Jul

27

Creating Community

Post Category: Blog Posts, Church, Makes You Think 

Churches struggle to create community within the lives of the people who show up for weekend services that will hopefully bleed over to real, lasting friendships. Many churches call themselves communities. But how do you actually create authentic communities within your church? Can you actually create community or is it something that just happens? Does it happen intentionally or does it come as the natural byproduct of a healthy body of believers?

I love Dietrich Bonheffer’s perspective on community.

“The person who’s in love with their vision of community will destroy community. But the person who loves the people around them will create community everywhere they go.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I think we all desire to have healthy community and unity within our local church. We do all that we can to create environments that foster dialogue and craft programs and small groups that develop new relationships - all of which is very important. But ultimately we come back to the simplest but most profound challenge Jesus offered us - love God, love people (Luke 10:27). As a church our goal should not be to create community but to love people individually. And not just the people who show up on Sunday mornings - love everyone.

Love them completely.
Love them sacrificially.
Love them without expecting anything in return.
Love them even if they don’t love you back - especially if they don’t love you back.

Community is not a gathering of people on a Sunday morning or at small groups during the week. Community is something we take with us, something we create wherever we go.� Sure, we can create communities at our churches but we can also create communities on their turf. What about a community that forms at the Starbucks you have coffee at during the week? Why not create community with your friend at work who shares your love for science fiction books?

Community is, at it’s heart, not geographically driven - it’s relationally driven. Love God. Love people. Live in community.

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