The New Common
The New Common is our philosophy of engagement to influence our city and the world. It is how our church empowers you to participate in God’s plan for the reconciliation of all things (Col 1:15-20).
Domain Engagement
What if we saw our cities differently? What if the New Jerusalem is borne out of the Church within the city ushering in the Kingdom of God across all sectors?
We desire to empower the Church to participate in God’s plan of reconciliation by focusing on transforming the domains that form the grid of society. You’ll notice that what is absent in our domain map is a religious/faith/church domain. This is because the Church is present in all domains and should be empowered to be salt and light in those domains.
As early as Genesis 4:20-22 we see the multiplication of domains with the multiplication of the city. Health, Education, Governance, Science and Technology, Communication, Agriculture, Economics, and Social Work are not merely secular domains; they are Kingdom domains for Kingdom citizens to create Kingdom culture.
Asset-Based Community Development
What if we actually worked with our city? What if instead of competing with our city, we collaborated with our city?
In addition to empowering the Church, we also desire to empower our city to participate in God’s plan of reconciliation. We believe that communities thrive when people recognize and utilize their strengths and gifts. For too long, the church has taken a deficit-based approach to engagement where we focus on just filling needs and doing things to or for people. Unfortunately, this often develops into a saviour mentality instead of a servant mentality.
So rather than focusing our efforts on merely filling in gaps, we desire to also come alongside communities, agencies, and organizations in order to collaborate in creating solutions. As we’ve humbly placed ourselves in secular environments to offer our time, talent, and treasures, the Lord has involved us in efforts from the grassroots level all the way to the federal level.
Expressions of The New Common
Local Engagement
We collaborate in some of the most-underserved and impoverished areas of our city to create solutions through the partnership of domain engagement and asset-based community development. In doing so, we don’t feel the need to create our own programs. Rather, we ask the Lord to open our eyes to the opportunities all around us to partner with what He’s already doing. Check out thenewcommon.org for the neighbourhoods we engage with!
Learn More
Global Engagement
As we discover our identity and destiny in Christ, we influence both our city and the world. The engagement principles we use apply whether we are in our own global city or another one. Therefore, we’re focusing on a specific, strategic, sensitive area of the world to be a part of the renewal of all things through domain engagement and asset-based community development. Check the following blog post for more info: We Refuse To Be Enemies documentary
Watch our short doc
Church Multiplication
Domain engagement is also a major part of our church multiplication strategy! We seek to equip and empower church multiplication in various forms through our DNA: Kingdom-Disciple-Society-Church. We believe that as Kingdom Disciples engage Society, the Church arises and lives on mission in a certain way. To learn more about this, you can check out our family of churches at glocal.net.
Learn MoreNext Step
In order to empower our church to empower our city, it would be helpful to know your strengths, gifts, passions, and which domains of society you operate in. So take just a few minutes to fill out this brief Societal Engagement Survey so that we can empower you to empower others!