Tag: Community

Too Mature for Community?

Posted on February 27, 2009

My experience of church is extending well beyond anything I have previously experienced in 28 years as a disciple of Jesus. What’s amazing is that this is not just my experience; it is shared by our church, by my City Group, by our city. And, no doubt, by some of you.

Too Mature for Community?

The level of authentic confession of sin, persistent belief in the gospel, love for one another, and sharing of life and mission is remarkable. This is not naive community; it is redemptive community, a community of grace that holds in common brokenness and belief, failure and success, repentance and faith. As one of our people shared during our gathering on Sunday, “You are never too spiritually mature for community.”

Too Community-centered?

Indeed, community should be common fare in the church, and I’m not talking about “fellowship”, just hanging out or feeling like you have friends. If we are not careful, our longing for and experience of community can subtly displace the gospel. Biblical community is much, much more than this. Biblical community is significant, not because it makes you feel significant but because it recognizes that Jesus is our common source of significance. The gospel, not people, becomes the means to the end of our identity. Our sense of acceptance flows from our relationship with Christ, which in turn frees us to love and serve one another, not secretly judge, demand or ostracize. We become a one anothering community, freed by the gospel, to love and serve each other. We are equally never too spiritually mature for the gospel.

Making the Gospel Central, Really

As Graham Beynon puts it: “We are to be teaching each other the gospel, to be correcting each other about the gospel with all wisdom, to be singing about the gospel with gratitude and so letting it dwell richly among us. When we come to church on a Sunday, or to our small group meeting during the week, we should come saying to ourselves, ‘I hope I will be reminded of the gospel in this meeting. I hope I will be taught about it and corrected in my understanding of it. I hope we will sing about it.” ~ God’s New Community, 119.

Does your church, your community, your small group, your missional community gather in anticipation of being reminded of the gospel, corrected in the gospel, motivated by the gospel, to sing of the gospel? If not, what can you do to reshape community expectations around the gospel, not community? Have you become too mature for community or too community centered for the gospel? Consider how to make the gospel central and community will follow.

Pew Foundation: How do you Rate Your Commmunity?

Posted on January 30, 2009

A new national survey by the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project finds that nearly half (46%) of the public would rather live in a different type of community from the one they’re living in now — a sentiment that is most prevalent among city dwellers. When asked about specific metropolitan areas where they would like to live, respondents rank Denver, San Diego and Seattle at the top of a list of 30 cities, and Detroit, Cleveland and Cincinnati at the bottom.

Even though the survey shows that many Americans have a bit of wanderlust, it also finds that most are satisfied with where they live now. More than eight-in-ten rate their current communities as excellent, very good or good. People who have moved at least once (63%) and those who have lived in the same place all their lives (37%) are equally content with their current home.

Are you content with your community? Why or why not? A few more interesting stats:

  • By about two-to-one, they prefer to live in a hot-weather place over a cold-weather place.
  • On the food-and-drink front, a slight plurality would rather live in a place with more McDonald’s (43%) than one with more Starbucks (35%).
  • When it comes to community involvement, there is no difference among those who live in cities, suburbs, small towns or rural areas. About half of the residents in each place say they are involved, and half say they aren’t.

More here.

How Would You Rate Your Community?

Posted on January 21, 2009

As I continue to read on community in the US, I’m struck by the steady decline of genuine human interaction beyond superficial familial, vocational, and patron-client relationships. Robert Putnam notes the decline of community in the United States stating that over the past 25 years, attendance at club meetings has fallen 58 percent, family dinners are down 33 percent, and having friends visit has fallen 45 percent. The last two figures are most disconcerting. People just don’t share meals much anymore, especially in their homes, a place where community has often flourished.

In Urban Tribes, Ethan Watters confesses that the “never-marrieds” (singles in 20s-30s) abandoned community in pursuit of vocation and avocation. Many of them critique the superficiality of our culture, form bonds with a small group of like-minded people, bemoan the breakdown of community, but don’t really do anything about it. Their bonds tend to be negative and inward, not positive and outwardly focused. In short, “a population defined by what we aren’t doing.”

Can you relate to any of this, positively or negatively? I’m curious what your experience of community is like? Where are you finding meaningful connections with other people? Are these relationships satisfying your hunger for community? What is lacking, if anything, and what is wonderful?