Leadership And Structure Of Gospel Communities

Gospel communities are structured in such a way as to entrust equipped and trained leaders with the responsibility of guiding, discipling, and leading their GC and its members on mission while developing and training emerging leaders within their GC for future GC multiplication so that more of our county will come to worship Jesus.

GC Leadership Process

Because GC leaders are given the responsibility of discipling, shepherding, and guiding people as disciples on mission, GC leaders are required to go through Redeemer’s official GC Leadership Process before they are able to lead or multiply a GC. Similarly, all GC leaders are required to be members in good standing. If you are interested in becoming a GC leader because you want to serve Jesus, your church, and our city, that is an honorable desire and we suggest you make your desire known to our current GC leader to see if you are ready to begin the emerging leader process. If you aspire to be a GC leader but you are not an active member of a GC, you should become an active member of a GC before working toward GC leadership.

 Path to GC Leadership

• Be a member in a good standing
• Join a Gospel Community
• Request or be asked to enter emerging leader process
• Begin GC Leadership Process Document
•  Complete GC Leader Pre-Assessment
• Develop and begin GC Leader Personal Discipleship Plan (GC Leader PDP)
• Begin attending GC Leader Cadre training meetings
• Enter into shared leadership of current GC when considered ready
• Complete GC Leader PDP Tasks
• Complete GC Leader Assessment
• Be approved by GC Leader and GC coach for GC Leadership and GC Multiplication

The Structure of a GC

• Each GC had trained leaders
• Each GC has emerging leaders
• Each GC has a home host
• Each GC has family (those who are actively committed members of Redeemer and their GC)
• Each GC has guests (those who are often involved in a GC’s life but are not actively committed to the GC)

The vision of Redeemer Church is to make disciples in our city for the glory of God. We see Gospel Communities as vital to this vision. By leveraging the unique structure and culture of Bellingham we believe that a targeted focus where gospel communities saturate a specific Mission area in our county will serve our city and region well as we strive to make disciples of Christ.

Each Mission area or Mission will be directed by a lead missiologist who helps train, guide, and oversee the coaches, GC leaders, and gospel communities within their particular Mission area. For example the Bellingham Center City Mission would have several gospel communities all focused on reaching specific areas and neighborhoods of Center City under the missional direction of the Center City lead missiologist who oversees Redeemer’s missional work in this Mission area of our city. This type of Mission structure allows us to strategically target important areas within our city and county in order to saturate these areas with multiple gospel communities to reach the multiple neighborhoods and cultural networks within each particular Mission.

Currently, our targeted Missions are Bellingham, Fairhaven (including WWU), and Lynden. As more lead missiologists are trained and equipped and more gospel communities multiply, we will be able to launch new Missions in our city and county and more thoroughly engage the various neighborhoods in our current Mission areas.

The Structure of a “Mission”

• Redeemer Pastors
• Lead Missiologist
• GC Coaches
• GC Leaders
• Emerging Leaders
• Gospel Communities