January 2014

            In the beginning of the month, we had a lot of work to do to inform our group of who they were supposed to be meeting up with and confirming with the people that were supposed to be doing the accountability that they were in fact available for the commitment.  A few weeks in, we were realizing, very few people were following through.  We were stumped.

            At this time, there was a three day discipleship and mission workshop being held at a Lutheran church down the street from the church Jarred and I attended, Hope Vineyard.  Our pastor Robert was going along with his wife and four other couples that had been reading books put out by 3dm.  He had invited us to come to the workshop because he thought it fit with what we were doing with Common Ground.  The workshop was Wednesday through Friday so we weren’t going to be able to go because of work.  Somehow, I got three snow days on those days and I was able to attend every session (there wasn’t even snow on the ground that Friday, but God wanted me to be there so he made it happen!). 

            The workshop was all about doing missional communities and how to do discipleship.  It struck a chord with me because of everything we were trying to do in Common Ground.  My biggest take away was the idea that discipleship is not behavior modification but rather character formation.  This is what we needed for Common Ground.

            A major component of 3dm is the life shapes that they use to help create a common language that facilitates a discipleship culture.  I walked away with three shapes that I immediately started using with the women I was holding accountable. 

The first two shapes were triangles; one described our covenant relationship to the Father God and the other described our kingdom relationship the God the King.  The “ah-ha” moment came from realizing that we obey out of our identity that God gives us instead of striving to prove ourselves to God.   I used this shape to help us get to the core of issues we were having asking questions like, “What do you believe about yourself that is contrary to what God says about you that is causing you to act in this way?”  It was a new way of looking at sin issues that allowed for us to rely on God’s truths instead of our strengths.

The third shape we looked at was a circle that helped us process “Kairos” moments, or moments when the Kingdom of God was breaking through.  This shape got to two core questions: “What is God saying to me?” and “What am I going to do about it?”  This helped us to make a plan that was centered on what we were hearing from God about how to move into agreement with His plan.

We were novices with the shapes and we know so much more now than we did then about how to use them.  However, it was exactly what we needed at the time and we felt such a burning in our hearts to do something different that was more impactful so we had to take that first step.

As always, we would love to hear about what you are doing with missional communities in your context.  Please feel free to share in a comment below.  Also, if you have questions about anything we are doing, feel free to ask and we will get back to you as quickly as possible!  Thanks for following along!

Love,

The Irby’s