When Jesus walked on this earth He was the “fullness of the Godhead in bodily form” (Col 2:9). He demonstrated what God was like and showed us patterns of how He intended His people to operate as He began to build His church to engage His mission (Mt 16:16-18). One thing He clearly did was join together people in family relationships as they engaged in His mission to the earth.
One of the goals we have in the next season as the C2C family is “expansion through missional ventures.” We see in both Matthew 9-11 and Luke 9-10 examples of how Jesus sent out His disciples on mission. They were sent out in pairs (fellow family members) to work in receptive places/homes, and He with the others would eventually join them in their labor. There was a clear sense that they went as family and continued to work together as family in new fields.
We had a recent example of such a sending in Mankato MN. On January 24th Crystal and Ian Maertnes were sent out from Covenant Family Church to Rochester MN (1 1/2 hours away) to plant a missional group in their apartment. Ian has been working there for a few months while driving back and forth to Mankato on the weekends. They have both been adamant that they are part of the Covenant Family Church and what they do will be connected to their CFC and C2C family.
They are planting in an apartment complex with about 4000 residents. They have been meeting with a close couple they have met there. They are already doing outreaches and will continue to see what will come of the missional planting. Pat, Theresa, as well as others continue to travel back and forth to Rochester to encourage Ian and Crystal. Please pray for God to reach friends and neighbors in Rochester MN.