What Does Real Community Look Like? – Part 1

One of the topics which often arise in discussions between grace believing Christians, is that of community: this inevitably leads to the subject of the institutional church and its relevance in modern-day Christianity.

The Grace Message and Christian Community

At last, as Christians are set free from the constraints of organised religion imposed upon them by the institutional church – they are left with a new-found sense of freedom; there is also a sense of re-discovering things for yourself: what is right for you, what is real and what really works; the relevant of prayer and how much you should read the Bible. Christians have been basically “spoon-fed” from the pulpit for so long that when they finally start questioning that system or finally come out of it altogether - they are left feeling clearer on some things but rather confused with others. I would say that the whole concept of Christian community certainly falls into this bracket.

At one time, going to church on a Sunday was a rule that no “proper” Christian dare question. But through the emerging grace message, that religious edict has finally been questioned. We are left wondering what Christian community really looks like and how we can incorporate it into our lives. For some, the existing church model, although not perfect, is more than adequate for their fellowship needs. For others, the church as they know it is simply not good enough

There is an emphasis on organic relationships now when it comes to how we do church. I think Frank Viola’s book, Re-imagining Church, has helped people understand the difference between contrived and organic relationships amongst believers when it comes to “church”.

I believe that all relationships should be allowed to begin, develop, change and end without the intervention of rules and guidelines. Christians are no exception to this rule and church should not be a way of trying to force something which should be natural and spontaneous.

The God Journey

If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you will know doubt be aware that one of my favourite podcasts at the moment is The God Journey. This podcast takes a light-hearted, yet honest look at the way we Christians do church; it also addresses the whole subject of Christian community and emphasises “living loved”. On a recent God Journey podcast, one of the hosts, Wayne Jacobsen, recounted his recent visit to England. Wayne talked about a large family in England who enjoyed a wonderful, close-knit Christian community. Wayne admitted something along the lines of the fact that what this family had is what he would personally like for himself (in terms of Christian community).

I love what Wayne said at one point during the podcast: he said something along the lines of this: as soon as we try to add something to our Christian fellowship, or we try too hard to keep what we already have – we are already exerting too much control.