Missional Cell

Missional community (at The Bridge we call it missional cell family) is a must in 21st Century church. People really caring for people in our fast-paced lives must be intentional in a 'small-church community,' or it just really never happens. Discipleship is maxed out in these settings when the groups are on common mission for the Gospel. Also, church should be fun, and these groups have an absolute blast doing life together when they are functioning properly. The Bridge gathers on Sunday to worship the most high God and train these groups; then we scatter every day of the week with our MC folks and work with other cells (and other churches) to go on mission and care for needs.

Jim Belcher, the writer of Deep Church who I just saw in St. Louis a couple of days ago, tells a story in the book that proves these points. Jim's church is in a relatively upper middle class area of Orange County in California, and he told the story of Doug and Mattie who were rolling along in the American dream -- great jobs, a magnificent home, leather-seated cars, and lots of travel. Small problems, but life was good. They even went to church for good measure. They called it, "checking the box."
Then in January 2005, their world changed forever. Their son Nathan was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned on felony drug charges. Humiliation set in to the point that they had to put paper over their windows to get local media and neighbors out of their destroyed worlds.

Then, Doug & Mattie encountered missional community from a group based out of Redeemer Church where Belcher pastors. I want to emphasize that they did not come into the church through the front doors of a worship service. A couple that became aware of their need reached out and invited them to hang with their cell. They found the acceptance in the home environment exactly what they needed and they continued to come back (not exactly knowing why). Mattie said, "They immediately accepted us, loved us, and comforted us. They shared in our suffering. They prayed with us. It was incredible. They literally saved our lives." In some terminology that we use at The Bridge, all the folks involved became willing to "know and be known." The couple did not visit Sunday morning services for months after all that you are about to hear about. The church gathering on Sunday is not the story here. If they had walked into most larger church settings in America, those who cared would have 'put them on the prayer list' while others (who obviously don't care and have bad hearts) would have scoffed and gossiped about their failings as parents because 'good' parents don't have children in prison. However, the missional community group put their lives on hold for a couple they barely knew but grew to love quickly. This is the story, the difference maker, for the glory of God that can happen when MC is done correctly.

You might notice that this missional community was not pounding Doug & Mattie with the Gospel at this time. They were hearing the magnificence of the Gospel as they attended the home gatherings, but it was not directed at them. The turning point in the whole story happened through the group exhibiting agape love in a time of suffering and need. The prison was a couple of hours away from home, and due to limited visiting slots, to see Nathan on Saturday morning at 7 am, Doug & Mattie would have to leave the house at 12:30 am to get in line at 2:30 to receive one of the visitor's passes. It was a grueling, exhausting procedure week after week. Soon, they were physically and emotionally drained. However, one Friday a member of their missional cell told them to go ahead and go to bed and set their alarm clock. The member had discovered that he could go stand in line for them to receive the pass and Doug & Mattie could just show up at 7:00 am for the visitation. The group began to rotate doing this for them, so that they could survive the ordeal. "Who does this kind of thing?" queried Mattie. "What would motivate someone who barely knows us and has never met Nathan to reach out with such kindness and compassion?"

God really had their attention now, and they noticed as they studied Romans 3 that they had never heard terms such as justification and sanctification. Jim admitted that they had always attended church, but he "did not understand the depth and breadth of the Gospel. Over the years we heard lots of engaging pep talks on how to live better, improve our lives and serve God, but never was the Gospel clearly and consistently taught." Months later, as the Gospel was actively changing and transforming their lives, they began to attend worship services. Doug said, "We realized that the Gospel impacted every aspect of our lives. Our lives took on new meaning. It was and is exciting."

Remember, this all started with a couple (never named in the book) who was fully engaged in missional community reaching out to a broken couple and bringing them into the community with love and care. The story gets better as Nathan sees the change in mom and dad and is absolutely overwhelmed by the story of the people standing in line over night in acts of agape. Nathan heard that the hole in his heart that he had tried to fill with drugs and crime could only be filled with a restored relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He had his heart cut by the Holy Spirit and came to Christ, and now is leading a missional community that focuses on drug addiction and parole violators since his release from prison. He actually joined the church from prison (big picture of him on the screen in his orange jump suit with a smile on his face that only Jesus can put there and a recording of him confessing Christ and committing to the body).

This is what can happen in missional community and is what we have been trying to foster since the first days that we planted The Bridge in cell families. We have some stories like this one here, but too many people still want church life to be much easier than that. This missional cell that loved on Doug & Mattie invested DEEPLY into them. There was a cost in time, money, & self interests!! Agape love requires sacrifice -- and quite honestly, it appears that few have been raised by Christ to that level across the church landscape.

I wrote this blog because I received an e-mail for a prayer request for a couple who has been occasionally attending our Celebration worship services for a little over a year now. They have not connected with a missional cell. I don't even know if they have been approached by a missional cell -- if not, I am disappointed. Their list of needs blows away Doug & Mattie and the reason that they are hanging around is that they have heard that the people of our church care. Who is going to be the couple that does more than just pray for them (see Matt. 5:44-48, James 2:14-17), but reaches out and brings them in? Our people at The Bridge are doing awesome, but we must be more missional with the disconnected and marginalized. I watch our people in large gatherings and most us talk to the folks that we know well. That is comfortable and easy. Our version of Doug & Mattie have essentially been ghosts for over a year now. How long will they stick around? The staff could try and 'place' them in a cell, but that is not what works. What works is for someone to reach out and invite them to dinner with their group -- just dinner, so that they know somebody cares. Who will be in tune with the Holy Spirit and reach out and pull them into Deep Church?