Meghan Gouldin, What does authentic Christian community look like?
I want to use this post as an opportunity to hear from you all, the readers
of CGO, on the topic of Christian community.
I have seen, experienced and participated in what I believe to have been
authentic Christian communities at different times in my life. But as people move away and lives change, these
communities fade. And when they do, I am
left slightly disheartened and seeking to find or to try to help build a new
community. It’s usually at this point that
I find myself becoming frustrated anew with the extremes that groups of
Christians are often inclined towards.
Dick Keyes offers what I find to be a helpful characterization of these
extremes in Chameleon Christianity. “The
chameleon and the musk ox represent two opposite styles of worldliness. The
chameleon blends in to become like the world, thus diminishing the danger of
scorn or persecution. The musk ox is worldly too, but in a less obvious way: it
roots its confidence more in the group’s safe isolation and mutual affirmation
than in God.”
It’s not a chameleon and it’s not a must ox. So, what is it? I do not want to use this
space to focus on what Christian community is not. I want to hear from you all on
what Christian community is.
And so, I close with the following request. Will you complete the sentence
for me?
Authentic Christian community____________________.
Authentic Christian community is moment-by-moment giving our lives to God and to one another--self-sacrificially loving boldly, seeking after Him with reckless abandon, and forgiving as we have been forgiven.
Posted by: Matt Pritchard | July 17, 2007 at 10:24 AM
I agree with Matt and want to add one thing that I think often keeps us from living in Christian community in a meaningful way - time. We are often so busy we just don't have time to give to others. For friends and family to love one another, hold each other accountable, encourage one another, forgive one another, etc., we must be in each other's lives. How do you know what your brother or sister needs and how to best love and serve them if you are not around them and deeply involved in their life? I think real sacrifices have to be made to live in Christian community in a meaningful way and it often starts with the way we spend our time. There is so much more to be said, so I throw this out as a starting point. Thanks for asking the question, Meghan.
Posted by: Stephanie | July 17, 2007 at 06:09 PM
Great question Meghan. I really like what everyone has said thus far, especially Stephanie's emphasis on time (how often has community failed because of the lack of this..)
In my own words, Authentic Christianity is regularly coming together through and in Christ to bear one another's burdens and most importantly, bring the message of salvation to each other.
Posted by: Anthony Lazaro | July 18, 2007 at 08:25 AM
I think Stephanie is aludding to another important aspect of authentic Christian community, proximity. In the age of the commuter churches, it is very difficult to be involved meaninfully in one another's lives without a great (and unneccessary) cost in time. One of the reasons I live in community is because of a desire to gather daily and organically, it is often in those unplanned encounters that I hear from God most boldly and that quite simply seldom happens when you live far from one another.
Posted by: Matt Pritchard | July 18, 2007 at 09:12 AM
Good thoughts, all. Yes, I think Stephanie's mention of time links inextricably to proximity.
Posted by: GL | July 18, 2007 at 01:42 PM
I was also referencing “time together” (but now realize people's confusion with quantity).
I spent the last six months in Spain. Away from my church. Away from my community in Charlottesville. However, instead finding community in Spain, I often tried to fill my lack of fellowship with phone calls, podcasted sermons of my home church, and e-mails to people thousands of miles away. Time wasn't what prevented us from achieving community. It was proximity.
Posted by: Anthony Lazaro | July 18, 2007 at 08:38 PM
I would say that I experience authentic Christian Community each week IN SPITE OF major differences in traditions, theology, back-ground, education, rank, age, sex, or race as we partake of a common cup. It's in that moment that we are all reminded that we've committed high treason against the King but He has repatriated us through His Son. We remember, and we celebrate.
Posted by: Timo Fary | July 19, 2007 at 08:14 AM
Meghan, I am going to reference you and your question in my sermon this Sunday morning (12/4/09). Thanks for the question.
Posted by: Donny Crass | January 02, 2009 at 02:03 PM
Authentic Christian community must be what Jesus developed. To understand authentic Christian community is to understand that Jesus never called anyone to form such. And yet, he amazingly built community. When we understand what he called us to, we will begin to understand what authentic Christian Community truly is.
Posted by: Gary Lay | January 24, 2009 at 05:42 PM