A Different Kind of Community

The following article is an excerpt from Sam’s upcoming book, Essential Church, which will be released by B&H Publishing this September.

I loathe inefficiencies.  I detest giving up my time.  I know every function of Microsoft Outlook.  I’ve been known to plan vacations in spreadsheets in fifteen minutes increments, including travel destinations and mile marker ETAs (note: I am not speaking in a hyperbole - I have actually done this before).  My family says I take planning to an extreme.  But I say what’s more fun than planning all the fun that you plan on having?  Admittedly, I am by nature an over-planner.  I focus on efficiency to the point of in inefficiency.

Our time is valuable.  And few value it more than I.  But a considerable part of the problem with creating community in the church is the grand issue of time.  At no time in my life have I realized this more than right before my wedding.

A couple of weeks before we got married, my wife began to move in some of her items into my townhouse.  As we were pulling out of the driveway that day she interrupted our idle chatter,

“Oh, and I can’t wait to meet your neighbors!”

I sat silent.  She gave me her frustrated face.  I tried not to look back at her.

“You don’t know your neighbors yet?!  You have lived her almost four years, and you haven’t even said hello to your neighbors.”

“I’m busy.  Besides, they don’t want to be disturbed either,” I attempted with lame rationalization.

Erin and I have totally different backgrounds.  She grew up in the same small town her entire life.  She lived in two different houses, yet both were on the same street.  I moved about every 2 to 4 years to different states.  She has deep roots.  I never planted a seed.  She knows everyone in her town, and we cannot go anywhere without someone coming up to us and saying hello.  She once had a ten minute conversation with the teller at the bank through the drive-through microphone.  I never even gave a passing thought to knowing the person who lives across the street; much less did I know the teller at my bank. 

In Luke 10, a lawyer questions Christ, asking what he must do to inherit eternal life.  The answer: he must love God with his entire being.  Christ then adds that he must love his neighbor as himself.

The lawyer then retorts to save face after his trick question backfire, “And who is my neighbor?”

Christ responds with one of the most popular parables in the Bible, the Good Samaritan.

Our society has become increasingly mobile.  And people are moving to different towns with greater frequency over further distances.  The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2006 that people drive 79% more miles than they did in 1982, while roadways have only increased 3%, creating a frustrated commuter society living in a permanent gridlock.  People get home late in the evening, open their garage, and go right inside.  It has become almost a hassle to know your neighbors.

Despite my own frustrations in this area, I believe my wife is correct.  We shouldknow our neighbors.  We may have to schedule time with them, take the initiative, or simply make an effort to say hello.  Christ calls us good neighbors.  And this call extends beyond our own subdivisions, condos, and apartments.  It is a call to the world.  Our neighbors will never see Christ exemplified in our lives unless we show them.

Sociologically, the subject of community is amorphous.  Within a community, a group of people share an environment with common beliefs, intent, resources, preferences, needs, and risks.  The church community can feel unshaped just like the culture around it.  But there is something that gives the church community definition, structure, and glue.

Jesus is the glue.  His Word gives our churches structure.

Jesus Christ hold the members of the body together.  He shapes the community of the church.  He is the Head.  He gives a local congregation structure.  When the body attempts to usurp the role of the Head, the bond looses grip.  The problem of church community gets down to the DNA level.  The essential connection of community must revolve around relationships focused on Christ.  He is the bond and the glue.  Changing the atmosphere of the church is just not enough.  Changing the setting or the physical features of the church won’t solve the problem.

The people of the church must make a conscious decision to stop looking inwardly and begin to reach outwardly.  An inward church community is a dying community because they are letting go of the bond which holds them together.  A vital church community centers upon the message of Jesus Christ and the going and telling of that message to those in the community outside of the church.  In other words, an essential church community is a sacrificial church community that surrenders time and convenience for the sake of telling others about Jesus Christ.  Get people fired up about the Great Commission and watch a strong church community unfold.

This mode of thinking is counter-intuitive.  But it’s true - a missional church thinking outwardly is a healthy church inwardly.  When churches begin to focus on how to reach the community instead of spending all their time on existing programs and people, the current people of the church grow stronger.  Totally neglecting the current ministries, people, and programs is not the point.  Rather, by shifting the focus of these ministries and people outward, the existing relationships among people are strengthened.  When the people of the church proclaim the message of Jesus to the world, the glue of the church community hold the members tighter to each other.  And it’s the glue that creates a different kind of community.