Grace Baptist Church

Steve Timmis on the the Nature of Gospel Community

Below is a short but clear explanation of what gospel community looks like by Steve Timmis, author of Total Church. The Towers, the news service of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, interviewed Timmis which can be viewed here. Check it out.

Labels: Cape Coral, Community, Gospel, Gospel Community, Grace Baptist Church, Steve Timmis | posted by TimBrister at 10:28 pm | Categories: Community, Gospel, Small Groups |

Koinonitis - Fellowship Gone Bad

Thom Rainer writes about unhealthy community in a term called koinonitis and provides some symptoms for evaluation.  Rainer (emphasis mine):

Okay, it’s not a real word. It’s not even a word that is original with me. Koinonitis is a play on koinonia, the Greek word for fellowship. Koinonia typically refers to a healthy fellowship among people, where each person is placing the other’s needs before himself or herself.

If koinonia is healthy fellowship, then koinonitis is unhealthy fellowship. Koinonitis means that the interest of self is pervasive in the group. “My” interests trump the needs of others.

It is ironic that one of the most common places we see koinonitis today is the local church. That group of Christians, one would suppose, would always be more concerned about the needs of others that the needs and comforts of themselves. Surely self-interest does not place in the church! The latter statement, of course, was made with just a hint of sarcasm.

After over two decades of serving, studying, and consulting with local churches, I have seen untold examples of koinonitis. And the tragedy is that this affliction is keeping numbers of churches from being the Great Commission, missional church that God has called them to be.   How can we detect koinonitis in the church? Perhaps a few questions can help in the diagnosis of this “illness” in local churches.

When I have my annual physical examination, I have lab work, measurements of my weight, blood pressure, and pulse rates, and my physician asks me a series of questions. My doctor is very good about integrating the subjective questions with the more objective medical work that is done.  Likewise, we can ask several questions of people in local churches. And the more “yes” responses we get, the more likely the church is afflicted with the unhealthy fellowship that I call koinonitis. Let’s look at a few of those questions.

· Are most of the budget dollars of the church primarily used for meeting the needs, preferences, and desires of the members rather than those outside the church?
· Do many members demand that others conform to their preferred styles of music and worship?
· Is there a pervasive attitude in the church that says my tithes and offerings give me the right to have my way and my say?
· Does “the way we’ve always done it” trump the need to change to reach the community and the nations?
· Are church business meetings times of rancor and divisiveness rather than times of confession and celebration?
· Are the pastors and the staff of the church perceived by many of the members to be a personal pastoral care giver?
· Is church membership perceived to be more of a right than a responsibility?

The list is not exhaustive, but these few questions alone can provide clear indications whether the church has healthy or unhealthy fellowship. How do you think your church fares in this diagnosis?

These are good questions to ask ourselves, evaluate our growth groups, and use in diagnosing areas where we may be unhealthy in our fellowship.

Labels: Cape Coral, Fellowship, Grace Baptist Church, Koinonitis, Thom Rainer | posted by TimBrister at 8:54 am | Categories: Community, Small Groups |

How to be a community group member

Tony Payne, who I mentioned earlier, has written an excellent article called “How to be a small group member” in a Matthias Minizine focusing on loving your church.  He explains that the primary reason for belonging to a small group is:

“to give us opportunity love and encourage other people in Christ.  It’s not about me; it’s about them.  And it’s about them because of Christ.”

Payne rightly notes that “we go to small groups not primarily to have our needs met, but to meet the needs of others” and “the more more we focus on loving others and doing whatever we can for them, the more encouragement and strength we find ourselves.”

So how can we practically fulfill our primary reason for existing in community?  Payne lays out five simple ways:

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Labels: Cape Coral, Community, Grace Baptist Church, Small Groups, Tony Payne | posted by TimBrister at 3:04 pm | Categories: Community, Small Groups |

Grace Community Groups - A Resource Directory

This month marks one year that we began meeting monthly in small groups (Grace Community Groups).  At the end of this month, we will be voting on the proposal by our elders to begin meeting three weeks each month in our GCGs (fourth together for Lord’s Supper and Baptism service).  Over the course of this past year, dozens of resources have been made available, including articles, powerpoint presentations, PDF position papers, sermons, and book recommendations.  Below is a history of our Grace Community Groups, including a resource directory to assist you in learning, praying, and seeking God’s direction regarding the upcoming proposal.

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Labels: Cape Coral, Community, Grace Baptist Church, Small Groups | posted by TimBrister at 4:17 pm | Categories: Community, Small Groups |

Explaining Community Life

Here is an excellent clip from Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA (Francis Chan is lead pastor) about community life shaped by the gospel.

Community from Cornerstone Church on Vimeo.

Labels: Cape Coral, Community, Gospel, Grace Baptist Church | posted by TimBrister at 11:23 am | Categories: Community, Gospel, Small Groups |

Events vs. Family - Giving Appropriate Emphasis

Tim Chester, author of several books include Total Church, recently wrote a thought-provoking blogpost about performance-based ministry and real-life ministry as it relates to the “store-front” image of the church.  His desire is that people not ask about their meetings (events) but rather ask about how the church lives their lives together with gospel intentionality.

Chester writes:

For many Christians church is an event. It is a meeting you attend or a place you enter. Churches may talk about being a family, but most of their resources go into the Sunday morning event. Acquiring a building. Preparing the sermon. Producing the bulletin. Equipping a venue with sound and light. Planning the show. Practicing the band. That’s were their money and their staff time go. We talk about being family and community, but when you look at how we spend our time and money it becomes clear that in practice we view church as an event.

People often ask me about our meetings. ‘When do you meet? Where? What do you do when you meet together?’ But if you ask those questions then you have completely missed the point! We’re not advocating a new way of doing meetings. Actually our meetings are not good! The music is poor and the teaching is nothing you’d go out of your way to hear. What matters to us is our shared life: sharing our lives, doing ordinary life with gospel intentionality.

The church will never out perform TV shows and music videos. But there is nothing like the community life of the church. There is nowhere else where diverse people come together. There is nowhere else were broken people find a home. There is nowhere else when grace is experienced. There is nowhere else where God is present by his Spirit.

Although our corporate times of gathered worship are very important in the life of our church, relatively speaking if we are a healthy church, we would view church life much more than an “event” but a shared journey where we live life together on mission in our community with a gospel-driven passion.  While the de-churched in our community will perhaps find their way to one of our corporate gatherings, the unchurched and unreached people will not exposed to the glorious realities of the gospel without the community apologetic and everyday witness of kingdom living through word (proclamation) and deed (service).

While we do not want diminish the significance of our times of gathered corporate worship, we ought to raise the significance of everyday life in between these gatherings to authentically and intentionality demonstrate how the gospel continues to transform our lives where the Spirit of God makes ordinary moments extraordinary opportunities for glorying in Jesus Christ!

Labels: Cape Coral, Community, Family Life, Grace Baptist Church, Tim Chester | posted by TimBrister at 8:28 am | Categories: Community, Gospel, Small Groups |

Killer Community Tips

Here’s a light-hearted way of communicating some wrong-headed view of community groups . . .

Labels: Community, Small Groups | posted by TimBrister at 12:42 pm | Categories: Community, Small Groups |

Seven Reasons Why Preaching Is NOT Enough - John Piper

Much like Grace, Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN (where John Piper is lead pastor) has been transitioning in structure for small group ministry.  In his exposition on John 5, Piper explained the importance of small group for healthy body life and why preaching is NOT enough.  From Piper’s manuscript (emphasis mine):

Last Sunday when I met with the small group leaders of the Downtown Campus, I tried to show them how essential their role is at this church by giving them seven reasons my preaching is not enough—seven reasons why perseverance in faith and growth in faith call for Christians to meet regularly in a face-to-face way to “serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). God intends to do things in you which he will only do through the ministry of other believers.

7 Reasons We Need Small Groups

He has given pastors to the church “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12). I believe in what I do. And I believe that it is not enough. Here are the seven reasons I gave the small group leaders.

1. The impulse [to] avoid painful growth by disappearing safely into the crowd in corporate worship is very strong.
2. The tendency toward passivity in listening to a sermon is part of our human weakness.
3. Listeners in a big group can more easily evade redemptive crises. If tears well up in your eyes in a small group, wise friends will gently find out why. But in a large gathering, you can just walk away from it.
4. Listeners in a large group tend to neglect efforts of personal application. The sermon may touch a nerve of conviction, but without someone to press in, it can easily be avoided.
5. Opportunity for questions leading to growth is missing. Sermons are not dialogue. Nor should they be. But asking questions is a key to understanding and growth. Small groups are great occasions for this.
6. Accountability for follow-through on good resolves is missing. But if someone knows what you intended to do, the resolve is stronger.
7. Prayer support for a specific need or conviction or resolve goes wanting. O how many blessings we do not have because we are not surrounded by a band of friends who pray for us.

So please know that when this small-group ministry of our church is lifted up, I don’t think it’s an optional add-on to basic Christian living. I think it is normal, healthy, needed, New Testament Christianity. I pray that you will be part of one of these small groups or that you will get the training and start one. This is the main strategy through which our pastors and elders shepherd the flock at Bethlehem: Elders > small group leaders > members to one another.

These seven points provided Piper are important to consider, especially because of the fact that we are all members of one another and participants in the change God wants to bring in conforming us more into the image of Christ.

Labels: Bethlehem Baptist Church, Community, Grace Baptist Church, John Piper, Small Groups | posted by TimBrister at 2:01 pm | Categories: Community, Small Groups |

Proverbs 8 Study Guide & Discussion Questions

In our Grace Community Groups (GCGs), we have been seeking to apply God’s Word (text) to our lives (context) as preached from Pastor Tom Ascol and his series through the book of Proverbs.  In our October GCG, we took up chapter eight of Proverbs, focusing on the nature, value, and accessibility of wisdom.  I am making the study guide and discussion questions available online for download to anyone who might find it profitable for their small group or personal devotion.

To download the Proverbs 8 study guide and questions, click here (PDF).

Labels: Community Groups, Grace Baptist Church, Proverbs 8 | posted by TimBrister at 1:39 pm | Categories: Community, GCG Study Guides, Proverbs, Resources, Small Groups |

Stetzer on Missional Small Communities

Ed Stetzer: “We should not be so concerned about the container but the church being contained.”

Missional Small Communities from Ed Stetzer on Vimeo.

Here is the outline for his talk:

1.  Can small communities be missional?
a.  Made up of people living on mission
b.  Most likely place for life transformation
c.  Less to maintain =  more focus on mission
d.  Yo-Yo Illustration: Centrifugal Force (missional) & Centripetal Force (attractional)
e.  Do something for the gospel, not just ourselves

2.  Why small communities?
a.  Accountable relationships
b.  Provoking is possible (specific vs. generic)
c.  Flat structures help people live on mission (vs. hierarchy)
d.  Maximum participation (from rows to circles to the world)

3.  What are some hindrances to missional small communities?
a.  More of a concern for knowledge than life transformation
b.  Leaders love to teach more than to help people learn
c.  Reflections of the past
d.  Segmentation of the mission (”every expression of the church owns all the mission of God”)

4.  What are some key practices of missional small communities?
a.  Mission orientation
b.  Word-driven community
c.  Multiplication mindset
d.  Incarnationally valid
e.  Stranger welcoming
f.  Kingdom focused

5.  Build a strategy that is communicable and understandable for our people
a. Connect
b. Grow
c.  Share
d.  Go

Conclusion: “The most likely place for life transformation and missional engagement is in small communities.”

Labels: Community Groups, Ed Stetzer, Missional Small Communities | posted by TimBrister at 12:46 pm | Categories: Community, Evangelism, Missional, Small Groups |

Community Groups on Mission

Tim Keller, in his influential article “The Missional Church” explains the difference between the practice of church in “Christendom” and the church in an increasingly post-modern, secularized culture.  His argument is that if the church is going to reach the world in which we live today, we cannot accept the traditional mode of existence within Christendom since it no longer exists but instead embrace a missional posture which seeks to engage and influence the non-Christian society in which we live.

At the conclusion of his article, Keller lists six ways a community group can take on the missional posture, and I want to commend them to you as you participate in our Grace Community Groups.

You are a community group on mission if:

1.  Its members love and talk positively about the city/neighborhood
2.  They speak the language that is not filled with pious tribal or technical terms or phrases, nor disdainful and embattled language
3.  In their Bible study they apply the gospel to the core concerns and stories of the people of the culture
4.  They are obviously interested in and engaged with the literature and art and thought of the surrounding culture and can discuss it both appreciatively and critically
5.  They exhibit deep concern for the poor and generosity with their money and purity and respect with regard to opposite sex, and show humility toward people of other races and cultures
6.  They do not bash other Christians and churches

THEN . . . Keller says that

A.  Seekers and non-believing people from the city will be invited in
B.  They will come and will stay as they explore spiritual issues

Labels: Community Groups, Culture, Missional, Tim Keller | posted by TimBrister at 12:21 pm | Categories: Community, Missional, Small Groups |

Why One Group and One Place: Community Group Q&A (PDF)

This evening, I followed up with addressing two questions that have been asked: (1) Is it okay for me to attend various community groups? and (2) Can we have various host homes for the same community group?  Regarding these questions, I sought to address with biblical considerations, current realities, and specific reasons why the pastors and elders recommend Grace Community Groups meet in the same place and members commit to one particular community group.

I have made the PowerPoint presentation available to download as a PDF document.  To download it, click below:

“Why One Group and One Place? Grace Community Groups Q&A“

Labels: Community Groups, Grace Baptist Church, Incarnational Ministry, Theology of Place | posted by TimBrister at 8:00 pm | Categories: Community, Resources, Small Groups |

Why Weekly? Q&A About Grace Community Groups (PDF)

It is our goal to make as much of our materials and resources available to you, and in keeping with that goal, I am providing a downloadable PDF of this evening’s discussion on the question “Why Weekly?: A Q&A Discusion for Grace Community Groups.”  This short presentation simply covers biblical considerations, current realities, and six practical reasons for transitioning to weekly community groups. If the presentation was recorded, I will also link to the MP3 from this evening.

To downlaod the document, click below:

* Why Weekly? - A Q&A Discussion for Grace Community Groups *

Labels: Community, Grace Baptist Church, Small Groups | posted by TimBrister at 8:52 pm | Categories: Church Planting, Community, Evangelism, Resources, Small Groups |

Nuts and Bolts of a Great Commission Vision (PDF)

As promised, I want to share with you the PowerPoint slides in a PDF document for you to download for further review, prayer, and reflection.  The nuts and bolts of this Great Commission vision is a project in the making; nevertheless, this document gives you a pretty good idea of where the pastors and elders of Grace have been thinking and praying for the past 6-8 months to better facilitate the Great Commission with a strategy and structure for our church scattered and sent on mission for the glory of God.

To download the document, simply click here:

“The Nuts and Bolts of a Great Commission Vision of Grace Baptist Church“

Labels: Church Planting, Community Groups, Grace Baptist Church, Great Commission, Leadership Development | posted by TimBrister at 8:38 pm | Categories: Church Planting, Community, Evangelism, Missional, Resources, Small Groups |

No Person’s Contribution Lost in the Crowd

“Small communities determine a size in which mutual discipleship and care can realistically take place.  They create a simplicity that militates against a maintenance mentality; there are no expensive buildings to maintain or complex programs to run.  They determine a style that is participatory and inclusive, mirroring the discipleship model and table fellowship of Jesus himself. . . . [One another] is simply the practical expression of the priesthood of all believers.  Whatever flexibility there might be about the structure of church, these principles are binding. We are to disciple and exhort one another, to love and care for one another. . . . The priesthood of all believers finds expression when no person’s contribution gets lost in the crowd.”

- Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), 93-94.

Labels: Community, Priesthood of All Believers, Small Groups | posted by TimBrister at 2:16 am | Categories: Community, Small Groups |