In yesterday's post, I mentioned that one of the books I'd read during my recent vacation was Life After Church: God's Call to Disillusioned Christians by Brian Sanders. I'd pointed out that if you were to pick up my copy of Life After Church, you'd notice the passages I'd highlighted. This post will provide the second installment of what me and my highlighter found meaningful in the chapter titled "Our Building Project."Community. Church isn't church if it isn't done in community.
What makes us the bride of Christ is that we are something together that we are not alone. For this reason, church, if it is to be fully church, must involve some level of community, people relating to other believers in light of the other two components of church: worship and mission.
You can have a group of people who worship together but never really interact. In fact, it can be a very powerful and beautiful experience, one that enriches everyone involved and brings glory to God.
But it's not church. It's worship.
Likewise, you can have people gathering in community, like a sitcom cast or sports team. Those relationships can be very real, rich and meaningful, but they're not church.
People leave churches in part because the force of life on a church without deep community is centrifugal. Any pressure, disagreement, conflict or philosophical difference can end in "divorce" because the bond isn't there. We have to build churches where people can really know each other, where they are connected in a deeper way than a loose commitment to a certain style of music or a pastor.
Here is the irony of community: you as an individual will never reach your personal destiny, fulfill who you are, use your gifts effectively or unlock your potential until you're in community. The personal and the communal are inextricably bound, because God is found in his body.
