In planning Project Reconnect we continued to follow what was perceived to be the pattern of the Christian life and the life of the Christian community. There are three components: Connection with God, with each other, and then to the community (or world) that God has created. Often members of the church are very connected with the community but that connection is defined by something else other than their faith, or their faith community (Luke 10: 37). Those planning Project Reconnect set as goals that:

• Congregations will enter into the community recognisably as the community of faith (2 Cor 5: 18-20).
• Individuals live and act in their community guided and inspired by the nature of the faith they profess (Romans 12:9-21).

We thought that this would be the last of the three elements. We hoped that by the time individuals had strengthened in their relationship with God, and as they had grown in their relationship with each other, we might have begun to discern how a connection with the community could be developed.

It was our discovery that even as a community of faith experiences greater vitality it is not automatic that individuals and congregations become missional in the local and wider community. However there were positive signs. Some congregations decided to have special gatherings, which marked some event in the community. For one it was a community Christmas BBQ one Sunday. For another it was a golf day, organised together by all the denominations in a small town.

At this stage the steps into the community have been mostly small but it is still very much a goal of Project Reconnect and we believe that the ongoing vitality of congregations can only be sustained as the church gives itself to the community in which it is placed. We have found connecting with the community is not an inevitable outcome of Project Reconnect. But we have been encouraged to see that it is more likely to happen as people grow in their relationship with God, and each other, as there is an increased awareness of God's call on them and the church, and a growing sense of God's compassion for the world, including a sense of justice (Micah 6:8).

We look forward to hearing from other small churches of how they have developed a relationship with the community that is more than just self interest (in growing numbers, or making money) but in someway supports the community and its individuals in life, and hope.

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October 10, 2007 - December 2009