What is a Community of Practice?
A community (s) of practice is a group of people who have a common interest and intentionally come together to discuss this interest. Through these discussions, their knowledge grows, and they become more and more of an “expert” in this interest area.
This is not a new occurrence or idea. Many of us are participants of several communities of practices already. Some of these are informal, such as a group of friends regularly tackling home improvement projects together, and some are more formal such as the members of a choir. A Community of practice can be a key strategy for sharing, enhancing and developing knowledge and expertise
Every community of practice has
- a well developed domain of knowledge (this defines a set of issues),
- community (a group of people that engage with each other on multiple levels),
- shared practice (a baseline of common knowledge about the subject and how they will share, learn, and develop new ideas).
What is a Community of Missional Practice (CoMP)?
A community of missional practice is a group of Christians and/or churches who have a passion for a particular ministry or mission area, and who intentionally meet to discuss this passion. Through their sharing, their knowledge grows and their own ministry in that particular area is enhanced and made more effective.
What do CoMPs have to do with CBF ?
Fellowship people and CBF churches are involved in ministries of all types and on all different levels. Many times these churches and Christians are working alone, unaware that there are others around them in the CBF community that share the same ministry calling. They could be sharing ideas with one another and cooperating in ministry if only they had a way to connect. CBF the organization is helping to define and create broad CoMPs. The goal is to allow people and churches to connect over work in these areas. We've created these lists based primarily on the work we already know CBF people, churches and field personnel are doing.
Communities of Missional Practice in Global Missions
- Poverty/Transformation Ministries
- Rural and Urban ministries
- Food/ Hunger ministries
- Clean water development
- Orphans and Neglected children
- Disaster Response Ministry
- Internationals Ministries
- Refugee, Immigrant, and Internationals in Academic Settings
- Church Planting
- US, International
- Pastoral, Church Planting, Basic theological training
- Medical Ministries
- HIV/AIDS
- Malaria
- Basic medical needs
- Maternal health
- Education/Economic Development Ministries
- Education (Theological, skills training, Literacy)
- Economic/Community Development
- Environmental Sustainability/Agro forestry
- Micro and Macro Enterprise Development
- Justice and Peacemaking Ministries
- Human trafficking
- War/Genocide
- Women's rights
- Child labor
- Religious Freedom
- Reconciliation
If you are practicing ministry in, or are interested in ministring in one or several of these areas, let us know. We would love to hear of your experiences via our CBF Wiki disscussion boards. Our desire is to develop an online community where networking, story telling, resource sharing, and partnership can occur. Together we can be the presence of Christ in the world.
Wenger, Etienne, R. McDermott, and W.M. Snyder. Cultivating Communities of Practice. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002)
Want more information about Communities of Practice? Etienne Wenger has a helpful website, www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm