Missional Millennials (part 3): Community through discipleship

Let’s say you committed a day out of your week with someone outside of your church community, doing something that you both enjoyed. Over time, you would eventually begin to establish a community.

All communities develop around a common purpose.

So if you begin shooting pool at the local billards once or twice a week with the same people, you will inevitably form a community around pool (I explain this process a bit more in depth here).

Common purposes give two strangers an excuse to hang out—thats why people throw parties.

Bonding may start on a personal level, but it doesn’t have to remain a one-on-one situation forever.

The Bible suggests that there is tremendous power in community (Acts 2:42-47). So why be satisfied with individual camaraderie when you can invite individuals into a community of kingdom-minded friends?

If you can wield a certain amount of influence through shared activity, think of what a community can do if you were risky enough to open it to non-believers.

A few weeks ago, some people got saved and baptized at our annual lake trip because this was being lived out by normal young men and women. Why? Because common purpose is the mission field that brings people together. And these college students decided to step on the field and expand the Kingdom of God.

A hobby may become an excuse to socialize for most people, but millennials on mission choose not to underestimate the power of a shared purpose, and often make sure these hobbies lead to the raison d’être of all communities: knowing God together.

So…got any hobbies?