By Brad Jonswold
Takeaways from a study trip to see Local Laboring Communities in action
“I will tutor your kids in chemistry on one condition,” said the believing chemist in Kuala Lumpur to his local laboring community. “Have them bring all their non-believing friends who are also struggling with chemistry, and we’ll make it a tutoring party.” Soon the entire group got together so the students could study. Somehow Jesus came up in the conversation, and some of the non-believing students went home and told their parents about it. Then something amazing happened. Several parents called believing parents in the group and asked, “Next time the kids get together to study chemistry, can we also come and study the Bible with you?” The group has been meeting in a home on a regular basis with one table of students studying chemistry and another table of adults reading the Bible.
That story is just one example of a local laboring community in action. This fall, I participated in a research trip to learn from local laboring communities across the Asia Pacific Region along with a team of other learners from Africa and the USA. We visited homes, shared meals, and spent time listening as these groups shared their visions and experiences with us. We were able to witness the power of believers living and laboring together among the lost.
What is a local laboring community (LLC)? It is a group of believers who share their lives in intentional ways among the lost. Each one looks as different as the collection of people who make it up and the gifts they bring to the table, but these groups share some general characteristics. They are communal, transformational, missional, and generational.
Communal
LLCs become their members’ primary place of belonging (like the body in Romans 12). They meet regularly and do life together in meaningful ways. Many of the groups I saw in Asia were geographically close such that they could see each other often without dealing with traffic issues and could know one another’s neighbors. These groups provide space for everyone to use and celebrate their gifts, even those that are not apostolic. They are often multi-generational.
Transformational
These groups are a place where lives keep changing both inside and outside the group (like we see in Isaiah 61:9). These groups can stir up cultural transformation, which can be a key early stage of discipleship. For example, my wife and I met Lola (a pseudonym) in Indonesia about 15 years ago when she asked a short-term missionary to her community how Christians receive forgiveness. For the last 15 years, she has been living in contact with believers in community and observing their lives. Just this year when I met up with her on this study trip, she made her first declaration of faith in Jesus. It takes a community with changed lives to change lives, and it can look like a slow process.
Missional
An LLC is more than just a Bible study because it also functions among the lost. LLCs allow the lost to experience the Kingdom of God in down-to-earth ways. The group continues to include their non-believing friends and neighbors in celebrations, vacations and other events where it is natural to invite them in. The members of the group evaluate what gifts they bring to the table and then use them to make disciples among the broader relational network that is attached to the community. A good example of this is the Kuala Lumpur group doing chemistry tutoring, which I mentioned above.
Generational
An LLC expects to reproduce generations of believers making disciples. For example, when my family used to live in Indonesia, people in our community saw things they admired in our team. They came to our team asking to study the way we structured our families. A couple from the team spent a year with them studying the biblical foundations for a family. Then they asked to study finance with them, so the same couple agreed on one condition: that they gather some friends and lead their own Bible study on family. They did so, and now there are many Bible study groups that have been set up to study the principles of family.
Discipleship: a Team Sport
An LLC is built to reproduce among the lost while also nourishing its believing members. This resonates with 1 Thessalonians 1:5, “You know how we lived among you for your sake.” People in these groups share fellowship with friends who have a common vision. They have accountability in their pursuit of the lost. One thing we saw clearly on the trip is that LLCs increase the likelihood of lifelong laboring. They also provide opportunities to do discipleship as a “team sport”... which is just more fun!
