There’s been much talk in recent times about community. In a world seeking to define what community really is, and a sense that something has been lost in the modern individualized and bust western culture. In the world of modern technology, from chat rooms, forums, social networking sites and the blogosphere which have all created their own forms of community.
Little wonder that the church, too, has been seeking to grapple with understanding what community is. More and more churches are coming back to what is in many ways a more accurate understanding of what church really is. Church as it is seen in the Bible: When it wasn’t a building, it wasn’t a set of programmes, and didn’t require masses of money just to be maintained. It was the people, living real life together, in pursuit of Jesus.
I wonder though, if maybe all this talk about community can lead to us mistaking what it is we’re here to do. Our mission is not to create community. Our mission is to show the love of God and share the good news of how we can find relationship with him through Jesus Christ.
Churches throughout history have died because they have turned into social gathering places and communities which are no different to any other you might find in the world. People find friendships and a sympathetic ear for their problems, but ultimately nobody is ever changed and the love of God and the good news of Jesus Christ is never shared with the world. Consequently these little communities stay little. They get insular, introverted and weird, and eventually they die – either through petty relational issues, or through old age.
Relationship is really important. We need to share love without conditions or pre-requisites. Indeed Jesus said that is was through our love for one another that people would know that we are his disciples, and it was through the world observing how Christians related to one another and lived their lives that they came to be called Christians in the first place. Love in action produces ears which are willing to listen.
However we must never forget that the thing which ultimately satisfies our soul, sets us free, and restores us to the relationship with God that we need is not community itself. It is Christ. Interestingly real community is only really found where Christ is central anyway. It’s only when I am fulfilled in God that I am free to love people in the selfless way that true community requires. As I read in a book by Mark Driscoll, “Community is an effect of mission, not an effective mission”
There’s a great article here you might want to check out for more: Cause driven church – Erwin McManus
Filed under: Christian Life, The Church, church
