Friday, October 20, 2006

Missional Needs Community

I spent last nite at the phillyemergent gathering (links to come after I get home to my own machine, Todd blogged it live at phillyemergent) and I was struck by several things from the conversation, but one thing in particular.

That was the thought that missional action can not be done seperate from community. Community is the base for missional action. You can not really have one without the other.

The reason being is that its out of our community that we know and experience God's love and it's that love we are sharing with the world through our missional actions.

So what do you think? Can there be missional action without community? And if there can not be, what ramification does that have for the current way we "do" church?

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4 comments:

Makeesha said...

I absolutely agree. God's love is experienced (in part) through community, without true community/communitas, we cannot experience the fullness of God's love, and without we ourselves knowing God's love, we cannot BE that love to others.

Makeesha said...

I absolutely agree. God's love is experienced (in part) through community, without true community/communitas, we cannot experience the fullness of God's love, and without we ourselves knowing God's love, we cannot BE that love to others.

Rick Meigs said...

I'm really interested in "community" as a biblical norm and as a counter to the American cultural value of individualism that has so compromised our faith communities. I’m seeing it mentioned more and more and it feels like is rebirthing it in the life of his body. But at this point, I haven’t seen a good definition of “community” or what it exactly looks like from a practical sense.

Jarvis said...

The desire for community is everywhere--just look at how much the bars are flourishing, for instance. A place "where everybody knows your name," as the theme song of Cheers hymned.

People want to be connected (in community), but I also remember my 'bar days'. I grew up in the "church", but walked away as a young believer because it was empty religion to me, not community. The bar smacked of community, but lacked the transforming power and life we see in the early church. It wasn't until, on several occasions, that I was reached out to in a loving, life-giving (non-condemning) way that my hope was restored in the body of Christ. So ultimately it was the Holy Spirit (of course) and believers demonstrating community to me that restored my hope in the church. I never became disenchanted with Jesus, but the church was another story...

Like it or not, the world is defining Jesus and the worth of this 'Christian walk' by how we "do" community.

Something to think about...