Is this a church?
Yes, but not in the sense of traditionally or contemporary styled churches. Our desire it to be a fresh expression of the church in this post-modern, post-Christendom age. Also, our focus is more about being the church, rather than going to church. We have no objectives to build a church building or to offer typical church programs. Rather, our focus in on simply helping one another follow Christ in community in a way that actually works and truly represents him to the greater community.
What is your leadership structure?
Glenn is the pastor/founder who will seek to share the leadership by developing people to lead the communities and other facets of Communitas, allowing everyone to co-op by having a voice, and sharing responsibility as the occasion allows.
What about money?
Money will not be an issue as we begin to gather, unless we decide to gather and give funds to someone with a need. As things grow, we will seek tax-exempt status so that we are recognized as a church by the federal and state government. All money will be accounted for and that accounting available for viewing.
What is your doctrinal statement?
We understand the Scriptures to be the narrative of God interacting with man. As such, we revere and study them, finding them profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction so that we can be equipped to live a God honoring life. That being said, we would find ourselves supportive of the Apostles’ Creed and Mars Hill Bible Church’s narrative theology.
How do you spread the gospel?
First, let me mention some ways that we do not try to spread the gospel. We don’t encourage a sales type of approach where you try to convince people of certain things by using the Bible and then try to get them to make decision. Second, we don’t use our gatherings or our communities primarily for evangelistic purposes. We certainly try to make sure that everything is understandable for non-initiated persons and we will probably talk about the basics of what it means to follow Christ and what the implications are. It is just that our primary approach is not about trying to get people to come to us to hear something. Instead, our focus is on going to them and showing them the gospel and being good news. Over the course of time as relationships develop; we may have an opportunity to explain why we do those things. Ultimately, we believe that God is very much at work in the lives of people and our goal is to move in the rhythm of what he is doing.
Is Communitas part of the emerging church movement?
That terminology is thrown around a lot and is used to describe most any expression of the church that is relatively new and in some respects experimental. Within “the movement” there is represented a huge variety in theology and methodology. Communitas is new and it is experimental, but we are not very comfortable in aligning with any “movement’” except that we have a desire to be truly meaningful and missional.
Is Communitas a twenty-somethings’ church?
We think that some things about our approach to following Jesus will have appeal to this age group, but our desire is to become a multi-generational community. We believe that diversity would benefit everyone and would make for the healthiest church family.
