I came across this post today from a guy named Jonathan Dodson who is planting a church in Austin, TX. In it, he shares “5 Characteristics Of Missional Communities” which he takes from a book titled “Exiles: Living Missionally In A Post-Christian Culture“:

• Bless. We will bless at least one other member of our community every day.
• Eat. We will east with other members of our community at least three times a week.
• Listen. We will commit ourselves weekly to listening to the promptings of God in our lives.
• Learn. We will read from the Gospels each week and remain diligent in learning more about Jesus.
• Sent. We will see our daily life as an expression of our sent-ness by God into this world.

As I read those over and thought about them for a while I saw how similar they are to the values of Eternity:

• The Gospel (Bless, Sent)
• Learning (Learn)
• Doing (Sent, Eat)
• Multiplying (Listen, Bless, Eat)

What was also interesting to me was the simplicity of how those values can be carried out. It doesn’t have to be complex or extremely hard. It can be as simple as a phone call, doing a meal together, listening to a sermon, reading the Bible together, or just remaining aware that we are missionaries sent into the Jefferson City culture and have that impact our friendships and relationships.

Sometimes we just need to master the simple things before we move on to the more complex ones.