Why Community Matters

Why Community Matters
Copyright by Shea Oakley
All rights reserved

Probably during no other period in human history has a society unknowingly promoted alienation as much as our own. Modern or, perhaps more accurately, Post-Modern Western civilization is becoming increasingly barren as we move deeper into the 21st Century. Technology and affluence have been developed to the point that we can avoid the healthy interdependence people had for one another even a century ago. What has taken its place is a cult of individualism that promotes the dissolution of the ties that formerly bound us together.

This is the antithesis of the Christian message but the Church has too often reflected the trend in the larger culture around it. In days gone-by local congregations of believers provided the social glue that held believers together in a faith community. Today there is a disturbing trend which sees believers meeting in church buildings for a couple of hours on Sunday and then going their separate ways.

God never intended this for His people. The body of Christ needs to be an example of deep community to the world around it. God is relational and we are made in His image. Human beings wither away when not properly related to God and others of their kind. In our deepest hearts we yearn to be connected to one another. Only in healthy relationships can we find the security we so desperately need and fulfill God’s perfect plan for us.

The Church has to be counter-cultural in the area of human relationships if it is to accomplish its mission at this time in history. Community matters because Christ called us to it. Salvation brings a man or woman into blessed communion with God. It also should bring us into blessed communion with each other.