The upper room community

Where we've come from

Not too long ago, CLC was faced with the enviable task of how to cope with a church that felt too large. The church had experienced fairly constant growth since it had started and had reached the point where it was difficult for everyone to know each other within the one community. This meant that not everyone knew each other and not everyone could be easily looked after by the church's leadership in the same way as when CLC was smaller.

The question was posed - was the church's growth sustainable within the existing structure, even with a few tweaks, such as adding an extra person or two to the leadership?

The decision was made that in order to help foster community; the pre-existing "tribes" would be developed and given a more distinct structure. For example each tribe would develop a leadership team, each tribe would have their own cells and there would be a number of tribe weekends where the tribes would meet individually. People joined the City, Kings Hedges or Student tribe mainly according to circumstances but possibly due to the missional focus. There was also an experiment with a Graduates tribe as the vision of tribes allowed CLC to adapt to a new vision or area of mission.

Where we are

Recently CLC has planted out a church and a number of people have moved on, without having replaced all of the energy and resources that were sown out. As well as the growth having been less than was hoped for, there has been less of a sense of unity within CLC, partly due to the tribe structure. Although we are still all part of CLC and collectively share the three areas of mission, it is easy to assume that each tribe is responsible for its area of mission. It was also easy on a week-to-week basis for the community within the tribes to be strengthened at the expense of the whole community of CLC.

- "All the believers were of one heart and mind..." Acts 4:32

As such it has been decided that with CLC being smaller at present, the tribes will be merged together. The focus will be on one community, where we all share the vision for the City, the University and Kings Hedges. In the past students were a force on noise days and Summer Blast and the people who live in the City were actively praying and caring for students and the University. This has obviously not stopped but by uniting as CLC we are re-emphasising our joint passion and commitments. We are looking forward to seeing more links between those who were part of different tribes, conspiracies between those of different cultures, to see more of God and his kingdom. We are concentrating on what unites us, the vision that we share and being one community.

Practically the cells will not be reorganised in the short term but as people join the church the make-up of the cells will change naturally, so that people living in Kings Hedges may be placed in what was a "City" cell and vice versa. Previously all students went to Fusion as their midweek meeting but will now be offered the option of joining one of CLC's "normal" cells instead.

We have also reintroduced a corporate prayer meeting as part of being one community, to be held on the first week of every month. It is expected that cells will not run on this week and that the church will gather together, as one, to pray.

Where we are going

As the tribes have been merged, we are focusing on forging our community with a passion for prayer, mission together and even a little more fun! We believe that God is "re-rigging" us as a church in terms of our structures, relationships and energy. We know that God has not finished with Cambridge or CLC so we're excited to find out what is going to happen next. As CLC grows the tribes may be reformed or the structure changed but at present CLC is concentrating on the Upper Room Community.

Tim has come back excited and reinvigorated from his sabbatical and is providing clarity and a renewed drive for CLC. However the responsibility is not simply for Tim, but for all of us to make the effort to love each other.

If you didn't catch Tim's talk where he explains more of the vision and detail of the Upper Room Community you can download the talk as an mp3 here.

- "Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful." Colossians 3:14-5

If you have any questions or thoughts please let Tim, Kevin or me know.

Daniel

Daniel John, 02/12/2009