Christians 101

Community

Although I've heard many rants on Christianity as a self-help society (see the blog Wax Banks for an example) that make me shudder, I realize there might be more than a grain of truth in the statement. Yet self-help may not be the right word. Christians are taught to look to God first and then to the community as a mechanism of support; community is one of the most important aspects of Christianity. And Christians are great at building community. Most (if not all) churches hold this as a core belief. An article on Boundless Webzine notes:

Community is a big buzzword in Christian circles. Recently, Moody Bible Institute titled their yearly conference simply “Community:” Nothing more needed to get people’s attention. A search on Christianbook.com turns up 240 items with the word community in the title — compare that to only 133 with the word sex and you know you’re on to something.

Churches create small groups to encourage a greater sense of community:

You were created for community! Contained in the very blueprint for your life is a profound hunger for relationship... In order to foster this aspect of our life together we encourage you to join a LIFE Community, a place where you can find connection and deeper involvement.

-From Grace Chapel (a church in MA)

Books like The Purpose Driven Life provide lessons on how to build community. The author tells us that "Life is meant to be shared." And that cultivating community takes honesty, confidentiality, humility and frequency. It offers advice on how to restore broken relationships, and it notes the need to protect the communities you've built.

There is even software to facilitate the community building process.

Although some people may believe that Chrisitianity is "like 12-step rhetoric without any of the actual, you know, grappling with the physical and material circumstances of one's life," I would argue that grappling with these things is at the core of Christianity - and that maybe trying to help each other get through life successfully isn't all that bad after all.

posted by Elizabeth @ 5:46 PM