Caesar Kalinowski offers practical tips on how the ideas of “organic” and “organized” apply to life in a community of Christians. These terms are often spoken of as binary opposites, but Caesar points out how both are needed for healthy life in community.
A very popular phrase I hear is that we are the church. So I would encourage you, if you are dissatisfied with an aspect of your church (not including faulty doctrine, of course) rather than trying to find the right church, ask God to help you forgive your brethren and begin loving on them. Ask Him to help you be the right church.
Like many in my generation, I’ve done some moving around and with each new move I’ve had to begin the difficult process of searching for a new church home. If you’re like most, a day is coming when you too will be on the search for a new church to call home. When that day comes, you may want to think twice before using these all-too-common reasons for making your choice…
Community is core to the Christian faith. From the very beginning, fellowship and life together have characterized Christ’s disciples. But the centrality of Christian community to the church doesn’t mean that it’s easy—nor does it mean it always looks the same.
Today, as growing numbers of Christians struggle with the weekly gathering of a local church, the number of people attending church, and the frequency with which they’re attending, are declining. So what can leaders—inside and outside formal church contexts—do to foster true community amidst new realities?
As I observe the tactics of the New Atheism, it causes me to wonder. Are we, the Christian church leaning on our services, on our rhetoric, or on our programs as the hope for our neighbors? Because if we are, we may find ourselves with some increasingly stiff competition.
Or are we leaning on the True Initiator, the one who makes the very question of competition disappear?
I resigned as a staff pastor and went on a rather long journey. I was searching for the type of genuine spiritual community found in the Bible: one without unnecessary church buildings, institutional hierarchy or imaginary titles. After all, the church Paul describes as the Body of Christ has many unique members but there is clearly a single authority, a single Head to this Body, which is Christ.
Thankfully I now have firsthand experience living in community with other believers who get to fully function in their callings during church gatherings.
For Throwback Thursday, I’d like to recall a post that features a video from Jeff Vanderstelt of Soma Community in Tacoma, WA. This video offers examples of what it can look like for a group of people to be on mission together. I hope this inspires you to join with others in your community to serve and love as Jesus taught us to.
Today’s Throwback Thursday article recalls our previous post of an excellent conversation with Tim Soerens, the co-founding director of the Parish Collective. See what Tim has to say about disciples of Jesus committing to loving a place and how their presence in that place can be transformative.
Warning: This article might challenge your paradigm about church and community.
A movement is growing that will radically shift this generation’s understanding of that perennially elusive word: church. Oddly enough, if you go looking for this movement on a Sunday morning you’ll probably come up empty. Thousands of Christians are reclaiming the ancient idea of the “parish” and weaving together a shared life in the place they call home.
In recent years, sociologists and educators across the political spectrum have encouraged families to do one simple thing to maintain connection with one another: eat. The issue isn’t just eating, of course. That’s a non-negotiable for all biological organisms. The issue instead is to eat together. The family dinner might seem cute and outdated in a mobile, crazy-busy current age, but there’s something of importance here.
The church isn’t an association of like-minded individuals. The church is a household of brothers and sisters. In order to get community right, we must reclaim communion.
“Attached to every synagogue is a place devoted to the study of sacred writings and Holy Scripture. This area is called the Beit Midrash, the house of learning or study. Midrash literally means “investigation.” Here the Jewish people would gather to investigate, study, learn and argue the meanings and proper applications of their revered texts. In this environment, rich spiritual opportunities for learning are given to the participants that can never be obtained alone, or by simply listening to a lecturer give his or her own opinions. The opportunity to express one’s own thoughts and feelings, and engage in oftentimes very passionate and heated debate is a very stimulating intellectual and spiritual experience. It is also an extremely necessary and vital part of studying the Word of God, and growing in your personal relationship with the Lord. Without it the opportunities for “iron to sharpen iron” (Proverbs 27:17) will be limited and spiritual growth stunted. Being part of a Beit Midrash can literally transform not only the way you learn the scriptures but your personal relationship with the Lord.”
This 14 minute video offers flesh-and-blood examples of what it looks like for the people of God to live as a community on mission, as opposed to a bunch of people trying to do church. Jeff Vanderstelt of Soma Community in Tacoma, WA lends his voice to the dialogue on what a missional community looks like.
Enjoy this thoughtful conversation with Tim Soerens, the co-founding director of the Parish Collective, a faith based social enterprise that convenes leaders for holistic renewal rooted in particular neighborhoods while linking collaboratively across the city and beyond.