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Christian Network

"The truth is that we want the semblance of community without the risk or the cost. We want to be surrounded by friendly acquaintances, but we don’t want to be entangled, whether in a job, a marriage, or a church." -Andy Crouch

There is much talk about the need for community in the Church today. In fact the very term "community" has become a buzzword in Evangelical circles. This issue is a legitimate one, for the Church has given in to much of the radical individualism that marks the surrounding culture. The question, though, is not whether we know we need to have more community. The question is, as Crouch bluntly puts it, whether we truly want it. Do we truly want to be invested where we work, faithful in our marriages and committed to one church? Too often the answer, whether admitted or not, is no.

The problem is that you cannot have community without real interdependence and the idea of such interdependence frightens modern Westerners. Why? Because we have bought into the lie that complete personal autonomy is not only precious but must be defended at any cost. This is the altar Western culture worships at, and as long as it does Christians embedded in that culture will have a hard time trading such autonomy for genuine community. You cannot have 100% of both simultaneously. It just does not work that way. Community has a price and that price is some of our vaunted individualism.

No one should be surprised that many people rank the word "I’ over "we", particularly when those people are not believers. What is harder to understand is how Christians who claim to know and live by the Bible can miss the imperative it communicates for Christians to greatly love one another, just as Jesus loves us. Such love is impossible without being deeply invested in each other’s lives. The communion of the saints is an integral part of authentic Christianity. If we are not to a large degree striving to live for each other then we cannot rightly claim to be living for the Lord. All we really need to do to recognize this is to ponder the reality of the Trinity. God exists in permanent, perfect and infinite relationship within Himself. His children need to model their bonds with one another after what exists within the Godhead. Father, Son and Holy Spirit do not keep themselves at a distance from each other, and neither should we.

Of course human bonds will never achieve such perfection on this side of the Eschaton. Even the most committed believers will always have a degree of difficulty surrendering their personal "rights" for the sake of community. Anyone who thinks otherwise does not grasp the relational limitations inherent in our present fallen nature. However, this is not a valid excuse for the superficial relationships we see masquerading as the communion of the saints in the Western Church today. Something is very wrong when so many Christians come together for an hour and a half on Sunday mornings and then go their separate ways for the rest of the week.

So the question is how do we fight the alienation from each other that is symptomatic of the worst aspects of Modern and Post-Modern culture? It must begin as so many other things begin in the Christian life, with impassioned prayer. We need to ask for God to show us the blessings of deeper community so that we might develop a thirst for it. We need to petition Him to show us the emptiness and eventual despair that is the lot of those who knowingly or unknowingly worship radical Individualism and total personal autonomy. Finally we need to ask our Lord to help us to repent of these two idolatries, not only on behalf of each of us but also for the Body of Christ as a whole. Once we sincerely do this the Lord will reveal to us the practical steps we can take to be more deeply connected to one another. Then progressively, as our holy desire for this unity grows, the Spirit will bind us one-to-another. When (and, unfortunately, if) this begins to happen the "blessed community" will become more of a reality in our churches. The result will be our common good and the further glorification of our God.