learning communities
Learn to build a discipling culture and catalyse missional momentum in any context
So what is a learning community? The purpose of a Learning Community is to support and resource you as leaders and your church or organisation on the journey of discipleship and mission.
Gatherings take place every six months over a period of two years. Each gathering has a different theme during which you’ll hear from experienced local practitioners, discover proven methods of discipleship and mission, while having space to evaluate your current realities and make concrete plans as you move forward.
One of the things that makes a Learning Community so impacting is that it’s designed to be done in teams or three or six – because missional discipleship can’t be a solo sport! The cost of taking a team to a Learning Community also includes a fortnightly huddle (coaching) for the key leader of each team so that a culture of personal discipleship is cultivated in your team.
Building A Discipling Culture
We’re convinced that if you make disciples you always get the church, but if you focus on making the church, you rarely get disciples.
Discipleship is “eco-system”, “operating system”, or “engine” that makes the mission of God work. If we want to multiply leaders, mobilise mission, and cultivate a movement – we have to make sure our “soil” or culture is fit for purpose.
During this gathering, we’ll learn about Jesus’ priority and process for making disciples.
Multiplying Missional leaders
The key to seeing a mission movement released in Aotearoa isn’t just about creating disciples… BUT in creating disciples, that then create disciples, that then create disciples… (you get where we’re going with this.) This means that disciples need to become leaders.
In this gathering, we’ll explore what it means to train leaders instead of simply recruiting volunteers, and how we can creating an environment where leaders have the freedom and frameworks to flourish as they make disciples that multiply.
Leading Missional Communities
Discipleship and mission go hand-in-hand, so as we disciple our leaders, equipping them to live missionally is essential if we want to become more than an inward looking club.
Missional Communities are our way of helping followers of Jesus to live together on mission every day, and to ultimate mobilise the church to live out her calling.
During this gathering, we’ll explore how we can use Missional Communities to help people learn the dynamics of living as a whanau on mission, and how we can move from the humble beginnings of discipling a small group of people, into the much bigger vision of releasing a movement of mission in New Zealand.
Leading Kingdom Movements
In just three years, Jesus unleashed a movement that changed the course of human history. How? Well, the early church simply did the things Jesus taught them to do.
Most Christian leaders tell us they want to see a new movement of God’s kingdom unleashed in Aotearoa, but they’re not sure what dynamics need to be cultivated if we were to see it happen.
In this final gathering, we’ll explore the dynamics that we think are required to create a white hot centre that history has shown fuels a movement of God’s kingdom that moves beyond the walls of a church building
One of the big differences of our Learning Community process is that it’s been designed to be done in teams of people. From experience we’ve learnt the hard way that the ability to change the culture of your church or organisation requires more than one passionate and committed leader. We’re convinced that the best way to bring about meaningful change is for a group of people to commit to going on the discipleship journey together - and to become living examples of the change they want to see in the world.
What's included
The cost for a team to be part of a Good Soil Learning Community is $4,590.00 per year (or $2,295 per gathering) and covers six people attending two three-day gatherings (including all content, food and workbooks) and one senior leader participating in fortnightly coaching huddle. The optimal results occur when you can bring a team of six, but we also have provision for a smaller teams of three, which costs $2,790.00 per year (or $1,395 per gathering).
We know this may seem like a lot of money for some groups – but the financial cost outlined represents the true cost of what it takes to run an effective Learning Community, and to be able to offer the support your team will require through the process. If you’d like a break down of the costs – get in touch and we can talk you through it.
Fees can be paid annually or per gathering to best suit your church or organisation. For the cost of other Good Soil workshops or training – please get in touch with us.