These are some of the most common questions asked at Adullam.

What the heck does Adullam mean? 

Adullam was the name of a cave where King David hid from enemies, where people came to "be blessed" and where David and his mighty men gathered to reestablish a new kingdom. (1 Samuel 22:1, 2 Samuel 23:13)

What are Villages?

"As Adullam was the place of gathering for those who were being united for a common cause. The villages were where people came from and where they lived. It's where people shared their life: (Resources, Recreation, experiences, faith, fun, family and mission)

It's important to understand that Adullam is not a church. Adullam is a network of missional communities we call "Villages." 

These Villages are where you can share your life, your spiritual journey and where you can seamlessly connect your friends to God's people.

What's it like to be in a Village?

A typical village is ranges from 6 to 30 people who establish their own "rhythms" for their experience together. A typical example over the course of a month might be to meet several weeks for common spiritual conversation around scripture, a good book, etc. One week focused on mission, service or social justice, and one week where you just have a big party to connect friends together. In addition to weekly times of gathering, we encourage spontaneous connection so proximity to people is critical.

Can you put me in a group?

NO. As you can tell, it takes time to develop synergy with people who share common practices and mission. The last thing you'd want is for complete strangers to show up out of the blue. To experience Village life, we recommend you come to the "Gathering" to make natural connections and let people get to know you. You can also let the leadership know of your desire and we'll help you connect with people in your niche of the city. You can also simply start one from scratch. The leadership is here to help you and all you have to do is let us know and we'll coach you. We also have Village Leader Training about every 6-8 weeks.

How do the Villages and the Gathering integrate?

The Gathering is a place where the communities come together to see what God's been doing amongst us. Right now we only have one weekly Gathering (Sunday Morning) but we hope that there will be several Gathering points throughout the city as we grow.

The Gathering serves several important functions.

• Creates a common environment where people can experience a larger vision beyond their Village life. People tend to become myopic and selfish unless they see their experience in light of a larger movement of God over their city.
• Provides a communal spiritual connection through communion, prayer, & scripture that may not be a part of their village time.
• Provides an expanded picture for our children. We think it's important for them to see their parents in village life and in corporate spiritual settings. As well, as being with their peers for meaningful learning and building their network of friends.
• Gives us a way to gather resources and share what we're doing together.
• The most important purpose of the Gathering is simply to create a place for people to meet each other.

Do all Villages come to the Gathering?

No. Some do come every week as it fits their desires and some only come occasionally. Sunday morning can be a great time to connect with culture, serve the city or go take a hike. We really don't care as long as the Villages have a deliberate purpose for their community. We provide an experience we call BIG TABLE, every 4-6 weeks as a way to bring everyone together!

What happens at BIG TABLE?

At "Big Table" we simply set up a huge table and share breakfast, share stories, integrate more of the time with our children and hear what's been happening in our villages. It's the best things we do together!!

Do you have Membership?

No. What' the point? It only creates legalistic expectations. Then how do you get people to give money, serve, etc? We don't try to. If Jesus didn't force people to do things, then it makes some sense for us to follow His lead. He did create quite a buzz however; started a movement of people that did extraordinary things, gave money sacrificially, gave their lives away in service. How? He inspired their hearts through modeling a higher way of life. We're going to try that!! We want everything we do to be from the heart.

What about Money?

We understand that the biggest hindrance to authentic mission is money. We also understand how most people have lost their trust in churches to use money to help real people, so here's how we approach the moola.

1. We don't take an offering during our gathering. We value your friends and we don't want them to think church is about money.
2. We do believe in the biblical concept of the Tithe. (Tithe is an Old Testament word that means 10%.) That means we re-oriented our lives in such a way that we can give God 10% or more of all He gives us. We think the tithe is the coolest concept to ever hit the universe. It was God's way of taking care of the social, spiritual, and practical needs of everyone in the city. However, we don't mandate this because we all grow in our faith over time, especially when it comes to money.
3. We also don't ask people to focus all their giving on Adullam. The fun of giving is to see it change someone's day so we ask all our people to keep some money stashed away and be able to give to those who need it as the circumstances of life happen. The love of money — not money itself — is what corrupts, even in "church." That said, we do ask people to give a percentage of their resources to Adullam to further God's mission with us, and so that we can tackle larger needs by pooling our resources. It's kind of like a "practical needs Co-Op." The actual amount is up to each person as they feel compelled at the heart level.

Here's some ways we hope to stay true with our collective resources:

1. We don't have any full-time pastors. We have a community of leaders who either raise outside missionary support as well as holding down normal jobs like everyone else. This helps us to be able to focus our resources on "blessing" or meeting practical needs locally and globally as well as helping resource emerging leaders.
2. We "stipend" people who serve the City wide movement at small levels so that we can provide a functional structure that serves the overall movement.
3. We provide debt counseling to help people recover financially as well as mentoring in how to trust God with your cash.
4. We only pay for facilities if we need them to keep the movement going. We prefer to gather in public spaces, parks, and buildings that create an atmosphere of "belonging."

FAQs...

If this didn't answer all your questions, here are a few more that we're commonly asked.

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