Blind Spots: Our Churches Are Communities
My next few posts are going to focus on blind spots in the many minds of Christians, including my own, that need to be exposed if we are truly to live out our Kingdom presence here on earth. Today I want to focus on a primary purpose of the Church—to worship God in community with other believers. And by worship, I am not merely meaning singing songs together on Sunday morning. I’m talking about sharing life—our joys, our burdens, our common purpose of proclaiming the gospel through word and deed among our neighbors, co-workers, and others in our towns and cities in which we live.
I recently talked with a Ukrainian who lives here in the States with her American husband. She said that Americans don’t do community very well. She’s right. We are individuals practically to the core. My wife and I live in a neighborhood where there are streets full of houses, but you see very few people out. Most leave in the morning for work and return home in the evening, pulling into their garages and closing the door. The homes all have back decks, but few have front porches. They were built in the early 90’s when the desire for privacy was on the uptick and people wanted to sit out back out of sight of the neighbors. People more and more only want to gather with others they know, family and friends. Strangers? Not so much.
Sadly, local churches have longed mimicked the culture, and we often act similarly to those we don’t know. Like so many, I used to gather in the fellowship hall of a church I attended in my late 20’s and 30’s to share coffee and pastries with others. Even if I saw people I didn’t know, I would head directly to those I did know and begin conversations with them. Years later, I got a taste of the other side of that as my wife and I stood in the middle of a church fellowship hall drinking our coffee and not one person seeking to talk with us, even though we were very new to the church. But even with that, my strong tendency is to seek out those I know in our present church. It’s such a hard habit to break! Yet, it needs to be broken in all of us.
Our society is becoming full of people who are lonely and disconnected. The Church must not contribute to that. It must instead be an antidote to it. But for that to happen, we have to organize our church communities with that in mind. Currently, the vast majority of churches gather on Sunday mornings with people streaming into buildings greeted by designated greeters who welcome people to the service, but rarely ask any questions or have any meaningful conversation. Then people move on into the auditorium where they sit in seats facing the front and the backs of others’ heads, and, particularly if they are new, rarely talk with others. Then the service begins and all attention goes to the front and remains there until the end of the service. People then leave much the same way they came in, with a few smiles and nodding of heads as they return to their cars and drive away.
I know there are exceptions and some variations of my description, but, on the whole, I think this describes the dynamic of most Sunday morning worship services. And we have come to think of this as normal. That’s our blind spot. Deep Christian community is normal for followers of Jesus, not what most of us experience. That has become so normalized that a friend recently pointed out that many coming to our churches are put off by people who try to draw them into conversations. They want to get in and then get out without being bothered by anyone.
Not being bothered is the antithesis of community. If we are to be in community with each other, we will be bothered! Fallen people are often bothersome, but love compels us to engage with them.
Even as I write this, I realize I am often one who doesn’t want to be bothered. I like my life the way I like it. I am SO American! Thus, it is very easy for me just to go along with the culture. Yet, I know it isn’t normal for Jesus followers to have this mindset. As Paul reminds us, while we are in this world, we are not to live by its pattern.
Where do we begin? I suppose, like an addicted person, the first step is to admit we have a problem. The second would be to begin making substantive changes by asking the question: What needs to change with us individually and corporately that will lead us into deeper community with one another? And when the answers come, then to have the courage to intentionally implement them personally and within our communities.
It will be very difficult and we will face a lot of resistance, but the world desperately needs to see and experience true community, just as is it did in the 1st Century through the early Church. If we do not make changes, they never will.
© Jim Musser 2023 All Scripture references are from the New International Version, 2011.
