The three circles and church planting

I was recently at a Missio Intensive in Ashland, Ohio and had an “ah-ha” moment. “Ah-ha” moments are what I call those times when the pieces come together and click into place and you realize something new.

You may be familiar with “the three circles” from the Tangible Kingdom. The idea is that we need to be at the intersection of all three of these areas:  community with others, communion with God, and mission of the Kingdom. That’s the sweet spot. Whenever we are only in one or only in two, we need to move to incorporate the other circles.

The three circles and decentralized ministry

When we’re doing ministry in a more decentralized fashion, we need to help our leaders think through what they need by way of support and connections to sustain them. Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, in their book The Tangible Kingdom, outline the concept of the three circles:  mission, community, and communion. Mission is the service and outreach component. Community is the network of relational connections that sustains us, and communion is our connection to God. Their thesis, in a nutshell, is that you need all three or things get out of balance.

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