Building the Kingdom of God...together.
An Introduction to Base Community
The Biblical roots of base community
The reason for doing base community is not simply because it seems like a good idea, but because the model for doing Church in this way can be found in the New Testament.
Read these verses and answer the following questions:Acts 2:46-47, Acts 5:42, Romans 16:3 & 5,
1 Tim 3:15, 1 Cor. 12:14-27 & Heb 10:24 - 25.
Where did the early church meet?
What did the early church do?
What do these verses say should happen when we come together?
Now read Mark 3:14-15. What was Jesus’ strategy?
What we believe about Base community?
The above passages not only give us the Biblical roots of base community but they also inform our beliefs about base community. Base community church picks up the description of church that we saw in the book of Acts, where we see church in both big meetings - whether in the "Temple" or in other places - and also in the context of 'house to house' - which is the small gathering. Both are 'church'.
We also saw Jesus modeling the small group with His disciples. Both in the size of His group and in the way he taught them by example and experience; i.e. the disciples had the example of Jesus to follow and he gave them opportunity to experience what he was teaching them. With a whole world to save, Jesus spent most of his ministry in private with the 12 disciples. Jesus chose the most unlikely and ordinary people for his disciples. He was more concerned with availability than ability.
The Diocese of the Holy Spirit believes that just as in the early church met in the temple and in homes, the big and the small, the church today should also meet in the big and the small.
1. Base community is Church
First we believe that base community is church. When we look at the New Testament Church we see that the small group is the building block of the New Testament church. And that Church is expressed in both the big and the small.
The Big - Diocesan and parish gatherings
The Celebration is a mass gathering of every base community member of the church, to demonstrate their life together in the worship of God. This gathering is used for praise and worship, solid Bible teaching, and evangelism. It is a vital part of the public witness of the people of God. There is no limit to its effective size. In fact, the slogan here is probably, “The more, the merrier!”
The Small - Base Community Groups
The base community is primarily for edification; i.e. building up one another to equip for works of service. Base community is the safe place where intimate friendships and discipleship is cultivated; the key idea here being kinship. It is the place where the base community members work out the Bible's teaching in very practical ways, encouraging each other to fulfill the great commission (Mat 28:18-20) to “go and make disciples”. Base community is life and an expression of community not simply another meeting.
2. Base community is every member in ministry
Second we believe that base community is about every member in ministry. As we look in the New Testament we also see that in the church no one person had all the gifts. On the contrary, the New Testament teaches that Church is like a body with the members dependant on each other and every member having a place and a role. The Diocese of the Holy Spirit believes that base community is where this can happen. We believe that base community is a community in which the individual can grow by example and experience, both ministering and being ministered to. Base community is, as we have said, about edification; i.e. building up one another to equip for works of service. This means that every member of the base community is actively involved; taking responsibility to have a network of un-churched friends they are reaching out to and seeking to evangelize. Base community is about every member having a sense of mutual discipleship to love God, love the lost and love one another
Base community is a community where every member is empowered and encouraged to have a sense of destiny and purpose in what they do every day of the week.
What is our vision for Base community?
Just as the roots and our beliefs of base community are based in scripture, so too is our vision for base community. In the New Testament we see that Church is about following the example of Christ.
Read Matthew 22:35 - 40 and Matthew 28:18 - 20. What three basic commands from God can we see in these passages?
1 (Matthew 22:37)
2 (Matthew 22:39)
3 (Matthew 28:18-20)
This can be summarized in the following way as our vision for base community...
1. Love God
Because God loves us, he sent Jesus to die for us and He has made a way for us to come to Him.
We have a new identity – we are valued by God. We have value in the community of the church.
We live our lives by the truth of the scripture. Our response should be one of unconditional love to Him. Base community is one place we can express this and learn to worship Him.
2. Love one another
This was the heart of the New Testament Church. We also saw this expressed in our earlier reading of 1 Cor. 12:14-27.
But how do we know God is love? – We know that God is love because of what we see in Jesus. see John 14:6 - 12.
How then dose the world know that God is love, or that He loves them? – Because they see the love of Jesus in us, in our love for one another. See John 13:35
3. Love the lost
Finally in Matthew 28:18-20 we see the great commission of Jesus to His disciples, then and now, that we are to "Go and make disciples", or "as you go about your every day life make disciples". We can only truly do this if we allow the love of God to flow through us and Love the lost.
What Values do we build base community on?
Our values are what inform and drive the rest of our lives. Our value system is what governs our commitment, morality, time, friendships etc. The Diocese of the Holy Spirit has certain core values that inform and shape everything we do in base community and in the church at large.
1. Jesus at the centre
Base community life is about meeting with Jesus. It is about each individual member having an ongoing experience and relationship with Christ. Therefore a core value of base community is that each individual member will have opportunity to meet with Jesus and be encouraged to develop their relationship with Him and whenever the base community meets as a whole, weather it is for worship, work or fun, it is to meet, with Jesus as the centre of all that is done.
2. Every member in ministry
Base community life is about every member being in ministry. Through all the structures of base community another of the core values is that the base community members are participants and not spectators. In so many structures, the average member is a spectator following the management with 80 percent of the work being done by 20 per cent of the people. This is not what base community is about, it is about both opportunity and encouragement for all its members to be fully involves in the life and ministry of the base community. Base community is not about the leader doing all the wok, but rather the leader being a facilitator to the base community members being fully involved.
3. Every member growing
Jesus told his disciples to go out and make disciples and there is an underlying challenge within base community for people to continue in a pathway of growth and discipleship. Thus every member growing is another core value of base community. Growth is always expected; people or base communities that are not growing are dead and not functioning correctly. Growth is evidence of life and is seen in growth in the base community members in…
Base community is more than a meeting, it is a community based on relationship. It's a place to love and be loved, a place to grow and encourage others to grow, it is a place where everyone can feel that they belong. Base community is about relationships and love in community and people sharing their life together, practically caring for one another, sharing their resources, their time and themselves. The base community meeting is just one element in the life of the base community and relationships should spill over from the base community meeting into the rest of the week. Remember what Jesus said; “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35)
This is expressed in the life of the base community by the base community using any opportunity as an excuse to get together, such as BBQ, birthdays, parties etc.
Within this loving community, discipleship will be able to grow. This discipleship comes from the desire of each member of the base community, to be all that they can be in Christ. The discipleship is given and not taken or demanded and flows from each member wishing to make him or her self accountable. It grows out of a security that is based on the sacrificial love & relationships within the base community.
Community is also expressed in the base communities in several base communities in an area getting together to worship, learn and play together. All of this is to keep and grow relationship between members and base communities that have grown through multiplication.
5. Multiplication
Multiplication is and should be a natural expectation of every base community and every base community member. Base communities do not come together to stay the same but their very existence is to promote community and facilitate personal evangelism. Thus every member is encouraged and enabled to fulfill the great commission; to “go and make disciples” (Mat 28:18-20). So, base communities should have a vision for multiplication within a fixed period of time so that right from the beginning the members of the base community are challenged to reach out to their un-churched friends.
Base communities take up the challenge of evangelism and multiplication by encouraging and supporting the base community members in relational evangelism, not as the exclusive way to reach the un-churched but as the primary way they are going to do it. Relational evangelism is personal one to one outreach; reaching out to the people you have more than a passing relationship with. It is about opening up multiple opportunities to expose friends and neighbors to the Holy Spirit in the life of the members of the base community through ‘Bar-B-Qs’, ‘Coffee mornings’, ‘Garden parties’, ‘Street Parties’ or anything that will bring the base community in contact with the un-churched community. These projects may be something the whole base community is involved in, or just some members of the base community in smaller groups. But all are owned by prayed for and supported by the whole base community.
The Biblical roots of base community
The reason for doing base community is not simply because it seems like a good idea, but because the model for doing Church in this way can be found in the New Testament.
Read these verses and answer the following questions:Acts 2:46-47, Acts 5:42, Romans 16:3 & 5,
1 Tim 3:15, 1 Cor. 12:14-27 & Heb 10:24 - 25.
Where did the early church meet?
What did the early church do?
What do these verses say should happen when we come together?
Now read Mark 3:14-15. What was Jesus’ strategy?
What we believe about Base community?
The above passages not only give us the Biblical roots of base community but they also inform our beliefs about base community. Base community church picks up the description of church that we saw in the book of Acts, where we see church in both big meetings - whether in the "Temple" or in other places - and also in the context of 'house to house' - which is the small gathering. Both are 'church'.
We also saw Jesus modeling the small group with His disciples. Both in the size of His group and in the way he taught them by example and experience; i.e. the disciples had the example of Jesus to follow and he gave them opportunity to experience what he was teaching them. With a whole world to save, Jesus spent most of his ministry in private with the 12 disciples. Jesus chose the most unlikely and ordinary people for his disciples. He was more concerned with availability than ability.
The Diocese of the Holy Spirit believes that just as in the early church met in the temple and in homes, the big and the small, the church today should also meet in the big and the small.
1. Base community is Church
First we believe that base community is church. When we look at the New Testament Church we see that the small group is the building block of the New Testament church. And that Church is expressed in both the big and the small.
The Big - Diocesan and parish gatherings
The Celebration is a mass gathering of every base community member of the church, to demonstrate their life together in the worship of God. This gathering is used for praise and worship, solid Bible teaching, and evangelism. It is a vital part of the public witness of the people of God. There is no limit to its effective size. In fact, the slogan here is probably, “The more, the merrier!”
The Small - Base Community Groups
The base community is primarily for edification; i.e. building up one another to equip for works of service. Base community is the safe place where intimate friendships and discipleship is cultivated; the key idea here being kinship. It is the place where the base community members work out the Bible's teaching in very practical ways, encouraging each other to fulfill the great commission (Mat 28:18-20) to “go and make disciples”. Base community is life and an expression of community not simply another meeting.
2. Base community is every member in ministry
Second we believe that base community is about every member in ministry. As we look in the New Testament we also see that in the church no one person had all the gifts. On the contrary, the New Testament teaches that Church is like a body with the members dependant on each other and every member having a place and a role. The Diocese of the Holy Spirit believes that base community is where this can happen. We believe that base community is a community in which the individual can grow by example and experience, both ministering and being ministered to. Base community is, as we have said, about edification; i.e. building up one another to equip for works of service. This means that every member of the base community is actively involved; taking responsibility to have a network of un-churched friends they are reaching out to and seeking to evangelize. Base community is about every member having a sense of mutual discipleship to love God, love the lost and love one another
Base community is a community where every member is empowered and encouraged to have a sense of destiny and purpose in what they do every day of the week.
What is our vision for Base community?
Just as the roots and our beliefs of base community are based in scripture, so too is our vision for base community. In the New Testament we see that Church is about following the example of Christ.
Read Matthew 22:35 - 40 and Matthew 28:18 - 20. What three basic commands from God can we see in these passages?
1 (Matthew 22:37)
2 (Matthew 22:39)
3 (Matthew 28:18-20)
This can be summarized in the following way as our vision for base community...
1. Love God
Because God loves us, he sent Jesus to die for us and He has made a way for us to come to Him.
We have a new identity – we are valued by God. We have value in the community of the church.
We live our lives by the truth of the scripture. Our response should be one of unconditional love to Him. Base community is one place we can express this and learn to worship Him.
2. Love one another
This was the heart of the New Testament Church. We also saw this expressed in our earlier reading of 1 Cor. 12:14-27.
But how do we know God is love? – We know that God is love because of what we see in Jesus. see John 14:6 - 12.
How then dose the world know that God is love, or that He loves them? – Because they see the love of Jesus in us, in our love for one another. See John 13:35
3. Love the lost
Finally in Matthew 28:18-20 we see the great commission of Jesus to His disciples, then and now, that we are to "Go and make disciples", or "as you go about your every day life make disciples". We can only truly do this if we allow the love of God to flow through us and Love the lost.
What Values do we build base community on?
Our values are what inform and drive the rest of our lives. Our value system is what governs our commitment, morality, time, friendships etc. The Diocese of the Holy Spirit has certain core values that inform and shape everything we do in base community and in the church at large.
1. Jesus at the centre
Base community life is about meeting with Jesus. It is about each individual member having an ongoing experience and relationship with Christ. Therefore a core value of base community is that each individual member will have opportunity to meet with Jesus and be encouraged to develop their relationship with Him and whenever the base community meets as a whole, weather it is for worship, work or fun, it is to meet, with Jesus as the centre of all that is done.
2. Every member in ministry
Base community life is about every member being in ministry. Through all the structures of base community another of the core values is that the base community members are participants and not spectators. In so many structures, the average member is a spectator following the management with 80 percent of the work being done by 20 per cent of the people. This is not what base community is about, it is about both opportunity and encouragement for all its members to be fully involves in the life and ministry of the base community. Base community is not about the leader doing all the wok, but rather the leader being a facilitator to the base community members being fully involved.
3. Every member growing
Jesus told his disciples to go out and make disciples and there is an underlying challenge within base community for people to continue in a pathway of growth and discipleship. Thus every member growing is another core value of base community. Growth is always expected; people or base communities that are not growing are dead and not functioning correctly. Growth is evidence of life and is seen in growth in the base community members in…
- Spiritual Maturity
- Spiritual Gifts
- Ministry Gifts
Base community is more than a meeting, it is a community based on relationship. It's a place to love and be loved, a place to grow and encourage others to grow, it is a place where everyone can feel that they belong. Base community is about relationships and love in community and people sharing their life together, practically caring for one another, sharing their resources, their time and themselves. The base community meeting is just one element in the life of the base community and relationships should spill over from the base community meeting into the rest of the week. Remember what Jesus said; “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35)
This is expressed in the life of the base community by the base community using any opportunity as an excuse to get together, such as BBQ, birthdays, parties etc.
Within this loving community, discipleship will be able to grow. This discipleship comes from the desire of each member of the base community, to be all that they can be in Christ. The discipleship is given and not taken or demanded and flows from each member wishing to make him or her self accountable. It grows out of a security that is based on the sacrificial love & relationships within the base community.
Community is also expressed in the base communities in several base communities in an area getting together to worship, learn and play together. All of this is to keep and grow relationship between members and base communities that have grown through multiplication.
5. Multiplication
Multiplication is and should be a natural expectation of every base community and every base community member. Base communities do not come together to stay the same but their very existence is to promote community and facilitate personal evangelism. Thus every member is encouraged and enabled to fulfill the great commission; to “go and make disciples” (Mat 28:18-20). So, base communities should have a vision for multiplication within a fixed period of time so that right from the beginning the members of the base community are challenged to reach out to their un-churched friends.
Base communities take up the challenge of evangelism and multiplication by encouraging and supporting the base community members in relational evangelism, not as the exclusive way to reach the un-churched but as the primary way they are going to do it. Relational evangelism is personal one to one outreach; reaching out to the people you have more than a passing relationship with. It is about opening up multiple opportunities to expose friends and neighbors to the Holy Spirit in the life of the members of the base community through ‘Bar-B-Qs’, ‘Coffee mornings’, ‘Garden parties’, ‘Street Parties’ or anything that will bring the base community in contact with the un-churched community. These projects may be something the whole base community is involved in, or just some members of the base community in smaller groups. But all are owned by prayed for and supported by the whole base community.