Three Years

One of the things that people always ask about Thrive is, “Why does it have to be three years?”  It’s a great question.

The truth is that no group makes a commitment for three years.  We broke up the process to engage a commitment around quarters, or eleven weeks on with a two week break in between.  Each quarter is a covenant period that the group commits to.  And this process helps create a rhythm that groups get used to following.

So why the three years?  When we originally started we had no idea of how long we would meet.  But we knew what we were doing was good.  We were discovering healing in ways that were astounding.  We were learning what it meant to trust.  We were learning what authentic community and communitas looked like.  We were in essence finding our tribe, and it was good.

In the traditional experience the door to community was revolving.  We were used to seeing people come in and out with little to no expectation.  But in our tribe that intentionality and time created a space to work through what it meant to trust, to resolve conflict without abandoning the relationships, to work through our own issues without running away from our obstacles.  We were in essence engaging life together.

And as we began to explore God’s mission, we discovered that God was interested in restoring relationships.  This was the mission.  And as we began listening to what Jesus did, something became clear.  Jesus simply gathered a group of rag tag people together to practice engaging God’s mission together.  And he did it for three years.

What was interesting is that the first iteration of the original group lasted four years.  But at the three year mark something happened.  We began to get restless.  Something wasn’t working.  We wrestled through what it meant to break up and go out to make more disciples.  And the decision was tough.  What would it mean to leave our tribe and go create new ones.  And in the end we realized that what Jesus had created was a space to work towards healing but also required going out and helping other do the same.

What we discovered was that the stepping out to create new group who would practice following Jesus by engaging His mission was the Great Commission.  And the process was continually recyclical.  There would always be people looking for healing, wrestling with love and trust, and longing for community.  To go and make more disciples was the natural next step.

But we weren’t going out into thin air.  We now knew what we were doing because we had practiced it for more than three years.  Was it scary?  Sure.  But it was worth it.

If your church is wrestling with the “make disciples” part, we can help.  Contact us today to get a free digital copy of our leadership manual.