If the church is going to be working to create a community that is worth inviting others into, it has to understand the current cultural climate of the world in which it is working. If the church does not understand the needs of its neighbors, how can it best love and care for them?
In order to even begin to think about this question as the greater church community, it is necessary for us to first examine ourselves. Perhaps there are some of us who need to take a step back and think about how we are living and operating. What thoughts and actions speak to how we are approaching the idea of community? Are we seeking God and discovering what He envisions for the church when it comes to community, or have we merely succumbed to the worldly standard and continued along upholding the status quo of our Western, even specifically American lifestyle? Our answers to these questions hold great implications to how we act in terms of building a solid community. In order for us to build the type of community that resembles one that Jesus would have been a part of we must also attempt to blur the line between the “Christian†and “non-Christian†label as we begin to see all people as individual creations of God.
A pastor spoke to this issue at the Lead Now conference in Virginia a few weeks ago. The gist of his teaching was that we have to keep ourselves from becoming trapped in the labeling game as if we were merely doing some kind of inventory. We need to be cautious with being overly concerned about where we draw lines in our acceptance of people, what kind of language we use, and what kinds of thresholds we establish for individuals. As we think about the Kingdom of God and see as it expands on earth, it is important that we trust God to move people’s hearts. As He continues to do that, we who comprise the church, are to focus on providing an environment where we are working together in love to create a community that upholds the teachings of Christ. It is this inter-working between God and His church that allows for God’s plan of redemption to unfold in our world today.
With that said, how might we assess ourselves to how well we are fulfilling the idea of building Christ-centered community? As we grow in our understanding of where we live and what is going on around us, we can better help one another shed the hindering baggage of the world in order to pursue the things that help us reach God-inspired, life-changing community.
Where we live
There are many terms that have been created in order to describe our generation and the ones to come. There are sociological paradigms, studies, research and plenty of other things that have attempted to ‘define’ the world in which we currently live. Instead of delving into heaps of research and “who-says-what,†these are some general observations about what one can regularly see and hear when one takes the time to look around.
An interesting Progression
God created intimate community from the very beginning. In Genesis He saw that it was not good that Adam was alone, and thus the nuclear family arose from the garden. From that point on, throughout the Old Testament and into the New, God’s use of the family is strong. The community that was built around this institution was vital for the progression of the human race. Settlements of families within close proximity to one another became the basis upon which humans would interact with one another. Much of God’s Law in the Torah was centered on the installment of guidelines to see that these communities would grow and flourish.
But what happens if the family unit begins to break down? The same God-given desires are active in our spirits and we still long to fulfill that place inside of us, even when that natural community fails to remain intact and functioning. As the world changes around us and as our environments are altered, the things that God breathed into our nature do not disintegrate. When we understand this and realize that at our very core we are creatures that need community, the church has the potential to become far more relevant to people looking to meet that need by becoming the place of fulfillment according to the plan that God instated in Christ.
Recently, author Donald Miller spoke on the progression of the church and culture. He talked about the influence that industrialization has had on the family. The entire family unit was no longer needed to work in order to provide sustenance for survival. In this new age the men now left the home to go and work in order to provide for the entire family. This was the beginning of a disconnect within the family core. As time went on, workplaces, companies, and corporations became family. I would suggest however, that now we have gone even beyond this. Work is rarely seen as family anymore. You can actually hear this complaint from those who were in the old system when they state that in the ‘old days’ one was actually part of something in a company. Despite the harsh realization for some that the workplace is no longer a familial environment; this could actually be a positive trend. For some men and women who have perhaps neglected their biological families for work families, this is an opportunity for them to return home. There is one small problem with this idea however. Such a conclusion would assume that those who are in the workforce today actually have families to which they can retreat back. For many, this is not the case. As we have moved into a post-industrialized phase, the emphasis on higher education has been significantly increased. In 2005, 37% of the population between the ages of 25-29 had pursued a bachelor or associates degree. This prolonged time of study is one of the many contributing factors to the delay of marriage and the founding of new families. U.S. Marriage rates for 2006 indicate that there were 7.3 marriages per 1000 population which dropped from 8.9 in 1997. Over the last fifty years U.S. birth rates per 1000 population has dropped nearly ten points.
The increase in the amount of children coming out of broken family situations has also brought about a generation that is much more cynical about the family than ever. The lack of a familial environment in the workplace combined with the lack of the upstart of one’s own family unit, has led to an increased void in the life of many; especially those in their late 20’s and early 30’s. All of this is to say, that the church, which can and should be modeling familial-like community structures, has a lot to offer our current generation. Unfortunately many of us are falling short in providing such places of refuge. What could be an optimal time for communities of Christ followers to step in and provide authentic love and community to people who long for it, is often wasted by those of us within the church who are too busy trying to figure out how to live with one another.
The Christian Bubble
With the aforementioned situation of our current American culture, the church has a golden opportunity to enact and carry on the legacy that Jesus and the early church left for us. This is where the analysis from last week of Jesus’ post-familial relationships with the disciples can help us today. Would God prefer that we are living in familial units that are functioning together in extended communities, providing for one another’s needs? Perhaps so, but when we look at the reality of our age, we see kids go off to college and often move far away as they pursue a career. Even those who stay in their hometown and start a job in the trades or in the service industry are often severed from a familial like community. This forces us to explore alternative ways to provide a familial community, which is lacking for so many.
Unfortunately, so much of the church has utilized the small group movement to merely provide safe-havens for fellow believers. Small groups are places where needs can be met and fellowship can be achieved. This is not bad in and of itself, as long as the end result of such activity is to equip and encourage one another to continue to be outwardly focused. Do we need communities of believers who are strengthening and encouraging one another? Absolutely! What we do not need however, are groups of people who are merely meeting together out of common interest, creating a sub-culture (often referred to as the Christian bubble) where people begin to think, talk and act alike. This kind of place becomes inwardly focused and at its most negative extreme, can become nearly useless in advancing in the mission God has given to us. It is a place where dull iron is merely rubbing against dull iron, sharpening no one. It is a place where people are rarely challenged and the objective is to keep one’s head above water, and not do anything that would cause them to stand out. This is not what Jesus’ small group of disciples looked like. We should not fool ourselves by using fancy terminology, which is especially revered inside the Christian bubble, rather let us be honest in assessing the reality of our groups.
What then should these groups look like if they are fostering community and offering something to a world which is seeking a familial environment? First of all, they have to be real. Most people, whether they are Christ followers or not, covet authenticity. In an age of lying politicians, shattered families, and suspect religious establishments, individuals are seeking a place where genuine, agenda-free life is taking place. Our communities should be places of mutual respect, love and honesty. If the church cannot provide an environment that is overflowing with mercy and grace, then our world is lost and without hope. The way that we can reach the world, is to begin to build places where we are sharing, both resources and burdens. We need to build outposts in the world where people are being challenged to find God through love. As we allow Christ’s power to flow through us and offer the things that Jesus offered to His core of disciples, we will begin to see how brilliant His plan really was.
I visited your blog at xanga.com, and found out what are you doing at the moment. I can say that what you’ve written made me think about some things, and maybe soon I’ll write more…Thanks for your writing and hopefully we’ll catch up with each other soon!
Karol
May 19th, 2007