Missio Community Sunday

Sunday we had our Missio Community. We had a couple of new families, so all together we had six families that gathered to know God, love one another and seek to serve the world. Our missio community is intentionally involving children so it has an extra dynamic that many of the other Missio Communities do not have. We have only been meeting for a few weeks, so we are just getting to know one another.

The ages of the children range from 3 to 10 years old, so it is a broad range! We started out our time together playing the Truth or Lie Game; it was fun to watch how the kids came up with their statements. Some of their lies were very creative! After the game, we were able to explore how much easier it is to remember the truth, and how much effort it takes to tell a lie and remember what you've said.

Bonnie then takes the children for a lesson on their level for about 45 minutes. This gives us as adults a chance to connect with God and one another. We started off with a reflective prayer that takes the six different aspects of the Lord's Prayer and gives us a chance to commune with God through each area: God's character, his Kingdom Come, God's provision, God's forgiveness, God's guidance and his protection. Watching and hearing their response from this prayer was like seeing a thirsty person drink!

As we explored what is important to them in community, the common theme was for their children to grow up knowing that God loves them and that others love them. Some expressed their desire for their kids to have Christian friends to walk through life, and others stated their desire for othe adults to know and love their children.

Isn't this how God designed it? If you think about the Jewish life around the time of Jesus, relationships were vital in living out their faith! Most of Paul's letters are about living in relationships with one another.

We ended our focus time with a blessing. Each person was to give a blessing to another. It was so moving to watch the children bless first. One boy blessed his sister, other's blessed other kids or some of the adults. Everytime this happens, the love of Jesus just pours through the room.

Then, we had dinner! We end with dinner at this missio community because of our starting time: 4 p.m., but also because it gives people a chance to stay as long as they like, with no rush getting to the next thing. It's been thrilling to observe how long people stay; this week it was 8 p.m, as we make time for friendships to begin to happen.

Wish you could join us for our developing Missio Commuity. God is doing something special within us.