Community

Community is a basic human need. One of the most dreaded punishments in prison life is solitary confinement. Some may think it would be a welcomed relief but many have found it maddening. From the beginning of time man has formed community. Within community there is safety in numbers as well as sharing of resources and expenses.

To live in community takes a willingness to live, work and sacrifice for the common good. Many of those in prison are individuals often were unwilling to sacrifice for and live with the guidelines of community.

 There are many communities and sub-communities. They all have common characteristics. They all have a distinct culture. Within a culture there is usually a similar dress, a familiar communication and a code of conduct.  In our society today there are fishing cultures, golfing cultures, biker cultures just to name a few. They have their own dress, language and conduct according to what is acceptable within that group.

The Church is a community. It would serve us well to understand that and seek to embrace and build community within the Church. Attending meetings alone does not constitute Community. Quality time must be spent together to form true community. In reality real community in the Church is a sharing of life that impacts and changes us for our own improvement and good. Much of that meshing is pleasant and some is not, but a part of the Lord's building process none the less.

A few years ago there was an emphasis in the church to stop being "religious" in an effort to reach more people.  Religious sounding language was discouraged. The message was to reach them where they were and not to make them feel uncomfortable.  Certainly the motivation was good.  The result in many places was very little life and lifestyle change. I was reminded of the time I embraced the Lordship of Jesus and that relationship brought me from a world centered culture to the Community of Believers, the Church. They acted differently and they certainly talked differently. I was only recently discharged form the U. S. Navy. We had a culture, a dress and a language but not one you would want used around your children. Coming into the Church was one that I welcomed. I wanted something different from where I had been. I was pleased and challenged to learn a new community language, culture and yes, even dress to a certain degree.

Today there is a strong emphasis on doing whatever is necessary to bring new people into our buildings.  Again, the motivation is a good one but when we live inside a culture and decide what we need to do to reach into a different culture our perspective may be skewed.  Along these lines, one word you don't hear much today is disciple.  That is a cultural word, a community word.  Oh, it is used but does our efforts truly make disciples to a new Kingdom?  Is there a culture shift in the life of the disciple?  Let's make sure we are doing all we can to get them incorporated into a life changing revolutionary Kingdom Community.