Here is a very good post by David Fitch over at Reclaiming the Mission. If you are not familiar with Fitch he is author of The Great Giveaway and pastor of Life on the Vine.  I have a short review of the book here. 

In this post Fitch discusses the struggles of planting missional communities and the importance of cultivating certain practices in the life of the community to ensure health and longevity. This leads Fitch to reflect on the development of a missional order. Something several of us have been discussing for sometime, therefore I find his common commitments particularly intriguing. Here is a sample of the post:

In chapter 2 of his book Simplicity [Richard Rohr] talks about the pain of seeing so many missional communities start up and then fold within two to three years of starting. He blames various societal pressures and internal character weaknesses that come with the territory of planting missional communities in North America. I too have seen many missional communities fold in the third year of their existence. I have witnessed burn-out, depression, and disillusionment among the leaders in the 3rd year (sometimes sooner but mostly by the end of the 3rd year).

Part of where this comes from is that certain swimming against the stream that every missional community organizer knows. It is the everyday grind against making people happy that comes with engaging the consumerism and narcissism of the average cultural American. But then even worse, there are these expectations that come from denominations and Christian institutions that derive from a Christendom mentality of church planting. Here numbers and attraction become the measures of success and when these things are subtly communicated, the self-worth of the church planters takes a dive. Even if the institutions are supportive (which mine has certainly been), the pressures and expectations of the past age haunt the average missional church planter. It is imperative therefore to have practices that support missional community cultivation!