Modeling our Faith Communities

Across the vast Great Northern District, we have many, many types of church communities. To provide appropriate resources to all our churches and faith communities, the hope is to identify common themes and models of church, or “archetypes.”

Where is this coming from?

Where is this coming from?!

There are many, many people and groups who have established models of faith communities in order to understand how to better resource our different communities.

Ministerial Leadership classes at Claremont School of Theology, the CNUMC Church Planting Academy, Hatchathon program, Fresh Expressions ministry training, and many books, online ideas, and sidebar conversations have emphasized the that creating mental models of churches of different sizes and in different contexts helps us to understand the strengths and challenges present.

One size does not fit all.

These categories here are shamelessly “appropriated” from the work of better thinkers than I and the model names are are not in stone. This is a flexible draft idea and will be changed as we understand more about the our Great Northern churches.

-mkk

Themes

Growth: The Reservoir and Lab & Greenhouse are both “Growth” engines, but they operate on differently. One focuses on how do we serve the many who are here, while the other focuses on how do we serve beyond our current horizon, restructuring ourselves for the generation not yet born.

Stability: The Bridge & Service Outpost and the Stable Village both provide stability. However, the Outpost provides functional stability (“I can get what I need.”), while the Village provides relational stability (“I know who I am.”).

Culture: The Think Tank and the Civic Center both shape culture. The Think Tank does this from the top-down (policy and resources), while the Civic Center does it from the bottom-up (community presence and localism).