About Missional Communities

Oxford Community Church began as part of the charismatic renewal movement in the late 20th century (read more about our history here and listen here). It was a privilege to be pioneers of charismatic Christianity in Oxford, and we believe that ‘Missional Communities’ are once more putting us on the leading edge of church life, so that we’re ready for what the 21st Century has to offer!

In the 20th Century, churches in our movement were originally called ‘house churches', because we met in people’s homes. As we grew bigger, we became churches with ‘house groups’. Over the years, these went by various names, including cell groups and community groups. These were a key part of implementing our vision to love God, love each other and love the people around us. (For more on this biblical vision to relate upwards, inwards and outwards, have a look here.)

However, if any aspect of this vision suffered, it was normally the outward focus. We really have been spiritual and we really have formed loving communities together, and that’s been brilliant. But we have typically been hidden and disconnected from the society we live in, and that’s not so brilliant!

Our story is the story of the British church

Of course, our story is not unique. The story of the British church since the 19th century has been one of falling attendance and increasing marginalisation. Whereas the parish system once served to bring local churches right alongside local communities, it now maintains those same Christian congregations at a distance from the majority of UK residents, who – as city-dwellers and commuters – do not feel a strong connection to their place of residence. This reality has been well documented (here and here), and diverse attempts are being made to re-shape church for contemporary society (such as these... here and here).

As people have sought to innovate, some key lessons have been learnt. One is that we really need to listen to and learn about the people with whom we wish to connect, rather than simply offering them our ‘heritage package’. Like the Jews in Babylonian exile, we are realising that we need more than a quick fix, more than just polishing up the things that we do already. Some more fundamental changes are needed, and one of them is to make sure we listen properly before we speak, so that we can speak about Christ intelligibly and meaningfully.

Another lesson has been that there is not a single new ‘model’ for church in the 21st century. As society around us continues to change, structures in the Christian community need to be flexible. This is not the same as throwing out our principles and just being pragmatic! Rather, it is precisely some of our age-old principles that teach us to respond to the world around us (1 Cor 9:19-23).

What does this mean practically?

Different churches are responding differently to these historic issues. Our response has been to develop what we call ‘missional communities’. We would not claim that our response is the only good one, but we do believe that it is an excellent one!

We have acknowledged that church leaders cannot listen and respond to all the people with whom church members have connected. Therefore, it follows that church leaders cannot discern all of the exact ways in which the Christian community should act in the world. Church leaders can inspire, ensure that stories are told, provide resources and much more, but it is up to the whole church to ask “What should we do?”

In OCC, instead of church leaders determining what outreach projects to support, we invite anyone in the church who has a specific vision for mission to step forward and make it known. If others then share or catch that vision, we encourage them to start meeting together, and to make that their ‘house group’. So, instead of having spiritual communities that are unsure how to engage in mission, there is a common outward purpose right there in their foundation. People who join the group then do so not only to find spiritual life and friendship, but because they want to join in with the vision that the group shares. (You can find real examples here and here.)

The right culture

Thus far, this might sound just like an organisational restructuring. Someone might ask whether this is not just rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. Well, it might well be, except that it is accompanied by a really robust culture of personal spiritual development (i.e. discipleship) that enables ordinary Christians to lead ‘missional communities’ with skill and godly confidence.

In fact, our focus is not so much on the church structures, but on discipleship that changes lives. We believe that good discipleship will lead to transformed lives, and therein lies the promise of future growth for the whole church.

The British church has been great at helping people to grow intellectually and morally. We teach doctrine well and we challenge people to live righteously, often employing a mixture of Sunday services, small groups and 1-to-1 mentoring to those ends. However, Jesus also developed his disciples by giving practical demonstrations of how to do ministry, asking them to do practical things, encouraging them when they failed and celebrating their successes. ‘Missional Communities’ provide a place in which this more practical discipleship can occur.

Building teams

Whereas a single person or a couple might provide the spiritual and pastoral leadership required by a ‘house group’, a missional community requires more. This does not mean that the same people have to work harder, but that each community needs a team with diverse and complementary skills. In OCC, we require each missional community to have a leadership team of at least 3 people, and between them to cover the visionary leadership, the coordination of pastoral care for group members and adequate administration.

We provide loads of support to these teams, ensuring that they grow in skill and confidence. We not only point them towards resources on building church leadership teams, but provide each missional community with a ‘coach’. We have found that this role is indispensible (read more here), especially as teams normally go through seasons of hard graft and little fruit before starting to live the dream! Our church leader, Steve, is investing his time and energy in training people to fulfil this role well.

We also run special 24-hour retreats twice a year, called ‘learning communities’. These are very different to your average Christian event and missional community leaders leave them not only spiritually refreshed and having received anointed prophetic ministry, but also having been supported to produce faith-filled action plans that give them confidence and direction for the coming months.

(If you are interested to find out more about the ideas behind ‘learning communities’, you might like to visit these links: here and here. It might also be possible for you to visit one of ours as an observer. To enquire about that possibility, please email oxford@occ.org.uk.)