By Robin G. Jordan
The pastor of the church with which I am sojourning encourages church members, regular attenders, and guests to respond to the needs of those around us. In doing so Christians show that they are a caring, loving people. All the talk about loving your neighbor is not just that—talk. They put their caring and love for others into action, serving Christ in them. It helps to improve the public image of Christians and to overcome the cultural stereotypes of Christians. However, that should not be our primary reason for caring for and loving others. It is something that we should always be doing as followers of Christ. If Christ is indeed our guide and master, we should be doing everything that he said that his disciples should do. We should also be following his example. If we identify a particular need, we should do something about it. We should do more than pray for the person with the need or wish him well. We should always have our eyes open for unmet needs. He sums up this teaching with this slogan, “See a need, meet a need.”
This teaching is based on Matthew 9:19, Galatians 5:6, James 2:14-17. It is applicable not only to Christians as individuals but also to Christians as a community, as the local manifestation of the Body of Christ. If we see a need, we should do what we can to meet it. Just as individually showing our caring and love for others can have its positive side affects, so can collectively showing that care and love as a Christian community. While these side affects may benefit the local church, they should not be our chief motivation for caring for and loving those around us. Our caring and loving must come first. We should not be caring for and loving others for the secondary benefits of doing so. Our caring and love should not be motivated by what we hope will be the end result. We should care for them and love them even if we ourselves got nothing out of it—not even our Lord’s approbation. Putting the caring and loving first may be a challenge in our culture, which encourages us to think in terms of “what’s in it for me.”
One of the needs that younger people feel today is the need for community. This is an actual need as well as a perceived one. In the twenty-first century cultural, economic, social, and technological changes have so impacted Canadian and US society that the opportunities for real community have greatly diminished. The popularity of social networking web sites like Face Book and My Space on the Internet point to the younger generations’ hunger for community. These web sites offer an illusion of community but it is a poor substitute for the real thing. They have become increasingly commercialized. They are also worked as data mines, taking the personal information of those using the websites and selling that information to those willing to pay for it. Instead of meeting the need for community, they are exploiting that need.
Older people also feel the need for community especially as their age, declining health, transportation options, and other factors limit their mobility and isolate them. Friends and family die or move away, causing their social relationship networks to shrink and in some cases disappear altogether. The lack of community, of meaningful social contacts, can affect the mental and physical health of older people. Loneliness is a chronic problem.
In an earlier time people lived in small towns and villages, which often were close-knit communities. Everyone knew everyone else. Everyone knew each other’s strengths and limitations. Everyone knew each other’s business. There were few secrets. If anyone did something out of the ordinary, news of what had happened would quickly spread through the community grape vine. While we should not idealize the community life of the past, these communities did meet their members’ need for community.
The small membership church can satisfy the hunger of both groups for community. It can fill the vacuum in their lives. It can foster relationships between members of the same generation. It can also build bridges across the generations.
The small membership church is a social organization that is particularly suited for the creation, fostering, and strengthening of community. The small membership church does not need the resources of a large church or a mega-church to meet the need for community. Due to their size the large church and the mega-church must put a great deal of effort into creating community through small membership church size congregations for specific constituencies (e.g., singles) and small group ministry programs—what are referred to as “living room” and “kitchen” environments at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This, however, should not make the small membership church complacent. Community must be built even in a small membership church.
Some of the ways that a small membership church can build community is to encourage folks to take time to talk to each other, including first time guests and newcomers. They can be encouraged not to sit in the same spot every Sunday but to sit next to someone with whom they are not familiar and strike up a conversation. They can also be encouraged to stop and talk to new people. Indeed if they see a new face, they should go up to that person, introduce themselves, and chat with them for a while. They should avoid gathering in a clump with their friends after the service but make a point of finding a newcomer and chatting with him or her. They should introduce newcomers to their friends but not leave them to fend for themselves, ignoring them and talking to their friends. They should arrive early so that they have more time to meet new people and to introduce themselves and chat with them. They should also linger after the service for the same reason and not rush off. They also should be attentive when talking to them, not physically present but mentally absent. Giving other people your time is giving them something really precious. Giving them your attention is to give them something even more precious. Both say, “I value you as a human being.” Folks should be encouraged not to let themselves get so busy that they do not have time to stop and talk to a first time guest or newcomer. They should also be encouraged to share with others what is happening in their lives. This leads to deeper conversations and deeper relationships.
A great way to build community is meals. Folks should be encouraged to invite first time guests and newcomers to lunch and to accept invitations to lunch themselves. The church can sponsor meals of all kind which create opportunities for church members, regular members, first time guests, and newcomers to spend time together and to get to know each other. Inviting first time guests and newcomers to participate in other common activities especially those that bring them into contact with church members and regular attenders as well as other first time guests and newcomers is another great way to build community. These are just a few of the ways that a small membership church can build community.
Community in a Christian context has an important spiritual dimension. We are not only called to take Christ as our guide and master as individual believers but also to follow him as a believing community. We live our Christian faith and exercise our Christian discipleship and ministry both as individual Christians and as a Christian community. Within the believing community believers fulfill our Lord’s love-commandments. We love each other as Christ loved us. We show our love for Christ by loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. We build each other up in the Christian faith and way of life. We exercise our stewardship of the manifold grace that God has given us. We use for the benefit of the entire community the gifts that God has bestowed upon us. We are not Christians in isolation from other believers. The solitary Christian is an anomaly. While the Church has a tradition of anchorites, desert monks, and hermits, they do not represent a standard for Christians. They in response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit chose to withdraw from the world to seek a closer relationship with God . Most followers of Christ are called to remain in the world but not of the world and to serve God in community in the world and to find God in the midst of those to whom we minister.
When their basic needs are met, including their need for community, folks are more open to recognizing and addressing their spiritual needs. They are more receptive to hearing the message of the gospel. They are more prepared to say “Yes” to God and to yield their lives to him.
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