Questions to consider:
How is your group doing in these 3 foundational areas? Would you say you have buy-in from your members to be a gospel community, to practice hospitality, and to live on mission?
Which one are you strongest in? What has helped create that?
Which one are you weak in? Describe what’s challenging.
