Theological Thoughts for Thursday - An emergent understanding of community

My parents disagree very strongly with my last Theological Thought for Thursday. So, while I had intended this topic to come later, my parents conversation helped facilitate this.

My generation is ambivalent toward membership. In my previous post, I wasn't clear on my feelings toward this concept. I don't view this attitude as a negative. I actually view it as a positive cultural shift. In the middle of the previous century church membership became extremely important. Churches served as social clubs.

Serve, they serve as social clubs. People often go to church to be seen. Valuable business connections are an important aspect of worship. ...?

As church membership becomes less and less important, finding true community becomes increasingly more important.

Community isn't found in a once-weekly worship service, it rarely happens in 25-member Sunday School classes. While community can, and often does, occur within the confines of a church membership roll, membership doesn't facilitate true community.

The early church is a model of community. They broke bread together daily. They gave of what they had so that everyone would have enough. Now, I don't subscribe to the idyllic fascination that some Christians feel toward the early church. I think that when we make saints out of the whole lot of 'em, they lose their humanity. We forget that they had problems and failures just like us. But, one of the things that they did really well - much better than the modern church - is community.

Recap: Community is extremely important. Real community is very important to the postmodern generation. If church isn't a place where that sort of community can be fostered (and I don't mean more mixer games) we will find it somewhere else.