In it's most basic form, the church is a community--it's a group of people coming together, who share a common bond, faith in Jesus Christ. As the early church began meeting, we see a great deal of togetherness. The image we get is groups of believers who shared life together. Over the years, there have been different movements and ideas I don't think are necessarily what Jesus intended for His followers.We strive for this community to be a place where people can be who they are without fear of being judged. It’s important that people don’t feel like they need to pretend to be accepted. We are all sinners who are relying on Christ to change us. When we’re honest about our struggles, doubts and sins, we can walk together on the journey. Because Jesus tells us love for each other will be the greatest sign of our love for Him (John 13:35), we put the highest value on being reconciled to each other.
For one, there were monks who would move out into the desert to spend their lives in solitude. Now, solitude can be a good thing, if it's done with a purpose in mind. But were created as relational, social beings because we were created in the image of God, who is also a social being (a Trinity). There was perfect communion between God and humans before the fall. The result of the fall was separation, deception, and hiding. So spending time in solitude, might help people to focus or study, but the end result should be for that person to come back into community to continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.
There has also been a temptation of people in the church to believe (or act as though) participation in the church only needs to be attending worship service, hearing a message, celebrating the mass, or whatever ritual they prefer. But as we look at the example of the early church and the instructions to the early church, we see that participation in the church is intended to be much more. We're intended to share life together, to encourage each other, to confess our sins to each other, to sharpen each other and the list goes on. All of these things requires much more than attending worship service.
What we've listed in our values statement are three aspects of good community life in the church. Honesty, reconciliation, and love. All of these things sound fluffy and nice, but all three are things that can be very difficult and take a great deal of humility and work to achieve. I'll explain.
Honest relationships are hard--at least if they really are honest. Being honest with people takes both humility and grace. It takes humility on the part of the person who is being honest. If I'm going to be honest about my short-comings, mistakes and sins, then I can't keep up the front of perfection and righteousness--I can't wear the mask. Usually what we hide are not the good things about ourselves. What we hide are those things we're embarrassed for others to see. Honestly happens when I drop the pretense.
On the other side, however, it takes a great deal of grace. When someone is honest with me and allows me to see them for who they really am, if I don't give them grace, the relationship will not be healthy and probably won't last very long. When I give someone grace, it's not that I excuse their sin. We always acknowledge that sin is sin, but we don't judge them for it, and we offer to walk with them as we work on our sin together.
The second characteristic of good community relationships is reconciliation. Sometimes we think being a Christian is about being "nice." We want to smile for people and put on a good face, because it seems more peaceful. However, peace is only present when there's peace on the inside. Just because we're not at each other's throats doesn't mean we have peace. That's why true reconciliation is hard.
There are going to be times when we don't agree on things. There are going to be times when we tick each other off. But according to Jesus, we should never allow those feelings to continue (Matthew 18:15-17). Instead, reconciliation demands that when we have a problem with someone else, we seek reconciliation. We don't allow things to fester under the surface. We deal with them so we can have peace. Sometimes it seems much easier just to let things go, but in the long-run, only when we work to have true peace in our relationships can we have a unified church and grow into Christ-likeness.
Finally, true community is loving. Love can certainly have some pretty vague definitions in our day, but when we understand Biblical love, we understand that it's not an emotion, but it's the decision, the action, of putting other's needs ahead of our own. It's sacrificing my preferences and rights for the sake of others. That's love in a marriage, at work, or raising children. If it's not active, it's not love.
So while this value might sound fluffy and feel-good, there's actually a great amount of work that has to happen to make these relationships work. In the end, however, there's no better place to grow than in these relationships. If spiritual growth is relational, then practicing relationships grows us into what God intended.
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