Most churches I have been apart of have community events like a church BBQ or a halloween alternative and members are encouraged to invite their neighbors to events at the church.
Lets be honest. Most Church members probably haven't had more than a casual conversation with their neighbors. There's no relationship there, an invite to the annual church halloween alternative would just be awkward. Besides, their kids are probably already out having doing wicked things with all of the other vile 5th grades dressed as pirates and ghosts. (Sorry for the sarcasm, halloween is still and will probably remain as one of my top 3 holidays. excommunicate me.)
Secondly, these are typically church events geared to church people. Which is where the church has really succeeded. A big part of the Christian idea is building community within the body of Christ. However, I think we need to be more intentional about being a part of the community outside of the church. A great example is what my friend Justin is doing with Hope Community Church. Every year they have a church BBQ and in the classic tradition, members are encouraged to invite their neighbors. This year was different.
While Justin and his students were picking up trash on Commercial street he had the idea to have the annual church BBQ there. So they got all of the required permits and had a block-party on Commercial Street this summer. The business owners and community surrounding the area really appreciated it and now Justin, Hope, and theBurn have taken a continual active part in the community there and are building relationships with the people living, working, and investing in the area.
The fact is that this whole church movement. The story of Christianity-is about relationships. You, me, our neighbors, our community, doing life together.
4 comments:
Okay - you're excommunicated!
Seriously though, good post. I think where the church struggles today is that it knows it needs to do things differently, but isn't quite sure how to implement. The 'not sure' part comes from actually not knowing, since it hasn't been done very well before and out of fear. A fear that the world will infiltrate the church? Fear they won’t have anything to talk about? But we need to be the church in the marketplace – with the people, not just the people of our church.
It is scary how easily we get stuck in the Christian bubble of friendships. I think if we all took an inventory of the friends we spend time with, we’d see that most, if not all, are Christians. So the community thing starts first with my network of friends. Then I can start throwing rocks at the Church.
I agree with you, that we need to evaluate our own circle of friends and connect with people that think differently than us. I'm not sure my intent will ever be to throw rocks at the church of the past.
One of the things I've enjoyed the most about being a part-time barista is the relationships I've developed with my friends I work with. They care about the work I do as a missionary because they care about me as a person as much as I care about them.
If you are having trouble expanding your network; 15 hours a week as a barista is working for me.
Wouldn't it be neat if others asked if we were a Christian before we had the chance to tell them? I think that mostly we as a church have had a mission to tell others we are Christians, when really our actions should tell them long before we have the chance.
Amen David.
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