Church as community

Brian McLaren: it's not just about learning the practices: it's about entering the community.

Last Sunday we had a great church service, and an even better barbeque afterwards. It ended with three of us sitting on a picinc rug talking about the importance of community. We ourselves were one demonstration of community, but we talked about many other things as well! I brought a question I had, and we-the-church discussed it. In the process my thoughts were clarified I understood several things in a new way:

• the church is a community, not a building. I just have to keep reminding myself about this! I have a tendency to refer to "going to church" instead of "gathering as church".
• the church-as-community has a much wider mandate of care than just the teaching and worship which tend to characterize the church-as-Sunday-service. Caring for each other, supporting new mothers, reaching out to the community around us become much more natural activities for the church-as-community, and borders of serving those "outside" or "inside" much less important.
• church-as-community happens all over the place: home Bible studies, coffee shop discussions, lunch after church and picnic rugs are all included!
• church-as-community much more naturally tolerates differences of opinion within it than does the church-as-institution. We expect that others in the community will feel differently about some things and this doesn't seem to threaten us.
• church-as-community seems to be more comfortable with fuzzy edges - members can drift in or out, come sometimes/often/rarely without damaging anyone. Membership can be self-defined and can involve as much or as little commitment as a particular person feels comfortable with, and can take a variety of shapes which are not dependent on the length of membership. (Of course, the old proverb about getting out as much as you put in still applies.)
• we are in continuity with the church communities which have gone before us, and we can learn from their gains and from their mistakes.

We also talked about the many benefits (indeed the necessity) of being a part of the church community. In no particular order: we stimulate each other, challenge each other, hold one another accountable, teach one another, help one another, encourage one another, serve one another, serve as examples (both good and otherwise), inspire one another, speak the word of God to one another, rebuke one another, learn together, share our strengths and gifts, reinforce areas of weakness, stand in the gaps together and tell one another our story of what God has done.

We are continuing together to write our own story of what God is doing in us, and as we do so we encourage those who are faltering, inspire each other to grow, correct misunderstandings, learn to love and forgive, deal with conflict, reach out to those in need and together accomplish more than any one of us could do alone. Sounds like advancing the Kingdom of God to me!