It’s a buzz word. It’s often misunderstood. It’s central to the Christian faith and yet so absent from many churches. Community. It would be appropriate to launch into sociological reflection on the dearth of community in our culture, drawing from observations made by sociologists like Robert Putnam (Bowling Alone, Better Together) in order to demonstrate the human desire and decline of community, but I don’t have the time or expertise. Instead, I will address two main issues with our attempts to find community. First, defective Christian views of community are based on unbiblical notions of the Church. Second, true community is based not on what you do but who you are.
I still have to wonder and question why it seems like many in the church today are against this idea of “community.” They seem to think its some evil conspiracy of the purpose driven church.
Jonathan Dodson talks more about this in his recent article for Next-Wave Ezine:
The church is not just people; its God’s living room, his neighborhood.
But even with Jesus dying to remake people into better, worshiping, missional communities, the Church still remains defective. The family of God is dysfunctional. Why? Because at the center of community we too often have a set of rules, not the gospel.
Most communities fluctuate in their success based on how well people keep the rules of the community. For instance, if I join a book club my acceptance in the club will likely go up or down based on how well I understood the book, know the author, and can discuss his ideas. My sense of acceptance from the community is related to things I do, not who I am. The same is true for most community outlets in this world. If I am part of a Fantasy Football community, my sense of significance will ride upon how well I know my player stats and football trivia. Bottom line, the strength of a community is often determined by how well I perform, by what I do or don’t do, not who I am.
So what can we as a church body and a community of believers do to ensure that people feel significance based solely on who they are and not what they do?
All too often Christian communities have rules at their center, not the gospel. If you read the Bible, don’t drink beer, and “go to church,†you’re accepted. If you do the opposite, you are not accepted. This is religion, not the gospel. Religion says “I obey a set of rules and I am accepted,†but the message of Jesus was “You are accepted by my grace and as a result you obey and follow me.†As dysfunctional people we need something more than performance to bind us together. We need something that provides acceptance and forgiveness even when we fail one another. We also need something big enough to satisfy our infinite appetites for community, something divine. We need Jesus.
Jesus is sufficient for our failures and successes in community
You linked to my blog as proof that some are opposed to “community”. I’m not sure where you got that from. There is nothing more edifying and strengthening than the fellowship of others who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. What is not edifying is when people who don’t even agree on what the Gospel is or how man can be saved or whether there’s a hell try to insist that out of that chaos doctrinally there can still be “community”. Truth divides, and that’s why the believer does not find community with just anyone. Only those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and who know Jesus as their Savior can find the unity that our Savior prayed for in His great High Priestly Prayer. We desperately need to belong to the community of believers, but those parameters are defined by the Word of God, not just some vague, ill-defined concept of community coming from the fuzzy-headed emerging crowd who can’t even agree on things like the atonement and hell. (See Brian McLaren’s teachings for an example of emerging teachings that deny cardinal biblical dotrine.)
I’m taking it for the stance that you seem to have against “purpose driven churches” and this idea that if you don’t have Sunday school and try to disguise it as community groups or small groups you’re apparently on the path of destroying your church
“Truth divides, and that’s why the believer does not find community with just anyone. Only those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and who know Jesus as their Savior can find the unity that our Savior prayed for in His great High Priestly Prayer.”
Glad the disciples didn’t say the same thing to Thomas when he doubted Christ had risen from the grave.
“I’m sorry Thomas – we can’t have community with just anyone – you’re gonna have to believe what we believe before we let you be a part of our group.”
“Truth divides, and that’s why the believer does not find community with just anyone. Only those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and who know Jesus as their Savior can find the unity that our Savior prayed for in His great High Priestly Prayer.”
Glad the disciples didn’t say the same thing to Thomas when he doubted Christ had risen from the grave.
“I’m sorry Thomas – we can’t have community with just anyone – you’re gonna have to believe what we believe before we let you be a part of our group.”
You linked to my blog as proof that some are opposed to “community”. I’m not sure where you got that from. There is nothing more edifying and strengthening than the fellowship of others who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. What is not edifying is when people who don’t even agree on what the Gospel is or how man can be saved or whether there’s a hell try to insist that out of that chaos doctrinally there can still be “community”. Truth divides, and that’s why the believer does not find community with just anyone. Only those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and who know Jesus as their Savior can find the unity that our Savior prayed for in His great High Priestly Prayer. We desperately need to belong to the community of believers, but those parameters are defined by the Word of God, not just some vague, ill-defined concept of community coming from the fuzzy-headed emerging crowd who can’t even agree on things like the atonement and hell. (See Brian McLaren’s teachings for an example of emerging teachings that deny cardinal biblical dotrine.)
I’m taking it for the stance that you seem to have against “purpose driven churches” and this idea that if you don’t have Sunday school and try to disguise it as community groups or small groups you’re apparently on the path of destroying your church