Community Needs

I spent the past two days in Kansas. My remaining grandparents are getting up there in years and I felt it would be good to visit them along with the children. I really didn’t want to go. I had no desire to drive after Sunday worship four hours knowing I would turn around and drive those same four hours the next day but I did it.

Someone heard that I was going but didn’t really want to go and they asked me why. They wanted to know why I was going then. It was in the question that I thought how much we have lost sight of community. You see I went not because I wanted to but because I felt I had an obligation to my community. This particular community is my extended family. It is comprised of my grandparents who raised children in the church. One who wasn’t actually going until the loss of a child sent her with her kids each Sunday.

I have an obligation to my community. I don’t go because I want to or even because I’m sure I will get something out of it. I know that no inheritance waits, both on a very fixed income.

No, I drove those miles because of community. It is one of the problems we face in church today, the loss of community.

The church is suffering because instead of seeing the gathering as a community investment we now only ask what is in it for me. Do I like the worship, do I like the music, do I like the … Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you have to go to a church where you hate everything, but even when you go you should think about community.

The church is suffering because we have lost the community mindset.

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Ephesians 6:1,2

What can be done to reclaim it?