Christian Community
In order to be in true Christian community you have to go to “church.”
In order to be in true Christian community you have to be in a “small group.”
In order to be in true Christian community you have to be in a “bible study.”
These are all definitions that have been placed on church members throughout the years.
The longer I have been in church the definition of what “community” is has shifted.
It looks nothing like those statements above.
For ME.
At least right now.
It will swing in and out of those statements for years to come as my life swings from season to season.
Right now…what does “Christian Community” look like in your life?
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
Community, for me & as I understand it, is nothing short of having a group of people to which you grow together with in love & in understanding & application of the Gospel of Christ.
Church cannot completely satisfy it.
..nor Small Groups.
..nor Bible Studies.
It happens & when it does, we should hold fast to it & savor it.
Love it.
People that will do anything for one another with no expectation of anything in return. They don’t have to have the same background or life situation or go to the same church or school. They reach beyond social, financial and popular expectations and show true brotherly love.
So is that what you are involved with ?
Unfortunately not right now, but it’s my dream. I would love to be involved in something like that…a new way of communicating God’s love to other’s without the typical rules and restrictions. My heart is open to it and I am praying for an opportunity!
A different type of Christian Community: http://churchcrunch.com/
Love this community
Interesting enough I am preaching on this subject the next two weeks for a youth service. So this is perfect.
Illustration:
One of the biggest things I hear students talk about when they are looking for colleges (at least christian colleges) is not the academics or sports, but the dorms. One of the biggest things is a nice room and your own shower and bathroom. Most small colleges have community showers. For most this is not a place of “community.”
Instead we/they or looking for privacy. It strikes me that it is called community showers. What part of community can be happening when you standing there naked with no where to be safe and protected. Instead, we look for the individual bathrooms that keep provide us a place to be.
Interesting enough about all of this is that in community, real community, we have to be okay with being “naked” with everyone. Not trying to hide or stand behind excuses, mask, or ourselves.
True community comes when we put our kingdom aside, and become apart of the His Kingdom.
Awesome illustration, Kyle!
ya we will see how awesome it is when I use it for a bunch of high schoolers.
I hope it goes over well.
Thanks
Dude. I want to see that message
You can indeed do that.
They actually tape all of them so I will provide a link for you if interested.
Unless it just completely bombs and the illustration is more awkward then teaching…then I will just keep it in my community. Kidding.
Well you asked and now here it is:
http://thoughtsaboutnothing.com/community-and-love-sermon/
Love – even through the messy stuff.
Celebrating blessings together when they rain down, and shaking fists in one accord in the face of adversity.
Watching someone’s back to ward off evil instead of looking for proper knife placement.
Jesus – without all the dressed up junk.
“Without all the dressed up junk”
Love it
So you asked…. Off the cuff, I think it looks like a bunch of real people – with real family, real issues, real hopes, real dreams, real fears and real failures… People who come together regularly and get involved in each other’s daily lives with the aim to genuinely pursue following Jesus, living Jesus, loving Jesus and loving each other like Jesus loves them. Its people committed to a bigger dream and a greater glory – to a world where the kingdom comes more and more and where outsiders become insiders cause of the love of God. It’s a place of extreme generosity, radical kindness and unheard of compassion. It’s a group of people who are relentless encouragers – who’ll tell you when you’re acting like a moron (cause they love you), who’ll forgive you (regardless) and you’ll forgive them, and these same people will be the ones who cheer you on as you run the race of life. It’s messy too (as families are) but issues are addressed with grace – and unity is a key outcome and objective. Its sacrificial living too – living that says “I wanna also put your needs above my own”… It looks magical in my mind but is a serious mission to make happen cause it’s so different to anything we’ve seen modeled in modern culture…But I’m after it still…
Love your off the cuff answers on here. I agree. Sacrificial. But how do we get there?
do we have to limit/restrict our ‘community’ to those who call themselves christian? what are the pros/cons of doing so?
Nope.
Community to me is:
Communal worship
-sitting in starbucks with a friend and a caramel mochiatto
-talking about what we’ve learned in scripture until 2 A.M.
-a group effort to move from where we are, to where we want to be. Even when someone moves on their own, the group movement is a sum of the individual spiritual movement and growth
I love your screen name.
Thanks man, It happened by accident: “BrianTheYouthGuy” was too long for twitter. I like the double meaning in it.
-Being a part of my church and accepting “the church” as the bride, even with all her silly cultural trappings; loving the church because Jesus loves the church
-Being vulnerable in order to build deep relationships with the kind of girlfriends who will sit up with me and let me cry at 2 am and pray for me and challenge me to do hard things and feed me cookie dough
My Christian community is varied. I work for a smaller church in North Carolina, but my community is much larger.
I meet for coffee to discuss emergent church with a group of Quaker ministers (I’m a Methodist), my best friend is a gay agnostic who loves Jesus, and my other best friend is a sexually questioning liberal Christian who wants to fight for gay rights. I meet with a Bible study group at church of Pentecostal/charismatics, conservatives, and fundamentalists to discuss ancient spiritual practices and how to make our congregation relevant, community driven, and mission oriented.
So Christian community is a very varied thing for me, so I would say Christian community for me is a a group of groups that intersect with a common goal (whether they are in a church, a coffee shop, a field, or wherever).
In all the years I’ve called myself a Christian, this is the very first time I’ve felt a part of community. People that I work side by side with in the food pantry, or pulling weeds. People I sing with. People I pray for every single day. And people I can call at the end of a lousy day and say “please pray for me” and know they’ll do it, not just say they will.
Yeah, sometimes they encourage, and sometimes they kick my tail. But I love them and they love me. And we love Jesus, and most of all, are loved by Him.
Wish I had found this many long years ago, but I’m grateful to have it now.
Congrats. Hope it continues!
What would you guys say about Christian community not even having to have majority Christians involved?
I think at that point it becomes a matter of influence. Which way is it flowing? And if my faith is strong enough to stand up in a majority of non-Christians.
But, then, I wonder – if Christians are not the majority, is it a “Christian” community? Or is it the field that’s ready for harvest?
I think the hard thing for me is that I grew up in the church, went to a christian college and for that matter went to a christian high school. Everything I have done is christian and all the communities I have been involved in have been christian.
The hard thing for me is to find a community outside of that. I am not a closed minded christian, but I do find it hard to find community outside of church, if that makes sense.
It’s just those communities “outside” our comfort zone we need to participate in. I’m just as guilty, Kyle. I like it where it’s comfortable and cozy and safe. But, I tend to stagnate if I don’t share what has made my life that way. There are so many communities that need our help and our unconditional love. That includes many communities who think they are Christ based, but they are just superficial. God doesn’t want us to tie our hands! He wants us to show others how to lift those hand high!
I think another aspect of this is to recognize that at times these can be separate communities that we are part of and you are the point of continuity.
Part of our health & growth in the christian walk is to be accountable and sharpen each other; christian companions, Paul & Timothy relationships, however you want to call it.
On the other hand, we are to be salt and light to the world, so, we have other situations where we are interacting with non-christians with other believers or without. The point being that we should have some of both and that may be in different groups or both together.
Otherwise we turn into those ‘weird’ christians who are out of touch with what is actually happening around us and therefore making ourselves irrelevant.
I think the moment you start putting rules about who you include in your community is when you start losing folks. I don’t know about anyone else, but I found God when I was at my lowest, when I thought I didn’t have anything else and when I didn’t feel like I belonged in this world. Those people are the next generation “Christians”….the teenagers, the workaholics, the homeless, etc. Maybe they don’t necessarily have the nice clothes to wear to church and fit in, maybe they cannot read to memorize scripture on their own, maybe they don’t have the gas money to get to church because they have to feed their families or they have been abused or beat up by life situations and don’t know where to begin. But, they are still God’s children…our brother’s and sisters. I think you have to be comfortable enough in your story and your faith to be sincere to take that on.
whomsoever will….
For me, a Christian community is simply being able to connect with people and BEING REAL. Sure, we use that terminology a lot, but is it really safe in church to be real? I’d argue that most often it’s not. Thus, our canned ‘how are you’ and ‘fine, how about you’ statements. I work at a treatment center for men/women struggling with eating disorders, and in our chapel services, I can guarantee you no one is hiding anything. They are all there for the same reason. That wall to hide behind is crushed, and it’s nothing short of beautiful. I desire for that seam realness with others in my life, whether it’s in a church, small group, whatever.
Love covers a multitude of sins. Having a community of people, regardless of their religious backgrounds or beliefs, that is based upon knowing and sharing the love of Jesus is something that I would like to be involved with. That’s true community, in my opinion.
Community to me is a place where I can be open and honest about the sin in my life and the struggles. It’s a place where I won’t be judged as someone who is hearing and not heeding and therefore a hypocrite because change is not instantaneous. It’s a place where we don’t trade some sins in for others that are easier to hide, but we acknowledge where who we are in love and mercy. It’s a place to fall on our faces before God and admit that this is a struggle, its a journey, and that without Grace and God’s strength we would perpetually fail. To come before the Lord every day and beg Him to keep moving in our hearts, to not harden our hearts to our own sin, but to keep creating a Holy discontent within us. It’s a place were we can struggle with sin, and be open and honest about our journey, while still testifying to the grace of God, to experience spirituality in a real world broken way. To say that I understand grace, purely because I am constantly forgiven of sin that I cannot overcome is to acknowledge the true meaning of grace, and the truth that I am now and always will “Fall short of the glory of God.”
Any church, or group of people, or place that can accept me for my weaknesses as much as my strengths, and any place that can acknowledge that we as christians aren’t perfect, but we’re constantly struggling against our nature. Any place where that struggle can be fought not with condemnation or judgement, but with love and grace and acceptance… that is community, and that is where I belong.
AMEN SISTER!…THATS WHERE I BELONG! GREAT RESPONSE.
GOD BLESS YOU.
I have a “Christian community” of girls and we meet every second week together to share life, share burdens, share joys etc. Right now I feel like I wouldn’t function well without this group to feel bonded with. But, the cool thing is that many of us also are together in different “communities” like the gym girls, or the school moms and it makes me so excited to know that we’re loving those unbelievers with the love of Jesus. I’d do anything for my friends who aren’t Christians and they are my “sisters” and they help and encourage me as well, it’s just different. There’s a deepness that I share with my Christian friends that can’t be compared to. Hope that makes sense because I haven’t had my coffee yet and I feel like I’m just blabbing!
to me Christian Community looks like:
-someone bold enough to talk w/my 16-yr old about physical boundaries in his new/1st relationship
-friend whose hubby works nights coming to hang in her pj’s until it’s really late
-someone asking the tough questions
-someone loving when those answers aren’t what they should be
-instant prayer
-dinner/breakfast with friends in a house that has clutter and floors that need to be mopped
-staying w/family of friends even though we never met but because of shared Christ following desires they seem like family
that is what the Christian community looks like to me today.
I have found a community on the internet over the past year. With my move to a new area of the country I would have been lost without this community. They prayed for me and with me. It has been a tremendous boost and kept me so very grateful. I am in a rural area with small “closed” churches. I’m not a big church goer anyway. I do keep up with a church through the internet. That has also be a great help. I also think community is what WE make it. I can choose to sit and wallow or I get off my butt and be a part of. Christian or not. I choose to live and share my joy. With all that is around me. It is what I make it. God lays out each day anew. It is another day in which to grow & let others around me see those changes and wonder why and how I made those changes. Just ask me. I’ll tell you.
not sure, but I know the neigborhood bar always new our name and seem happy to see us. not like our mega church who didn’t and never missed us. i am so tired
I love this question! I moved from St. Louis to a retirement town on the beach in Florida a year and a half ago to take a position doing Girls Ministry at a great church. The problem is, I literally am the only person my age in my church of 1000. Christian community here is few and far between … I have great relationships with my coworkers & church people but none of them that I really relate to in a “these are my deepest struggles / joys” sharing & doing life together kind of way. So for me, my community began to be found here. A perfect example being Jody who found my blog through a comment I left here on Ragamuffin Soul a little over a year ago who then became a blog friend, then a twitter friend, then a facebook friend then a texting friend & so on and finally this past August ending up flying down to Florida to speak at my Girls Retreat & becoming one of my dearest friends. For me, this is my community.
I may be banned, even from these safe environment, but I don’t see the church, as the one portrayed in the book Acts, as being a “community” for non-followers.I see that community as a “recharging” station. And the “community” didn’t happen until they were in the community.
This infamous community doesn’t just happen. It’s a process. It always requires trust. And trust is restricted by time.
How do we create community? Community is only limited by the imagination. If we put the time in, community will happen. When? This can’t be answered. And there will never be a formula.
Right now, Christian Community looks like my family. My husband and my two kids. Not that we don’t have a great church that we belong to…it’s just that for so long I’ve put the needs of my church ahead of my family. God has re-directed me and shown me that my children’s need for advice and reassurance come before bible study, group hugs at S’bucks, and if need be…church service.
Dangit! Ask my husband almost this exact post was formulating in my mind…
for me, my community happens at Starbucks, where i work. And 90% of the other partners are christians…i love going in for the sheer fact that we like each other and there arent over looming politics…we are just people making coffee with a general interest in each others lives.
I would have to say Christian community is right here on this blog being able to talk to one another who are 2 miles or 2000 miles away. I also think commmunity is growing together celebrating birthdaysetc and embracing the troubles together
Amen!! I love this “new” (for me anyway) community called the internet. It’s like a pen pal type relationship only you can talk & write in real time. Today. Right now.
Since being back in the States, I have such a deeper appreciation for the community I developed this last year. For me…community goes beyond those schedule times. I need people around me who can actually speak truth in my life with substance, intimacy and relationship to back it up! I want to go beyond the hour and into the weightiness of everyday life. I’m still working on how that looks and on reconnecting, building and forging those relationships in my life to make that community a reality.
For me, my community is my group of friends that I just happened to meet at a church. But we were never in a small group together, never even in a class together. We just all started hanging out, and now they’re closer than my actual family. I can share all my fears, problems, failures with them, without being judged…but yet I get Godly wisdom from them in those times. Just last night we hung out, and talked about everything from our super bowl projections to women in ministry leadership. That to me is my Christian community at the moment.
I have to say that my community is in church, life groups and bible studies. It is where I have grown the most. I am thankful for the safe place in all of these groups to be vulnerable. I love the people I work with, but it is not a safe place to share my most intimate thoughts and feelings (nor is it really appropriate). It also has the tendency to be draining because some of my co-workers do not share my values, and even though we care about each other, there is some degree of friction.
My “Christian Community” right now is a group of 10 guys that get together as a small group.
But it’s not your typical small group.
We don’t have a leader, we’re just a bunch of high school seniors who want to get together and talk about God. Some of us (myself and two others) have been in small groups through a church before, while others haven’t gone to church once in their life. We get together and talk about our lives–the good, the bad, AND the ugly–and we try to figure out how GOD fits into all of it. We look at scripture, watch some Louie Gig dvd’s erry once in a while, it’s truly awesome.
I graduate in a couple months, and I’m going to a private Christian college in hopes of finding a community of peers with one common goal–to know GOD better, deeper, more passionately.
However…
I think I’ve found that here, in this group, in THIS community. This conglomeration of skeptics, question-askers, and friends who aren’t afraid of how God might mess things up, even though they just found out about Him a couple months ago. I love them, all of them.
THIS is my community.
cycling has given me more community than anything church has to offer me, but I meet my Christian cyclist friends at church, so there’s that…
it comes through natural relationships. the thing I don’t like about small groups is the forced relationships. sometimes it’s a healthy thing, getting you in touch w/ people you normally wouldn’t spend time with, but my most rewarding are the natural hangs- biking or musicians.
I have accountability for me and how i lead my family, prayer… it all comes from the training i got from church/ small group, but it comes alive more through intentional conversation in natural shared experiences.
For me, church will always be a part of my community. I believe in the local church. I know that it has issues, because human beings with issues are leading it,
but it is the Bride of Christ.
It is the hope of the world.
It is my rehearsal for heaven.
I can’t imagine my life without her.
Thanks for the hope, chris.
Community is more than finding friends that enjoy the same thing you do. It’s a Holy Spirit connection. I had that connection with a group of people from a house of prayer in my area. The group allowed freedom of singing and praying at that time, so when I walked in a saw them on the mics singing and praying from the word. After the session I got to meet all of them, and we suddenly clicked. We went to Steak and Shake and ate and talked and laughed until past midnight. I was so amazed how quickly my friend and I connected with them. It was as if we’ve know each other for a long time.
My community looks like 2 things:
1. continuously growing relationships with my coworkers and
2. Saturday night Band Hero nights with my very non-churched friends.
I’m on staff at a church (as is my husband) and sometimes it can be hard to have complete genuine, transparent community with members in the church where I can be real with them about my faith and my thoughts on my job (mostly awesome but of course not always perfect). My community with my coworkers pours into me as a Christian and helps me in my walk.
I feel another important part of Christian community is the time I spend with my non-Christian friends. It is during this time where I get to be a Christian- a Christ follower- and pour out to others.
So Christian community is about give and take- in a Christ-like way.
Right now, community is very different for me. After losing my younger brother (and best friend) tragically in October, I cherish the time with my parents, and I am thankful for a small group of friends (some old, some even new) who’ve walked by my side consistently during this process.
One of the reasons I love my church is that I have people who are my family. Really, truly, like family. Fights and all, but there for me through everything.
Slightly different note:
I’ve seen a lot of people fall away lately when they haven’t had a strong community. I’ve had conversations with three close friends in the last week who have intentionally decided to “leave” Christianity. And I have at least three more good friends who have made the same decision recently, and a couple who are thinking about it. Some of them it’s because they’re hurt, some because they are dating/married to someone who doesn’t think it’s important, and some just dont’ know what’s true. I find myself wondering that a lot – on the one hand, I have absolutely seen God work in my life, and on the other hand, there’s a lot of horrible people who say they’re Christians, a lot of weird legalism, and on top of that, all the questions about suffering, etc. And sometimes I just think what we believe is too weird to be true!
anyway, sometimes it’s my community that keeps me going!
I ran across this post as I was doing research on community. Interesting stuff. Feel free to check out my posts on community on my blog: http://www.SearchingforMORE.com.
Thanks for the post!