Leadership Tips for Missional Communities

Long before “missional” became a church buzzword lighting up the blogosphere, St. Thomas Church in England started doing things differently. They operated in a European culture that wasn’t friendly to Christians and they knew that if they were going to reach new people for Jesus, it wasn’t going to be in a church service. So under the leadership Pastor Mike Breen, they reinvented what church looked like. And as it turns out…it looks a lot like what we see in the early church.They broke to the streets, the college campuses, living rooms and pubs; and in doing so, they quietly started a missional revolution. By 2000, they had become the largest church in the England.At the heart of it all was a church culture that didn’t just create converts—it created disciples that seemed to live an awful lot like Jesus did. They trained regular, ordinary lay people to be leaders, to listen to the voice of God and respond.  And the people they trained…in turn trained people themselves.Since that time Mike Breen has left St. Thomas to start 3DM a ministry dedicated to helping churches around the globe innovate this missional approach to reaching and discipling people.  Last week I had the opportunity to spend four days with Mike and his team and go through the 3DM training. One of the staff members present that day was Paul Maconochie who now pastors St. Thomas Church and continues the missional approach to discipleship Mike started years ago. I had the chance to ask Paul a few questions about Midsized Missional Communities.  He shares some great wisdom and advice in this 8 minute video.