The idea that 'Gospel, Community and Mission' is crucial to making mature disciples of Jesus may sound a little bit obvious to you at first. But it is surprising how few of us, and our churches, are careful to balance the focus and engagement of these powerful discipleship foundations.  This week on the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we talk about why all three of these components must be consistently engaged in and balanced if we want disciples of Jesus to grow to full maturity. In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• Why we are seeing a lack of maturity in the Church today among Christians.
• How all 3... Gospel, Community, and Mission play a critical role in disciple-making.
• What it looks like when you only engage 2 of these 3 foundations with others.
• Practical resources for growing your people in Gospel, Community, and Mission.

Get started here… From this episode: "It is when we are out on God’s mission together, interacting with and serving others that are not exactly like us… or don’t always agree with us or appreciate our lives and perspective... that’s when our own unbelief, selfishness, personal preferences etc. all surface… and can then have the gospel applied to those areas of our lives. That doesn’t happen sitting in an air-conditioned classroom, with lots of hot coffee and snacks in the back, us taking notes and nodding in agreement."

Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.

Download today’s BIG 3 right now. Read and think over them again later. You might even want to share them with others…

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Join us on Facebook and take part in the discussion! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of this page or right below. Also, please subscribe and leave an honest review for The Everyday Disciple Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them. What could coaching with Caesar & Tina look like for you, your spouse (if you have one), or your team? Go here for more info and to see if coaching is a good fit for you. Check out the Gospel Primer, Tangible Kingdom Primer, and Justice Primer here.    

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:00:01

It's when we're out on God's mission together, interacting with and serving others that are not all exactly like us or don't always agree with us, or appreciate our lives and our perspectives.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:00:12

That's when our own unbelief and our selfishness or personal preferences, etc.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:00:18

All that stuff surfaces then.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:00:20

And then the gospel can be applied to all those areas of life.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:00:24

And see, that doesn't happen sitting in an air conditioned classroom with lots of hot coffee and snacks being replaced in the back and us taking notes, nodding in agreement.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:00:32

It's when we're out on mission and with others that our unbelief is best addressed by the gospel.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:00:39

That's a big part of what's been lacking in a lot of discipleship in most churches.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:00:43

and it contributes to a lack of maturity in fruit that we're seeing today.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:00:57

Welcome to the Everyday Disciple Podcast, where you'll learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:01:05

In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:01:08

This is the stuff your parents, pastors, and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:01:13

And now, here's your host, Caesar Kalinowski.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:01:16

Hey, good to be back with you, Heath, as always.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:01:19

I

Heath Hollensbe: 00:01:19

am.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:01:19

Here we go again.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:01:20

I'm actually sitting in my house.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:01:22

Looking out my windows to one of the most beautiful days we've seen up here in the Northwest in a very, is.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:01:27

It's phenomenal, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:01:28

And we are soon to hit, I think maybe tomorrow, close to 80.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:01:31

It's awesome because the kids go play and we bike ride and we avoided the new, uh, giant hornets that are apparently, did you hear about that?

Heath Hollensbe: 00:01:39

The murder hornets

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:01:39

or something.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:01:40

Yeah, that like killer hornet thing.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:01:42

Did you see, there was a meme and I reposted it the other day, did you see about that?

Heath Hollensbe: 00:01:46

Oh, you know what's funny is I don't know, is that

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:01:48

everywhere?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:01:48

Maybe people don't know what we're talking about.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:01:50

Maybe they don't know, but I know, I know here in Seattle there was this big, big huge news thing on, and they're giant man, they're like the size of your hand.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:01:57

And I guess they're eating all the bees.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:00

I guess there's um, two spots in the state of Washington where they've been found.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:04

And uh, my kids watch this thing on YouTube all the time called Coyote Peterson, who is a guy who goes out and gets stung by a bunch of random things and documents it.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:13

Yeah, I mean, that's his job is he gets paid to get stung.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:16

And he said these hornets were the worst sting of his life.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:19

He said it's like a metal rod being injected into his flesh.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:21

So I was like,

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:02:22

I don't even know how something like this exists.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:02:24

I know.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:02:25

I expect someone to catch one and go, Oh my gosh, it's motorized or something.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:02:28

Anyway.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:29

So we, we've got some cool new reviews.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:31

And so Davy Doodlebug said, amazing, practical, gospel centered, recently started listening to this podcast and found it extremely helpful in framing some of my thoughts, hopes, and dreams that may have been rattling around in my head in regards to ministry.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:43

I love the practical nature, the content and the way the guys put it together.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:46

progress through the material and that it's centered on biblical truth that leads listeners to make disciples who in turn make disciples.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:52

So

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:02:52

awesome.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:53

Mr.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:54

Doodlebug or Mrs.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:02:55

Doodlebug, thank you so much for that kind comment.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:02:57

Yeah, that's awesome.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:02:58

Thanks.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:02:59

I appreciate it when anybody leaves those comments and reviews.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:03:02

That was a five star that again helps people, you know, Apple, that was an Apple review.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:03:07

You can leave reviews on any of the platforms that you listen on and you're not alone, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:03:11

Those platforms are huge.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:03:12

They're gaining attention.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:03:14

and, uh, listenership.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:03:15

So I, I appreciate that, you know, that takes, you know, I'm in it, but I, boy, it blesses us and it helps other people go, you know, this is something that, uh, I might be interested in, you know, so.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:03:27

Yeah, you know, as, as we get into today's topic, actually, we're going to talk about why we need gospel community and mission.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:03:35

We need all three of those to be able to make mature disciples.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:03:37

And I'm curious if I don't, If I'm not mistaken, you actually used to lead an organization called the GCM Collective that kind of focused on the gospel community and mission, the GCM, correct?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:03:47

Yeah, I sure did.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:03:48

And that went on for several years with great people, myself and Jeff Vanderstelt, and the things we were doing at SOMA, and there was some other guys down in San Diego.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:03:58

and Texas.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:03:59

And then some of the folks in the UK with Crowded House.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:04:02

I'm not going to name everybody, but there was like, there was a handful of us guys who were doing things very, very similarly.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:04:07

And we were constantly sharing our stuff back and forth and learning from each other.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:04:10

And then lots of, lots of emails, people coming in going, Hey, we heard about this.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:04:14

Can we get a copy of that?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:04:15

Can we get this?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:04:16

And we were like, Hmm, let's build a website.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:04:19

just puts all that stuff there so we can share it easier, but then we'll just make it public so everybody can, you know, download it as well.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:04:25

And so we did that and then we called that the collective because we were collecting our things, the GCM, Gospel, Community, and Mission Collective.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:04:32

But then there was a component on that website where you could like register and Boom, put your dot on a map and people started seeing, Hey, there's a whole bunch of people near me.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:04:41

And they started forming their own groups that they called collectives.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:04:44

And so all of a sudden these GCM collectives popped up all over the country and all around the world.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:04:48

And so then I ended up, once I had moved on from like an official on staff role with SOMA communities, I was sort of sent, uh, well, not sort of, I was to go lead The GCM Collective is its first official director, like, because it was becoming more than a website.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:04

It was really becoming a sort of a network, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:07

Yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:08

And um, that, that was all focused on this idea that, you know, a missional community or a gospel centered community is the primary organizing structure of the church.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:18

And that it takes those three things.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:19

It takes the gospel at the center of all things in a community that lives together on mission.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:25

If we're going to make disciples and see disciples fill the world.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:28

with God's glory.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:29

So yeah, I did used to lead that.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:31

Now, as people moved on and moved to other ministries and, and more and more resources became available, it seemed like we no longer needed to try to become the primary repository of all things missional, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:44

And other organizations kind of moved in and started adding to that like Verge and GCD and all kinds of other places.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:50

And so the GCM collective, we just kind of let it be.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:54

expire.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:55

You know what I mean?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:05:55

And, but everybody, you can still go to the website actually, and it just takes you to a page that says, here's how to find everybody else and all their stuff.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:06:01

So, but yeah, so, but it's the same idea that never went away.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:06:06

Gospel, community, mission, those three components are critical when it comes to making disciples.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:06:12

And we think it's the foundation of the church actually.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:15

Yeah.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:15

You know, and for a little behind the scenes, uh, a little behind the scenes.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:19

Action.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:20

That's actually how I met you is through a GCM conference in Huntsville.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:23

Ah, that's right.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:24

I do remember that.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:24

It was you and Jeff VanderStelt, and Hugh Halter, and Jonathan Dodson.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:29

And, uh, it was just so fascinating.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:31

And that was the first time that I was actually introduced to the whole kind of concept of living on mission, engaging your city.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:36

And it was, uh, I mean, to me, it was intoxicating.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:39

It was within, within a couple of months, it was, we packed everything up and we're on our way to, to go.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:43

Wow.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:44

Wow.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:06:44

God

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:06:44

really used that.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:06:45

Yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:06:45

That concept, that organization.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:06:47

Yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:06:47

And you know what I remember too about that?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:06:49

Um, I remember that, uh, because that was the only GCM collective, uh, live thing we did that Hugh was at.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:06:55

And, uh, I remember there he told the story of how he had taken me to his like sweaty hot yoga class and watched me die.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:02

Pretty much.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:03

And that was his big, remember that?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:04

That was like his big yuck, his big joke, right?

Heath Hollensbe: 00:07:08

Oh man, and I thought, I was so intimidated because I thought he was just gonna, I mean, he looks, He looks so rough to me.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:07:13

Like he looks like he could kill you, but he's like the kindest human in the world.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:16

Totally.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:17

Yeah, I know.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:18

I know.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:18

He looks like a dock worker or something, you know, long shortened.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:07:22

So there's this idea, um, that gospel and community and mission are all needed.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:07:27

And in fact, kind of crucial to making mature disciples.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:07:30

Exactly.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:07:30

But that might sound a bit obvious, uh, to folks at first.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:07:33

So I'm wondering, I think it's important to actually walk through each one of those.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:07:36

So I'm wondering if you could take us through a little bit of a deeper dive into why each one of these three are so important individually.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:44

Yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:45

Great.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:45

Um, and I think it could sound like real obvious like, yeah, of course, gospel community mission.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:50

Yeah, exactly.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:51

Like you said.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:52

Um, okay.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:52

So first off the gospel is the power to change lives and set people free, scripture says, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:58

Yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:07:58

And that we have to have that at the center of everything we do.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:08:02

And even though that sounds obvious, um, I, I'm not, I'm, I'm suggesting that learning how to, the gospel speaks into and touches and transform all of life is what's needed in disciple making, not just loads of Bible studies in the acquisition of head knowledge.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:08:17

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:08:17

And so I even still have this conversation.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:08:19

It's like, it's like, help me understand how gospel centered is the, uh, You know, the community you're in or how gospel centered is here.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:08:26

Pastor is preaching and they're like, Oh, it's totally gospel center.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:08:29

He quotes scripture like crazy, but then you go listen to it and it's really, it's law and it's due to be, and that's not the gospel, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:08:36

So I'm not talking about loads of quoting a Bible in a, in a community.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:08:41

We're talking about the gospel, which scripture says, that's the power to change lives and set people free.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:08:46

And see, without that, without that being central to everything, then we're really just a social club.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:08:53

either as a church or as a small group or a missional community.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:08:56

So that one, maybe it's more obvious, like, yeah, we have to have the gospel, but, but there's a clarification, like truly the gospel and growing in gospel fluency and how it speaks into all of life, not just a gospel that leads us to say a prayer about our afterlife.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:09:11

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:09:11

So,

Heath Hollensbe: 00:09:11

yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:09:12

All right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:09:13

And community.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:09:14

Okay.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:09:14

So gospel and community community is, um, to make a mature disciple, think about this.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:09:18

We need each other and all of the spiritual gifts that God gives And that includes a pest, you know, from like Ephesians four, apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:09:28

And we need each other's perspectives and experiences and wisdom.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:09:33

If we're going to become, be and make mature disciples, because here's the thing, no one of us alone is exactly like Jesus completely mature.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:09:42

And so if we said, well, you know, discipleship can happen just one to one.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:09:47

Well, not to maturity it can't, because if I just disciple you, people have heard me say this before, I'm sure, if I just disciple someone for two or three years, chances are they'll grow and they'll learn some things, but they will most resemble probably me spiritually.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:03

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:04

And though, though that might not be the worst in a sense of what, you know, maybe they went from zero to learning some things, but the goal isn't to make disciples of me.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:12

It's to make disciples of Jesus.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:14

And the scripture says that together we make up the body of Christ.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:18

And so you can't really make disciples outside of community.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:21

People say, well, yeah, but I've been, I've been in church for 30 years and I've never been in a community.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:25

Yeah, that's probably a problem.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:26

Problem, you know, because we have, we, we need each other.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:31

We really, really do.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:33

If I want to become like Jesus, I need all the body parts coming to bear in my life and perspective and wisdom and age and, and young and, you know, new perspectives and old, all this stuff.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:44

That's how we.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:46

That's how we become Christ is the body.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:48

We're, you know, we don't just need a foot training another foot, you know, or, you know, or, or whatever.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:53

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:53

So,

Heath Hollensbe: 00:10:54

yeah, it makes sense.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:55

So gospel community and then mission, mission.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:10:58

It's when we're out on God's mission together, interacting with and serving others that are not exactly like us or don't always agree with us or appreciate our lives or our perspectives.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:11:09

That's when our own unbelief.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:11:12

and selfishness, maybe, or personal preferences, etc.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:11:15

all surface and then can have the gospel applied to those areas of our life.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:11:20

And see, that doesn't happen sitting in an air conditioned classroom with lots of hot coffee and snacks being replaced in the back and us taking notes and nodding in agreement.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:11:28

It's when we're out on mission and with others that our unbelief sort of is exposed and is then a best addressed by the gospel.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:11:37

And that's a big part of what's been lacking, I believe, in a lot of discipleship in most churches.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:11:42

And it contributes to a lack of maturity and fruit that we're seeing today.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:11:45

And it's, it, that's also on mission outward focused as a community.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:11:50

with the gospel is where we engage as the church, as God's kids, in social justice and how we serve and care for the least of these in our world.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:11:58

That's important, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:12:00

And learning to live out of our servant identity in Christ.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:12:03

That all happens.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:12:05

out on mission, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:12:06

So you can see now how each one is critical, gospel, community, and mission, if we want to grow to maturity and make disciples who make disciples who are mature in Christ.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:12:16

Yeah, you know, and I'm, as you're talking, I'm thinking about that old analogy of like, well, it's like the stool with three legs.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:12:21

And if one's short, then, you know, the stool's not sturdy.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:12:24

And I almost wonder if, if we should talk about what happens when we don't have all three.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:12:28

So for instance, um, like a church or a missional community, It's really only embracing the gospel in community but not living with an outward focus that they're not doing mission well then right like and vice versa if you take community mission but no gospel you get like a social club and it seems like you do need all three of these fitting together to make things actually work.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:12:48

You know, the in, out, up sort of thing.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:12:50

It keeps

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:12:51

things fluid.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:12:52

You're exactly right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:12:52

I love the analogy of the three legged stool.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:12:54

It's a great picture and it's a great question.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:12:57

Let's just talk through those.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:12:58

Let's look at what happens when you let's say you get two of these but you leave out any of the third.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:13:04

And maybe some communities they don't have even two, you know, they, you know, just get together and study the Bible or something.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:13:10

It's like, well, that's good, but no community and no outwardness.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:13:13

Like now we're a closed group, you know, so, but let's just talk about what happens if you have two out of three, even, but how it's, it lacks, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:13:20

So let's say, um, you have gospel and community, but little to no mission, you know, outward focus, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:13:28

Well, like I said earlier, we become a holy huddle and we really miss the biggest.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:13:32

implication of the gospel that, that God is filling the world with his glory through disciples of Jesus, making more and more disciples in every household and city and nation, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:13:42

Go and make disciples all over the world.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:13:44

And rarely have I seen a church or a group that is actually growing in the gospel, like the true big gospel and growing in their gospel fluency.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:13:52

and then their community's not out on mission together.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:13:55

See, the gospel propels us.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:13:57

The true big, huge gospel of all of life and God's eternal purpose propels us out to find the lost sheep, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:04

For who's next?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:05

It's God's desire that none should be lost, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:08

And then we find them and we invite them over to dinner.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:10

So if you have the gospel, you know, And you say, well, we, yeah, but we hang out and we do community, but we're, you know, it's kind of closed.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:16

And so we just hang out.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:17

That's like that holy huddle mentality where I think we're missing out on God's eternal purpose, fill the world with other disciples.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:24

I actually talked to someone recently who said, Hey, we want to, we want to learn this and this and that from you.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:29

I'm like, awesome, but we're not really looking to start a missional community.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:32

Well, what are you going to do that with?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:33

Well, we want to teach other Christians this.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:35

I'm like, well, okay, but see, the gospel is going to send you out.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:39

I'm not.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:39

The gospel will.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:41

So that's what happens if you have those two without the third.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:44

Let's look at, you have community, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:47

You're hanging out a lot together and there's a lot of outward stuff, but there's little growth in the gospel, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:53

There's not a deepening of our relationship with dad and understanding how the gospel speaks into and transforms everything.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:14:59

That puts us in danger of being driven by a social gospel.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:03

That's kind of works based, you know, you're busy.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:06

There's lots of doing to equal our being, you know, if we do this and do this and this, then we're great.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:12

You know, we're missional or whatever.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:13

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:13

The more good works and social projects we engage in, the more spiritual mature we think we are.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:18

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:19

But we can end up doing all that in our own human wisdom if we're not connected right to the father and to the spirit and we can end up doing stuff for human reasons.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:27

You know, it's like pragmatic, looks great, sounds good, whatever.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:30

We can end up doing it in our own strength, but the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit has to be at the center of all we do as the church and at the center of discipleship and it fixes that.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:41

Right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:41

Otherwise we could just, you know, and, you know, there's, there's all kinds of community out there in groups that are secular that they really, man, they pull together and they treat people great, you know?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:51

Um, and they spend a lot of time together and they're out serving and cleaning stuff and all that.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:56

And there's no gospel.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:57

That's not the church.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:15:59

Yeah,

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:15:59

without the gospel at the center, there's no Jesus, then it means there's no church.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:04

So we, that one, that one's like really scary community mission, but not a lot of growth in the gospel.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:09

And I have people, you know, you think, well, no one's going to, that's not anybody.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:12

No, I listen.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:12

I ask people all the time, GCNM, where's your strength, where's your weakness?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:16

And I'd say about a third of the time people say, you know, we hang out a lot and have fun and really feel like a family.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:22

And we love serving.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:23

And we're not going that deep in the gospel.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:25

Like, oof, that's okay.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:16:28

You need all three.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:16:29

Yeah,

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:29

that's not the church, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:30

So, and then let's look at the third one.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:32

Um, maybe you are growing in the gospel, your church or community, and, um, you have a missional outward emphasis, but there's not a lot of real life on life and community.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:42

And I have people tell me that too, you know, like consistently, um, you're not doing like family life together, living as a family, really doing life and modeling this life in the kingdom and the spiritual freedom and the relational closeness and peace that the gospel brings.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:57

It's so huge, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:16:58

But how do you do that alone?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:00

Like you have to do that together.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:02

You can't say, well, you know, we, we study a lot and then we go do these service projects, but we don't really have any time.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:07

There's no life on life.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:08

Well, when's, when's the gospel get applied?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:10

When do we see each other mature?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:12

When do we fight and forgive?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:13

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:14

And when do we, when do we feel and experience that relational peace that Jesus came to, you know, freedom, right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:20

To bring us right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:21

It's like, remember John 13, 35 says, by this, everyone will know you're my disciples.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:25

If you love one another.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:27

Well, people need to be invited to the table and they need to see our families on mission.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:31

They need to see what God's kids look like when they eat and play, help each other and fight and forgive and laugh and cry and all that stuff, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:42

And they're not going to, it doesn't say, you know, how everyone know your mind by how much time you spend.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:47

in your holy huddle, or how much time you spend in that building out on the edge of town.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:51

Or, you know, they'll know your mind by your personal quiet times that no one ever gets to see while it's dark at home.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:17:57

You know, it's like, no, and those are bad things, but we gospel growth and missional outward emphasis with no community.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:18:04

I don't even know how that exists really.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:18:05

Cause the gospel is going to bind us together, you know?

Heath Hollensbe: 00:18:07

Sure.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:18:08

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:18:08

Just back to like, wait a minute.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:18:09

We are the body.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:18:10

We are God's family.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:18:12

It's part of our primary identity.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:18:13

We've taught that before.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:18:14

If God's our dad, all of ours, then we are a family.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:18:19

Let's be a healthy family.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:18:20

Jesus already said that's how they're going to know you're mine by your love for one another.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:18:25

There you go.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:18:26

And I'm thinking too, like, as you're talking, we've been in part of many different missional communities and they've all at times needed kind of tune ups, right?

Heath Hollensbe: 00:18:33

You'll either swing super gospel heavy, or you'll swing really mission heavy, or like you said, you do the community and mission well, and you get a social justice club that doesn't really bring any, and so I think that constant tune up is something that's really healthy and I think that as people live on mission, the whole purpose like living on mission does take a lot of intentionality.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:18:53

You don't just kind of for sure stumble into it.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:18:56

You know, you, you, you kind of are moving people like, It's a movement from unbelief to belief in every area of life.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:19:01

And I'm curious for people that listen to the show that are going, it might be good for our missional community or for our church to kind of take an assessment of where we're at and where we need to hone things up, what sort of advice would you give for our listeners who want to gain this richer, more balanced, deeper, gospel community, mission focus, and, and their lives and then the lives of their small group or the missional community and even the life of their church.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:19:24

Yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:19:24

Well, I think I'm going to guess that even listening, some people would, if they did a little self assessment, like, where do you think you're strongest?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:19:32

You know, where do you think you're weakest?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:19:34

And there again, you, you like, you kind of drew the connections there a minute ago.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:19:37

Like it's, this is kind of up in out, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:19:39

Up towards the gospel in community life, increasingly living like a family outward.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:19:43

like who's next finding more.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:19:45

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:19:46

And I think that you can just say, Hey, you know, where are we strongest, where, where could we right now probably stand to grow?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:19:51

Cause we want to, we want to move to maturity.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:19:54

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:19:54

And that's our goal, not, you know, just mile wide inch deep.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:19:58

And so I would say, um, let me, let me throw some resources at folks that have been very popular and very, I've used them.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:06

They're all just so powerful and everything.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:08

And they've probably heard us talk about these on the show, but it's been a really long time.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:11

But, um, they're, uh, Missio Publishing puts out these primers, they're called, and there's a gospel primer, tangible kingdom primer, and justice primer.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:19

And what they are is they're, they're community studies that lasts for eight weeks.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:24

And there's a little something that you do.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:27

each day of the week, seven days a week.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:28

Now, not all of it's together, but like, there's like an introduction day and you kind of get introduced to an idea or a topic.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:34

And then there's a few questions.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:35

And then they're like the second day you like, look at some scripture connected to that.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:39

And so, and then you journal, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:40

And so there's, you know, it's like 15 or 20 minutes a day, but then you do that throughout the week.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:44

And then there's a community day where you come together to either discuss what you're learning, push on that, go a little deeper, or go actually do something.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:52

something right together.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:54

And so they all, all three primers follow that.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:20:56

And really there is an up in out aspect of these primers or a GCM, you know, aspect of these primers.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:21:02

Cause there's the gospel primer, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:21:05

Which is an eight week guide to transformation in the community, which will really give you like, really it's eight different ways of looking at the gospel and speaking it and communicating it, but it moves you towards building community.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:21:15

It's gospel centered and outward focused.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:21:19

all within the eight weeks, like baby stepping.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:21:21

Then you got the tangible kingdom primer.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:21:23

That's, that's like eight weeks to towards building incarnational community for like so, so small groups that say we've never really had much of an out focus.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:21:31

Perfect for them.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:21:32

It's going to really help them move little by little towards being a much more outward focused incarnational community.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:21:39

And then the Justice Primer is, is, is eight weeks learning together how to serve through community and it really will help you grow in your understanding of, of what justice truly is and how, how we do mercy, you know, and be mercy in community.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:21:54

And so those are all available, um, and as digital.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:21:58

now too, which is perfect timing.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:21:59

It just, I think just like a month or so ago, the primers were all made available online because they're gorgeous.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:05

You've seen them.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:05

They're like, you know, it's like embossed hardcover, uh, bound for color throughout.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:11

They're like works of art, each page, you know, it's, it's really, yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:14

And I think it's part of why they've been so powerful for people.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:17

Um, but now they're available digitally.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:19

And it's not a PDF.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:20

Um, the publisher, so, you know, they put out a PDF.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:24

Everybody would just send it around and they'd sell like two copies, you know, and the authors never make.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:29

So, but they're, they're beautiful.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:30

It's like, it's like it's been amplified.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:32

You go online, you can either go on your laptop or tablet or your phone and they're just as beautiful as the printed version.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:38

But there's a place where you fill out your answers and do your different things and save that for next time and all that.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:43

So they're amazing.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:45

You know, full disclosure too, I wrote the gospel primer.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:47

where I like to say I wrote it down.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:22:49

This is all stuff that we were learning together and building in community years ago, and lots of people spoke into and all, and I just happened to be the guy got blessed to write it down, you know, and then Missio published it, but they are all powerful and I would say, check those out.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:05

MissioPublishing.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:06

com.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:07

That's like M I S S I O, MissioPublishing.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:09

com.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:09

We'll throw that in show notes, but you can, you can get all the primers there and, and, um, you know, it's cheapest if you buy cases, but you can also get them digital now, like I said, so if you don't even want to play around with that, or if like you live somewhere where shipping is like, whoa, it's always cost me as much, you know, like our friends in Australia, New Zealand.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:25

They used to say like, man, I'd love to get that primer.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:26

It's like, it's only like 15 bucks or something, but holy cow, it costs like another 20 to get it here.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:31

Now you don't have to worry about that.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:34

And they're gorgeous.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:34

They're just as beautiful and super easy to use and all that.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:37

So we'll throw that link in there.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:39

And I think, you know, recently I saw Missio, they, they also have this special like three pack where you can get one of each primer.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:44

So you can kind of check it out, you know, and they're like super discounted that way, just so you can kind of.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:49

take a look at it if you're a leader or, you know, pastor or whatever.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:23:52

So that'd be my tip.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:23:53

Well, and the thing I love about it, I mean, we've, we've gone through um, we've taken different small groups or people that were trying to transition to missional communities through those books.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:24:01

And the thing I love about them too is there's that weekly rhythm to it.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:24:05

So it's.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:24:05

I mean you, you do have exercises, you have times of reflection, you have times of gathering and talking through it, you have a time to have a meal together.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:24:12

That rhythm is really a task of people committing of doing this together and really getting some sort of.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:24:17

Eight weeks but something

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:24:18

each day, but it's a little bit man, it's so baby steps.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:24:21

And it's

Heath Hollensbe: 00:24:21

beautiful.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:24:22

People say, oh I didn't really have time to do that.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:24:24

It's like you didn't choose to because 15 minutes, 20 minutes a day, you

Heath Hollensbe: 00:24:28

know.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:24:28

Big work, yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:24:29

Right, yeah, so.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:24:31

Awesome.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:24:32

Anyway, I hope folks will check those out.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:24:33

That will really help you grow.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:24:35

And, and really they're kind of designed to do them in a three step.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:24:37

So if you wanted to, I'm not saying you go straight 24 weeks in a row, but if to do those, all three of them in a community, oh my goodness, you would really start to balance out your GC and your M, your up and out.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:24:48

Yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:24:49

Really would be.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:24:49

Absolutely.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:24:50

All right, man, well, let's get to the big three, um, because as always, we want to leave people with the big three takeaways from today's topic, and if nothing else, we don't want them to miss these three pieces.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:24:59

And, uh, by the way, if you're listening, you get a free printable PDF of this week's big three as a download by going to everydaydisciple.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:25:06

com forward slash big three.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:25:07

Again, that's everydaydisciple.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:25:09

com forward slash big three.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:25:11

Caesar, what are the big three for this week?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:25:13

All right, simple, clean.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:25:15

First one, there's always been an all of life component to discipleship, the way that Jesus modeled it and sent us to reproduce it.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:25:22

And if we're not seeing the maturity and ownership for making new disciples that we want, it may be that we're missing one or more of these components.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:25:31

Three critical components.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:25:33

So I'm guessing for some folks, the lights are going on today.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:25:36

Like, yeah, I feel like we're really strong.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:25:38

Oh, we don't do much of that.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:25:39

Well, and there you go.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:25:40

So a little self diagnosis, right?

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:25:42

Number two, um, the gospel don't miss this.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:25:45

The gospel is the power to change lives and set people free.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:25:48

Not just head knowledge or attendance.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:25:50

Mature disciples will never be made outside of a gospel centered community that does life together in such a way that our everyday life and our identity, our hopes, our dreams, our fears, etc.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:26:01

are all being transformed by the power of the gospel.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:26:04

And that's really good news.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:26:06

Yeah, it is.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:26:06

Yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:26:07

And so third one, don't miss this.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:26:09

Don't settle for Just two out of three, you know, some people are pretty strong two, three, you know, like, no, this isn't a batting average thing.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:26:16

Yeah, if your church or small groups become a holy huddle where say knowledge acquisitions been your highest goal Start to engage more with those outside your community intentionally ask the Spirit to guide you in this If your lives are not increasingly becoming more and more like a healthy family together on mission, your, your community, your church.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:26:36

Look for ways to increase both your organized things that are going on and your organic sort of life on life interactions together throughout the week.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:26:45

Again, that takes some intentionality.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:26:46

And if you're busy just serving, serving, serving without feasting on the richness of the gospel regularly, well, then you're on a certain path to burnout legalism.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:26:56

Be careful there.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:26:57

We need the gospel and community together on mission as we grow in our Christ likeness and seek to make more mature disciples of Jesus.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:06

You know, it's fun is we, when we were taking a group through this, we actually found different people have different strengths in the group.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:12

Like, like our kind of gospel centered, like theological, like theological types.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:17

They really kind of took a lead on that.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:18

And we had others that were just naturally nurturing people good at teaching.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:22

Uh, keeping the group connected throughout the week and so we're like, Hey, why don't you work on the community?

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:26

And other people that are,

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:27:27

There you go.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:27

People that are plugged into the community, like, Hey, there's opportunities here and here.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:31

And we were actually able to say, Hey, why don't you, like, keep us informed of the mission stuff that we can work on.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:36

Ways we can serve

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:27:37

and, yeah.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:37

Yeah, so then you're actually, like, pushing leadership.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:40

You know, it's shared leadership with people gifted in different areas.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:44

Beautiful.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:44

It's everyone's kind of fight.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:27:45

You know, it works out, but.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:27:46

Yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:27:47

I love it.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:27:48

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:27:48

And we all have our, and that's why we need each other.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:27:50

Back to like why we make disciples in community.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:27:52

We need, we need all that.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:27:54

Rare is the person that's strong in all three, you know, but.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:27:57

Even if you are, that's not the point, you know, we're a family, we're in this together.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:28:02

Also, if you're interested in learning a full framework for discipleship and mission, and you'd like someone to walk alongside and show you all that, coach you in that, encourage you, bring some accountability to setting all this up and really starting to live this way, you.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:28:17

I would love to help you.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:28:18

I'd like to get together, tell you a little bit about our coaching, maybe hop on a Zoom call or something like that.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:28:23

Just go over to EverydayDisciple.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:28:25

com forward slash coaching.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:28:27

You can learn more about that and you can also fill out a little mini form that'll contact me and we can set up a time that we can talk.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:28:34

All right.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:28:35

Well, time is up for today.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:28:36

Join us again next week or go back through our hundreds of episodes.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:28:40

To continue to learn discipleship as a lifestyle in everyday life, and how the Good News of the Gospel speaks into everything naturally and powerfully.

Caesar Kalinowski: 00:28:50

I'll talk to you soon.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:28:52

Thanks for joining us today.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:28:53

For more information on this show, and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit EverydayDisciple.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:28:59

com.

Heath Hollensbe: 00:29:00

And remember, you really can live with the spiritual freedom and relational peace that Jesus promised, every day.