How to Build Church Community Organically, Without Rigid Structures

One of the keys to life-giving community is the ability to cultivate community in a natural sense, says a pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Wash.

Oftentimes churches try to force community through rigid structure in small groups when it should really be about building community in a more organic sense, around "the natural rhythms of life," said Brad House, director of Community for Mars Hill.

In a blog post titled "Having Natural Community without Losing the Bible," House explores different ways to build and foster community that is deep and lasting based on a biblical model.

At Mars Hill, he said, there is less focus on rigid structure, which leaves room for "times when we gather to simply enjoy one another's company, times when we gather to serve our neighbors, or times we focus on study of the Bible."

He wrote that the goal of any small group should be to "study Scripture, not a schedule. Rigidity can suck the life out of a group fairly quickly. Instead, the goal is to develop community that is restorative and life-giving."

The problem that some churches face with this approach though, is the tendency to throw all structure out the window. But House uses a model of the early church from Acts to show that even they had a format. Keep reading