Almost every survey of a church's vitality has "the sense of community" as a measurement criterion. This is just a reflection of the way we all feel that God and His people are big on relationship, and so our churches should have relationship at the centre.
Half a century ago the creation of community was not an issue for churches. We did not have cars and regional shopping centres, and schools our children attended were not half way across the city from each other. We lived in our suburbs, saw each other not just at church but at the shops, in the playground, at sport and walking the streets. Church life did not have to create community - church relationships were part of the community.
The problem is not just that the pace of life in cities like Sydney is increasing exponentially. There are so many different activities we commit ourselves to, and they are done in so many different places. Life has become a series of events and tasks rather than relationships, and we are unlikely to engage in those activities with people from our church in any case. So we have to work in order to create the church community.
The list of possibilities is as long as our urgent "to do" lists - ensure morning tea or supper are the best they can be, church picnics and breakfasts, mid week prayer groups, men's dinners, women's activities, social activities. Sometimes, we so clog the diary that congregation members feel guilty they cannot attend, or just raise their hands in despair at the impossibility and wind up not caring when the next activity is advertised. So we must ask ourselves, if relationship in community is what we are seeking, what is the best way of achieving this?
It seems to me that the development of valuable relationships occurs a number of ways. These include:
- an extended period of relationship, so that you share many experiences
- dealing with and support through significant issues and events
- putting the other first
- spending time with each other, not with an agenda, but merely because we want to be together
- sharing life in a variety of contexts
In our churches one of the ways of putting the first and last of these together is by seeing others over an extended period of time in both church and smaller situations where we mutter the gospel to each other. That is, the old habit of being involved in both church and Bible study. This variety of context makes for deeper relationships, and Bible study, because of its very nature allows for inefficient time which builds relationship.
I guess I am asking us to consider the question "do we program so many community building times that we don't have time for the bread and butter of participation in both church and Bible study?" Sure, these two are unlikely to make us feel like we are a small village community (that day has gone in Sydney), but it will help us employ God's gift of each other as we walk toward glory.
Archie Poulos is a lecturer at Moore Theological College and heads the Moore College Missions Committee
