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The Gift of Community
by
Mike Bishop The challenges faced by Christian leaders in other parts of the world regarding community will no doubt have similarities and differences. But if there is one thing I am certain of, community, particularly real flesh-and-blood Christian community, can be an elusive thing. Anyone who gets to know me will realize that I am a lover of questions. A mentor of mine once said, "We grow not by getting answers, but by asking the right questions." In this message, I want to ask a few questions that might guide a search for authentic Christian community. The first question is, "What is Christian community, and how does it differ from other communities we are a part of?" Next I will ask, "How is authentic Christian community formed (and how is it not formed)?" And finally, "How do we know we are a part of true Christian community?" I will give some thoughts on each of these questions, based on my own study and experience. However, I challenge you as disciples of Jesus to do your own investigation. Search the scriptures, read what some older, wiser Christians have to say on the subject, and also share ideas among other disciples. The greatest resource for growth you have is your brother or sister who might be struggling with the same thing in their own church. Do not just share your victories with your fellow pastors and leaders, share your burdens, for in the sharing of burdens we truly become the church to each other. Before I begin, I would like to share a little about my own journey as it relates to Christian community. I am part of a small church in West Palm Beach, Florida. Where I am from, it is not uncommon to find very high walls around neighborhoods with gates and a guard. These gates serve to protect the residents within, but they also isolate them from the rest of the community. In church, it is the same. People drive from the isolation of their gated homes to the isolation of the four walls of their church. It is very difficult to have community in this way. Our little church has made a commitment to be different. In Acts 2:42 it says of the early Christians, "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." Notice something interesting about that verse - the word "devoted". In other translations it reads, "continued steadfastly". Do you think the early Christians only did these things on Sunday morning in church? No, of course not. The scripture says they devoted themselves to these things. They were with each other constantly - learning, praying, working, eating, laughing. In our church, we place a high value on eating. I believe one of the greatest representations of the kingdom of God is the image of the banquet table. Jesus said to his disciples once, "I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." This is the kingdom in which we now live. The invitation has been given - come, sit down at the great banquet table of God's kingdom. Eat together, worship together, learn together, get your fill of God. Do not be shy. There is plenty for everyone to have seconds, thirds, fourths…there is more than enough to go around. It is at this table, the banquet table of God's kingdom, that we might begin to understand a little about authentic Christian community. So let's begin to deal with these questions I posed before. What is Christian community? How is it different from other forms of community we experience? Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and writer who lived during Hitler's regime. The church in Germany at the time was turning a blind eye to Nazi evil. At a time when the body of Christ needed to stand for truth and godliness, it wilted and conformed to wickedness. Bonhoeffer and a few other pastors eventually formed what would become known as the "Confessing Church". These men and women did not allow fear to dominate their minds and actions. Under constant threat of persecution, they continued the work of God's church and helping those that the government had rejected, including the Jews. Eventually, Bonhoeffer formed an Underground Seminary to train young leaders who could no longer remain a part of the established church. The experience of leading this seminary taught Bonhoeffer much about Christian community and the nature of church. His experience became the basis for one of his most famous books, Life Together. In 1945, at the end of the war, Bonhoeffer was arrested, put in prison, and eventually executed for his faith. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the martyr, has much to teach us about community and discipleship to Jesus in the modern world. So what did Bonhoeffer have to say about Christian community? Here is a quote from Life Together: "The community of Christians springs solely from the Biblical…message of the justification of man through grace alone…Not what a man is in himself as a Christian, his spirituality and piety, constitutes the basis of our community. What determines our brotherhood is what that man is by reason of Christ. Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us.” Authentic Christian community consists of people who have been saved by grace through faith, who have entered into God's glorious kingdom through Christ alone. When we call each other "brother" and "sister", this is not just a simple tradition. In Mark 10:29-31 Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first." This is one of those "hard sayings" of Jesus. Surely he is not requiring us to abandon our families to follow him. But understand this, when you become a follower of Jesus, you are joining a family. Not a religion, or a club, or an organization, or an ideology - you are joining a family. These are your brothers and sisters, those who have called on the name of Jesus. This is what makes Christian community different from what you might experience in your neighborhood or at your job. Those people might be your friends, but they are not your brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers. We must never forget this fact. Do not confuse what the world calls community with true, Jesus-centered community. When you face trials, sickness, pain, grief, other kinds of suffering, will your friends at work or neighbors come to help? Maybe. But what will they bring? A kind word? A plate of food? Best wishes? That's fine, but as brothers and sisters in Christ, we bring the Spirit of God. There is no greater gift you can bring another who is suffering than to serve them in the name of Christ. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward." This is the essence of Christian community. So if Christian community is the family of God, those followers of Jesus who can rightly call one another brother and sister, where did this community come from? How is it formed? What is its source? I often hear pastors and Christian leaders talk about "building community". We see many problems in our society, so we feel compelled to confront the problems we see. Marriages being destroyed, children lacking fathers, cities being torn apart by violence and corruption. We want to change these things, and rightly so. However, we often turn to the world's solutions to address problems that can only be solved by the power and hand of God. Church leaders often seem more interested in what the business world has to say instead of God's wisdom. They think, "My church is struggling. People aren't coming to our meetings. They aren't working in our ministries. They aren't giving money to our budget. What are we going to do?" So the world says, "If your organization is failing, you must not be as efficient as the church down the street. You need a better sign out front and better advertising. You need fancier chairs with big cushions so people don't get uncomfortable during your long sermons. If people won't work in your ministries, you need to make them easier and more exciting. If people won't give, you need to talk more about money and start a giving campaign." And on and on. We need to accept a harsh reality. We cannot manufacture authentic Christian community like something made in a factory. So often, our projects end up looking like just another Tower of Babel. "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." Sound familar? But that is not how Christian community is formed. Again, Bonhoeffer says: "Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize (achieve); it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it.” It must be understood that most of our efforts to build community or grow our church are based in fear. We are scared. What if we fail? What if my denominational leaders tell me I'm not qualified to lead a church anymore? What if the offerings dry up and I can't feed my family any longer? All of these and more are very real fears. Some might be hearing this with these very questions in your mind. But please understand, we are not to be controlled by fear. If you are building your church out of fear of losing it, then you will not succeed. God will not allow fear to reign in his church. But others might not be experiencing fear. Maybe what you have is pride. You say, "I know what it takes to build a church. I am a great leader, people respect me. I have a vision for what my church is supposed to look like and I am going to find the people to make it happen." Some might say that this is the kind of leadership the church needs today. I say rubbish! This kind of leadership is unbiblical and arrogant. Jesus said in Matthew 20:25-28, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Tell me how this gives us the right as Christian leaders to lord over our churches like a dictator? It is impossible. Pride will destroy you and it will destroy your church. At some point the Holy Spirit will say, "You know, it looks like you have things under control, so I guess I'll leave now." Do we really want the Holy Spirit to leave our churches? Of course not. Authentic Christian community is not built, it is received. On this idea Bonhoeffer says, "It is a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate…Because God has already laid the only foundation (Christ) of our fellowship, because God has bound us together in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ…we enter into that life not as demanders but as thankful recipients." Do not be deceived, we can no more build community than we can build a living, breathing human being. It is God who creates, we receive. God spoke the world and humanity into existence - Adam just got to name the animals. God wants us to relax. It's his church, he will build it. Learn to be thankful for what you have. Everyday we wake up in a world that we did not create. We breathe his air, eat his food, greet the wife or husband he gave you, kiss the children he blessed you with. We must learn to become receivers first and do-ers second. Yes, there is plenty of work to be done. I am not telling you to stop your activity. But you need to honestly look at your work and ask, "Am I doing this out of fear or pride? Or am I responding to the Father's leadership through his Holy Spirit? Do I see my work as something that flows naturally with what God is doing? Or am I constantly fighting God's work trying to advance my own cause?" As we begin to ask these difficult questions, it will naturally lead to the last question I posed before: "How do we know we are a part of true Christian community?" In my experience, you know you are a part of true Christian community when you begin to see the ugly side - conflict, pain, misunderstanding, disagreement. If no one in your church ever shows their anger at another brother or sister or tells them they have been hurt or misunderstood, chances are you are not experiencing real community. Bonhoeffer speaks of a disillusionment which all fellowships must face. If we are in love with the idea of community, we will not be able to receive the real thing. Our church faced such a disillusionment a few years ago. One of our brothers was found to have committed adultery. No one had seen it coming and of course, we were devastated. The man repented and his marriage restored, however our community was severely crippled. How could we trust each other if we could not trust this man? But I can say now with assurance, I am thankful for that experience. We discovered more about ourselves and what it meant to have a relationship with each other through Christ. True community is not glamorous. It is like a group of farmers weeding in an onion field. Most of the time, we are about the Father's business, hunched over in the field he has placed us in - at home, at work, at school, in the market. But then, from time to time we come together, break bread, enjoy conversation, take a siesta in the Spirit, and then go back out renewed to fulfill God's mission in the earth. Remember Acts 2:42, "And they devoted themselves..." Devote yourselves to the communities in which God has placed you. Devote yourselves to being with these people. Leave your big visions and agendas at home. Just go be with them. See what excites them…or see if they're bored. Do you know why people get bored in church? It isn't just because the meetings are the same. It is because leaders fail to draw out the unique gifts and callings God has placed within people. They are bored because we have them handing out bulletins when God has called them to preach the Good News. They are bored because we want them serving lunch after church when God has called them to serve those who have nothing. If you want to see growth happen in your church, if you want to see God move and change people, if you want to see authentic community flourish - please don't go home and try to make it happen. Receive. Jesus said, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Maybe you have been praying for these things. And maybe you're thinking to yourself, "I just don't see this happening in my church." Let me leave you with one final quote from our friend Bonhoeffer: "There is probably no Christian to whom God has not given the uplifting experience of genuine Christian community at least once in his life. But in this world such experiences can be no more than a gracious extra beyond the daily bread of Christian community life…It is not the experience of Christian brotherhood, but solid and certain faith in brotherhood that holds us together. That God has acted and wants to act upon us all - this we see in faith as God’s greatest gift, this makes us glad and happy, but it also makes us ready to forego all such experiences when God at times does not grant them. We are bound together by faith, not by experience.” You are the family of God. Believe. Trust. Have faith. If you allow him, if you wait and do not grow weary, he will come and give you the desires of your heart.
Mike Bishop is a husband, father of three, thinker, trying-to-be-apprentice-of-Jesus, ecclesial trouble-maker, and wanna-be engineer. His wife Amber and family have spent the past seven years in South Florida with a rag-tag community of saints called The Well. Mike’s passion is to see normal people fall in love with Jesus and be able to realize their kingdom-born dreams. His blog, other writings, and contact information can be found at www.whatischurch.com. Articles can be re-printed with permission - email: bish at whatischurch dot com |
