A new sit-com began on NBC this Fall called Community. If you haven't seen it yet I highly recommend it because it is hilarious! (Chevy Chase fan anyone?) The setting for the show is a local community college and it centers in on the lives of a handful of the college's eclectic students. This diverse group of students made up of different gender, age, race, and socioeconomic background all begin to build friendships with one another and form a rather awkward, yet comedic, yet beautiful community.When I was in college we had the word "community" beaten into our brains. Everything was about community. People wouldn't just go to dinner, they would go to "build community." People didn't go to play ultimate frisbee on Scott Field, they went to "build community." Attending chapel wasn't just about worshipping God, it was about "building community." I am overstating this a bit, but not too much. "Community" has been a major buzzword among evangelical Christians for several years now, but to be honest, all of this emphasis on community bothers me.
The reason is that I am afraid that the word "church" has become dirty just as the word "Christian" has (although to be fair "Christian" was a term of derision right from the outset.) As a result the more culturally-relevant of leaders have replaced Christian with Christ-follower, and now it seems we're replacing church with community. There are countless examples of communities of faith that exist or are being planted as "communities" rather than churches.
What is the difference? Is it just a matter of semantics or are we throwing the baby out with the bath water? The church is most certainly a community, but it also has a significant identity and function. I can gather a group of people together for chicken wings and a football game and a community is planted, but Jesus called us out to be the ecclesia (called out ones), the church, the mystical body of Christ, to be heralds of the good news of the true king, and not even the gates of Hell can prevail against us.
I guess what I am saying is that I get why so many leaders favor community over church, but for now I'm sticking with church, with all of the term's baggage, blemishes, and bad press, because church reminds me of the magnitude of the community to which I have been called to belong and form. For those who favor community, is it semantics or are there some theological underpinnings for this preference? Would love to hear some thoughts.
hey erick. I have been trying to call you recently but i understand that you dont want to take calls from numbers that are 10 digits long, i dont either. maybe you could answer next time? or very possibly, you just couldnt get to the phone when i called.... whatever the case may be, please try to answer next time. ill call soon and we can talk more. we have some huge things to talk about.
ReplyDeleteanyways. I would love to comment on this blog. church, in many cases is a community, but community is not always church. I have been having a class on contextualization of the Gospel, and if you say church in many contexts (muslim, buddhist, and hindu) it will bring a whole lot more baggage than you even think. they see christianity as a western religion and what is the most they see of the West? Hollywood...now if you tell someone you are a Christian, then they think that you drink, have sex with your girlfriend, and even may think you hate them, they also see the Crusades as if they happened yesterday. its good to see things from another perspective. please understand that i know what you are talking about...please understand that. the balance is finding where contextualization meets syncretism. too high of contextualization will fall into syncretism, but too little contextualization will yield no fruit and you walk away frustrated. this is part of what i have learned over internship. I love it. its amazing. for me, i dont favor one over the other, i just look at the context of the situation and penetrate while staying true to the Scriptures. there are my thoughts. love you erick
Heath,
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts my friend! Glad to hear you're learning some stuff. I really appreciate you sharing more about how other cultures view the church through what they know about the West. Those are some really good insights. You're right the key is to learn the context and how to effectively reach it with the Gospel.
I would say however, that the danger of just dismissing "church" for community is that we can quickly forget our identity and function as the church (witnesses committed to being the presence of Jesus in the world), and miss out on an opportunity to redeem "church." And yet, as you said you must understand the culture in order to be effective . That's what being a good missionary is all about.
I usually assume its you when I see 10 digits. No worries there. In all honesty, I've been tied up every time you've called. Just keep calling me and I'll pick up soon. I always love to hear from you. I'm proud of you Heath and love you too bro!