A Community

LK10

A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

SEVEN PRACTICES Jesus taught that “everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher” (LK. 6:40). And, this is our desire – to be like Jesus. In His life, we see certain repeating patterns or rhythms or practices. Those who are members of the LK10 Community are practitioners of those patterns. By being in community, we can share what we are learning on this common journey. Dallas Willard helps understand the importance of spiritual practices: “My central claim is that we can become like Christ by doing one thing – by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself. If we have faith in Christ, we must believe that he knew how to live. We can, through faith and grace, become like Christ by practicing the types of activities he engaged in, by arranging our whole lives around the activities he himself practiced in order to remain constantly at home in the fellowship of his Father.” The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives, p. ix. LK10 is oriented around seven practices. The first three apply to every follower of Jesus. We center our own lives on them and we train our disciples in them. The last four practices relate specifically to planting churches. As apostolic church planters, we center our ministries on them and train other church planters in them. (Note: We don’t intend to imply that these are the only practices or spiritual disciplines for either followers of Jesus or church planters. These are just the ones we feel led to focus on in this community. We encourage everyone to engage other practices as directed by Jesus.)

Next Steps 1. Read more on the www.LK10.com site. Get more detailed information on the “7 Practices,” connect with other members of LK10 and join the ongoing conversation in the discussion in the forum. 2. Check out all of the available LK10 resources at www.LK10Resources.com - a kind of “Best of LK10” website. This is a new website (as of August 2009) so check back regularly for more resources as we will add more on a regular basis. 3. Email us. We are glad to try and answer any further questions you may have about whether or not this Community is for you. Email us at [email protected]

WWW.LK10.COM WWW.LK10RESOURCES.COM

All over the world, God is targeting men and women and calling them into an unexpected and revolutionary adventure. He is calling them to join Him in the expansion of His Kingdom through the birthing of a multitude of small vibrant families of Jesus (simple churches) throughout every region and people group. LK10 is a voluntary community that is by and for these church planters.

WHAT IS LK10? 1. We are a community of church planters. Jesus calls some to join Him in the wonderful process of birthing spiritual families (called simple churches, house churches, organic churches, etc.). These church planters are called and gifted to plant multiple churches. They are identified in the Bible as “sent ones” (apostles). In a sense, we are a community of obstetricians and pediatricians. 2. We are a community of practice. We are a community of practitioners. Quoting Margaret Wheatley: “We humans learn best when in relationship with others who share a common practice…Communities of practice demonstrate that it is natural for people to seek out those who have knowledge and experience that they need. As people find each other and exchange ideas, good relationships develop and a community forms.”

A Community of Practice “People learn best in community, when they are engaged with one another, when everyone is both student and teacher, expert and apprentice, in a rich exchange of experiences and learnings.” from Supporting Pioneering Leaders by Margaret Wheatley

3. We are a starfish community. Spider organizations are highly centralized with hierarchal leadership and many clear cut rules. Starfish organizations are significantly decentralized with little hierarchy and great flexibility. It is values (DNA) that attracts people to a starfish organization. Those same values are the glue that holds it together. Our values are reflected in our seven practices. 4. We are an outgrowth of DAWN Ministries. Many of the articles on the site were written while we were part of DAWN Ministries. (DAWN stands for Discipling A Whole Nation.) While no longer connected organizationally, we continue to be connected relationally with the larger DAWN Family. We affirm the DAWN Vision which is - a church (a vibrant

family of Jesus) within close reach of every person in every region and people group. 5. We call the Community – “LK10”. Consider the progression of Jesus’ ministry. In stage one, He trained twelve to live life like He did: that is, He taught them His practices (LK. 6:40). Then, He sent them to help birth small households of faith (simple churches) like He did. They returned and reported what they had done (LK. 9:10). In stage two, He added seventy two more and, no doubt, trained them in the same way and sent them out. When they returned, they reported what they had done (LK. 10:17). In Luke 10 we have the clearest description of the practices that Jesus followed Himself and then taught to his apostles for planting churches. All of this occurred in what we might call a “community of practice”. By calling our community “LK10”, we are saying that we want to follow these same practices.