Most churches end up being pseudo communities because everyone is driving from 20 to 60 minutes away. They might get to church five minutes early and say hi to a couple of people, go through the service, maybe have lunch with their family and a friend, then go home. Then the best of the best go to home group on Wednesday to meet in a living room with several people who again have commuted to get there. That’s a step in the right direction, but what if in the places of our lives where we have most organic and natural forms of community — typically where we work, or a gathering around a hobby, or in a retirement home if you’re an elderly person — that was our place where we do both discipleship and missional engagement with the world? And then we happen to come together once a week for a service. That changes the whole emphasis, and it allows us to have authentic community. (emphasis mine)
...what’s gaining importance is a real life, lived in God, that other people can see is real. I think that’s sort of a new evangelism. And that’s why just having relationship, and conversation, and inviting people into communities is so vital. You get 90–100 people together who really care for each other, trying to become real-life Christians ... lots of people would just go bananas for that.
~ Todd Hunter, national director of Alpha USA in interview with George Fox Journal
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