The natural rhythm for Jesus’ church is that she would regularly gather and intentionally scatter. We see this unfold throughout the New Testament and the ancient church. This rhythm of gathering and scattering is intentionally woven into God’s design for the church and is a practice we get to participate in today! We intentionally gather on Sundays to participate in historically rooted, gospel-saturated, Spirit-empowered worship. The other six days of our week, we intentionally scatter into our homes, neighborhoods, and jobs to live our lives together for the sake of Jesus.

At Frontline we scatter into missional communities, small groups that meet in homes at various times throughout the week. Our missional communities aim to embody the faithful presence of Jesus in the lives of our friends and neighbors over meals, prayers, and shared stories. Missional communities emphasize three crucial aspects of the church as we scatter: we care for one another, we grow together as Jesus’ disciples, and we live on mission together.

Our lives are full of pain and brokenness, doubts and longings, as well as joy and delight — these communities are spaces to bring our unedited lives to one another and to Jesus. Our stories, even the hard moments, hold eternal value and power (Revelation 12:11). In our missional communities, we want to grow in sharing our own stories, receiving the stories of others, and allowing the Holy Spirit to join our stories. In the context of authentic friendships. We care for and support one another as we bear our burdens together.

We don’t follow Jesus or grow in holiness if we go it alone — we need each other! Community and fellowship with others is a sweet gift from the Lord, but it’s also one of the primary means he uses to form Christ in us. In a missional community, we approach the scriptures together with our questions and seek to hear from the Father through his Word. We regularly confess and repent of our sin, reminding one another of the grace we have through Jesus. We offer up prayers through the Holy Spirit for each other’s benefit and blessing. In short, we cheer on and encourage one another to receive the call of Jesus in our lives (Philippians 3:12).

Missional communities are the widest open door into the church. For those exploring the claims of Jesus, a missional community embodies Jesus’ heart and hospitality by welcoming all who would come, including those with doubts or skepticism. In a missional community, we can feel belonging with a people before we believe. Our missional communities care about and love people who don’t know Jesus. We want to see our neighborhoods and towns flourish; we want to join with Jesus to meet physical needs and to alleviate pain and suffering (Jeremiah 29:7).

Our missional communities are on a shared monthly schedule. We believe this shared schedule simplifies our missional communities when they gather and focuses us on creating meaningful relationships.

• FIRST WEEK OF THE MONTH - Our missional communities meet all together around a meal, in a home. A shared meal together helps us practice presence with each other and to share our stories. A meal is also disarming for those who are not yet followers of Jesus to have access to the community of the church. Meals help us experience that we belong. 
• SECOND & THIRD WEEK OF THE MONTH - Our missional communities separate into gender-specific groups. The second week, only our ladies meet together. The third week, only our guys meet together. These gender-specific gatherings focus on discipleship relationships as we open scripture, confess sin, call one another back to Jesus, and pray for each other. Discipleship shapes what we believe.
• FOURTH WEEK OF THE MONTH - Our missional communities come back all together with prayer together as the centerpiece of our time. We pray for each other. We pray through the text we are preaching on Sunday. We pray for our town. We pray for the world. We pray for those that are not yet followers of Jesus. As we bring our needs, the needs of each other, and the needs of the world to God in prayer, we are behaving like followers of Jesus. 
• SABBATH MONTHS - Our whole church practices regular months of sabbath rest. We limit events, keep our calendars intentionally open, and ask our missional communities to take a break from normal rhythms. You can read more about our sabbath practices on our church rhythms page.