Gospel ProjectI believe that God himself has come to rescue and renew all of creation (including me) in and through the work of Jesus Christ (Col. 1:13-23).

Gospel IdentityI believe that I have been given a new identity in Jesus because of the gospel project (2 Cor. 5:14-19). I am now a member of God’s covenant family and a citizen of his kingdom—sent on mission to join in his gospel project and continually learn to walk in his ways (1 Peter 2:1-12). My identity as a renewed person is defined by covenant and kingdom.

Covenant: God created a covenant family as the means to accomplish the gospel project. God fulfilled the covenant plan through Jesus (Rom. 8:28-30). Through Jesus I am now a member of God’s family and part of the plan. As a family member, I have the full rights of a son/daughter (Gal. 4:3-7). All I am belongs to God and all that is His belongs to me (John 14:6-21).

Kingdom: Jesus proclaimed the gospel project as the kingdom of God breaking into the world (Mark 1:15). Through Jesus I am now a citizen of this kingdom. I anticipate God finishing the gospel project through the return of King Jesus--when the renewal of all things will be complete (Rev. 21-22). Until then my life now consists of anticipating this future reality. My life is a model of what life looks like when Jesus is King (Gal. 6:14-16).

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Gospel RhythmPracticing God’s future breaking into the present

Jesus modeled a new way of life that showed his followers how to join in on the gospel project. He practiced a God-intended life: oneness with God the Father and God the Spirit, togetherness with his family of followers, and otherness to the world. By the rule of grace and power of the Spirit in us, we commit to practicing…

ONENESS

I understand, experience, and intersect with God and the Story of his gospel project. I commit to knowing God’s story and my place in it.

Practice:

• learn and communicate the story of God and my place in it through (what should you commit to together so you will be familiar with God’s story how you’re developing in it?)

• listen to God daily through (what would it look like for your MC to listen to God together and the individuals to practice listening God as a daily rhythm? What needs to be in place to help you do this?)

• form at my life in light of God’s story, submitting to the needed changes through (how should accountability look so that each person sharpens one another and what questions will need to be asked?)

TOGETHERNESS

I commit to knowing and loving my missional community. I work to cultivate affective relationships with my MC--becoming one in heart, one in mind and one in spirit.

Practice:

• gathering together (what equipping gathering are you committed to, what will it look like, and how often?)

• sharing my life with others (what needs to be in place for you to know each other’s stories and help each other with gospel living?)

• partying to celebrate God’s extravagant blessing and reflect him to others through (how will you be intentional about celebrating together and engage in celebration with the people group God is sending you to?)

OTHERNESS

I live actively as a missionary sent by Jesus to make disciples--dispatched to be an alternative in every place where anti-life and anti-creation rules.

Practice:

• bless others through (how will you share what you have with others and what are some tangible ways you believe God has called your MC to bless others?)

• adopt spaces in the city to ‘do life’ in order to build relationships and embed the gospel in them (where is the hub of life for your people group?)

• contrast those cultural practices that de-center God’s gospel project by fasting weekly (what are some things you can fast from that breaks loyalty to consumer society), simplicity through (what are some ways to live as lightweight and low maintenance), and purity through (what are some idols that the MC will need to help each other resist and how will you help each other?)

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“He is badly deceived who thinks that while he lives in this mortal body that he has no need of bodily exercises.”

John Cassian

God calls all people into his church. The call is not to join an institution or to sign a pledge card; it is rather to sign on for a different description of reality that is in profound contrast to the dominant cultural reality we find ourselves in. It is a call from the bad news of the world that seems to dehumanize and dominate to the good news of Jesus the Liberator--to take on a way of life the world judges impossible. -Walter Brueggemann

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I covenant with my Missional Community to live out the gospel project in these Identity & Rhythms.

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strangers to the cityTo make oneself a stranger to the actions of this age in order to mend the world.

Accountabilityliving life submitted to Jesus

Accountability is choosing to live life in submission to the kingship of Jesus. This is expressed by inviting others to walk with us, to challenge and correct us and to call us to account regarding the internal and external realities of our lives--the things we think and the things we do.

When we are in the position of accountability, the task is transparency.

When another is making themselves accountable to us, the task is spiritual investment.

Accountability is chosen and not forced; inviting others to walk with us, challenge us, and correct us.

Accountability provides the framework for freedom--enabling us to live up to our full potential as God’s renewed people. Freedom isn’t just the mere ability to choose, but to choose that which makes us healed and transformed.

I submit my life to Jesus and my community.