Welcome to the final installment of our series on the theology of mission and innovation. Today’s topic is one where I hope we can grow the most in the coming months and years — our community.
The word community itself is rich in meaning. Its Latin roots describe a “common unity,” or an unstructured state in which all members are equal and share a common experience, often through a rite of passage. In Christianity, we share community in the Church through the rite of passage that Christ suffered and rose again on our behalf to bring us into the presence of God where we are all equal.
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
This is a reason to celebrate! Our community should be a rich, vibrant reflection of this good news to the whole world. But people’s experience of community today can be superficial, fragmented, and diluted. There are more opportunities to connect with others than ever before, but there is little to no accountability or true faithfulness to one another.
You can try a church and leave it as a matter of preference like you would a hairstylist or restaurant. You can join a Facebook group dedicated to bringing the Gospel to the whole world and never connect authentically to a single person there. But there are many critical reasons we should take community more seriously. The first is a call to support one another for the sake of our own benefit.
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him — a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).
Beyond it being good for us and how God designed us to live, community is a reflection of Christ’s nature and impact on our lives.
Beyond it being good for us and how God designed us to live, community is a reflection of Christ’s nature and impact on our lives.
“That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:25).
Further, community is a means of achieving the proper functioning of the Church. Our ministry is better and more effective when we can build one another up.
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:11- 16).
So if it’s good for us, reflects Christ, and makes our ministry better, what’s the problem? I doubt anyone would have said at the beginning of this post that they didn’t value community. But the truth is that community is costly and we tend to settle for less. We don’t bring our full selves or put in the effort required to have rich, deep relationships. When things get hard, we quickly disengage and move on. Even with the best of intentions, our friendships can be transactional and fleeting.
As we build Indigitous communities together, I want them to be the best communities they can be. I want you to be known, served, encouraged, and edified for greater Kingdom impact. The cost of community is time, transparency, and responsibility. If we are to create a true community around the work of missional innovation and bringing the gospel to where it’s not, we will need to take ownership and responsibility for one another. We’ll need to carry one another’s burdens. To humbly share our own challenges so that we can serve one another.
“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:3-16).
This is not a matter of finding the right technology platform, the perfect app, or having trendy marketing and branding. It is not dependent on the kind of content we produce, how much we know about innovation best practices or even the things we learn from one another. It is fully dependent on our commitment to one another. It requires faithfulness to invest in people for their sake and for the sake of God’s Kingdom so that all would find hope in the gospel. This is the much harder work, but in my opinion the right work for us to be doing…together.
It is fully dependent on our commitment to one another. It requires faithfulness to invest in people for their sake and for the sake of God’s Kingdom so that all would find hope in the gospel.
Try This
- Join the Indigitous community on Facebook.
- Reach out to us if you need to be connected with a community in your area.