I was reading a post called Ecclesial Dreamer on the Money over at Backyard Missionary earlier today and they are having a great discussion about issues such as what makes a ‘good’ church and why churches should be counter cultural, but what really caught my eye was a comment about how our communities shape us.
Hamo wrote,
The group of people we choose to align ourselves with will give form to our identity and when it comes to a faith context the church we choose to be a part of will play a significant influence in our own formation.
I’ve always thought this was true, but more and more I’m convinced that it is a piece of wisdom we need to heed and encourage others to listen to. In a world where experience is seen as a key to truth I’ve noticed that people tend to throw themselves into relationships and contexts so that they might be able to explore something new. While on one hand I think this is a great idea, it’s also a dangerous one. These relationships and contexts might open up new experiences, but given the power the communities that we are a part of have on us we need to be wise and critical of their influence on us.
My concern is not that people join communities or create relationships so that they might have new experiences but more that they do so at the cost of the other relationships and communities that help them stay true to who they are. I’ve seen too many young adults jump from group to group in search of new experiences and consequently lack a depth and accountability in their relationships. Or they become excited about the prospect of a new job/hobbie that they love and consequently neglect or leave the other communities that have shaped them into the person they are. In too many cases I have seen these people come to a point of crisis where they have been influenced in ways they never intended to be and don’t know their way back.
The wisdom that our communities shape our identity and formation needs to be something that we live by and mature into if we are to remain radical disciples of Christ in a diverse and challenging world.
Filed under: church, discipleship, rants
Tim - that’s so very, very true.
I always worry about people who say that they stay in a church they’re unhappy with because they’re “needed there”, “can change it” etc, and you’ve hit on some of my concerns. I realised reasonably quickly that being in a church where I “didn’t fit in” really wasn’t that healthy for me - if you’re only ever challenged to defend your beliefs, you’re never challenged to live them out.
You’d like to introduce a flavour of legal obligation into Christian community. I know you don’t mean binding written contracts - obviously nothing of the sort.
I’ve read, now, so many Christian blogs and comments on the type of community Christians engage in, and you know what? They sound more dysfunctional than what you find out in the world, or down at the local pub.
If that’s Christianity, then you can all sod off.
I’m not keen to introduce any legal obligation into Christian community, in fact I’m pretty keen on the opposite. I think people should commit to one another based on the relationships that they share and nothing more. What would make you think I want a legal obligation David?