Living Out the GOSPEL in Community

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Guest post by Russ Johnson

It is often stated that Americans have lost their sense of community as more and more people live busy, fragmented lives. For the church, this loss of relational connection results in a loss of cultural connection. It strikes at the heart of our faith: it hinders our ability to know our neighbors, to serve our cities, and to share the gospel in relational ways.

SOCIAL CAPITAL

To understand this dilemma let’s first consider the loss of social capital in general throughout society. Robert Putnam, in his book Bowling Alone, defines social capital: those tangible substances [that] count most in the daily lives of people: namely good will, fellowship, sympathy, and social (connection) among the individuals and families who make up a social unit The individual is helpless socially, if left to himself If he comes into contact with his neighbor, and they with other neighbors, there will be an accumulation of social capital, which may immediately satisfy his social needs and which may bear a social potentiality sufficient to improvement of living conditions in the whole community.

Where does this social capital come from? It is the overflow of 3 things in our lives:

1. Our Networks: these are the people whose lives overlap with ours (neighbors, classmates, soccer moms, etc. )

2. Our Norms: this is the flow and rhythm of our lives (where we work, shop, exercise, eat, go to school, etc )

3. Our Values: these are the things that matter most to us (what we long for, fight for, spend our money on, organize our time around)

We all have networks, norms, and values. The problem is that the interactions of these things are simply disappearing from our lives. For example, there is a discernable loss of participation in official, organized communities. People are regularly changing employers and residences, working longer hours, spending more time commuting, and running one child here and the other there. In the end our networks, norms, and values have no time to interact. The result is the loss of social capital.

SOCIAL CAPITAL & THE CHURCH

Let’s switch our focus now from society in general to the church. In the midst of the cultural fragmentation we looked at, the church has worked tirelessly in calling people to a new vision of community. This is a great challenge in light of the cultural forces that are working against it: the greatest force often times coming from within the church itself. At large, Christians in America seem to live lives that are barely different from those outside the faith—they too are busy, driven, individualistic and disconnected.

Many church leaders have come to recognize this problem, but the attempts to create more programs to foster community based on demographics and life stage often feels more like a small group version of eHarmony than true Christian community. These groups often struggle because people fail to see how to integrate them into their daily norms and networks. Being that the very nature of these groups is self-serving—they struggle taking into consideration the kingdom of God at large.

For example, programmed community is limited because this approach fails to address at least two of the deeper realities at work in our world (Jon Tyson, Renewing Cities Through Missional Tribes):

1) Time: how can we get people to care about the greater good when we don’t have a shared commitment to anything greater than our own careers and shrinking leisure time? In an economy that is calling people to longer hours at work, personal time becomes of the utmost importance. People simply struggle at centering their lives around church programs anymore.

2) Trust: with cynicism and secularism being the framing narrative of culture, getting people to center their lives on officially established programs under official church authority is increasingly hard. They simply don’t believe the church knows best, not to mention—calling them to deep involvement in an institution that is so disconnected from the world means pulling them away from where they’re already connected.

If community within the church does not address these two things people within the church will struggle connecting with the mission of Jesus in the real world. If people only have social networks, norms and values that interact inside the church, then we cannot connect meaningfully with culture at large. Anna, a new believer striving to live out the gospel in NYC states it well,“We simply cannot love one another as Jesus commanded, if our lives only overlap in 15-minute segments before and after programmed Christian events. And we cannot reach out to those far from God if the normal flow of our lives is disconnected from theirs and channeled into church programs. It’s like God calls us to life together, to the weaving of the fabric and moments of our lives, so the expression of the kingdom becomes a reality in our midst, rather than a idea in our heads.”

ORGANIZING COMMUNITIES also known as TRIBES

Sociologist Rodney Stark notes that one of the major reasons that the early Christian movement was able to spread so quickly through the vast expanses of the Roman Empire was its decentralized, relational networks that enabled the gospel to spread organically from one group to another in natural, holistic, and integrated ways. In other words, when the early followers of Jesus came to faith they often did so through their daily networks, norms and values—therefore—spreading the good news to others through the same avenue was easy, unofficial, and natural.

So here’s the question, “How do you start and organize a community to live out the gospel that by its nature is to be organic?”

Seth Godin, in his book Tribes, presents a great case. Godin says, “A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.” Consequently, one of the easiest ways to form groups or tribes in the church is by organizing people around causes and common interests.

If the church can take notice of the current trends and organize community around causes and common interests the gospel can spread naturally in circles where people naturally connect. Those who need help and those who come out to help are both blessed, connected, and experiencing the gospel in word and deed.

STRUCTURE

Using causes and common interests the need today is to organize community around the mission of Jesus rather than a particular Bible study or life stage. In doing so the spread of the kingdom of God becomes the heart of the group, not just an afterthought.

Here’s how it works:

• Connections exist in the body of Christ. Because these connections are often based in like-minded causes or common interests they have the potential to develop naturally and grow accordingly.

• These connections, if cultivated appropriately, offer what the church misses most, genuine opportunity to leverage those connections for discipleship, care, fellowship, and outreach to others. It also provides opportunity to connect in the already existing world around them. By interacting with others outside of the church that are dedicated to the same causes or passions they create relationships. Relationships that bring more opportunity.

1. Identify groups of believers – look for passion in common interests or causes.
2. Identify a leader within each group who follows Jesus.
3. Each group decides on the place and time to meet for discipleship and prayer, for celebrating what God is doing, planning efforts, and carrying them out.
4. Members of the group invite others who are like-minded to join them.

Goals :: We have 4 Goals we strive to meet in each group

1) Lead members of the group to their next step; baptism, membership, serving in a ministry, giving financially to the mission, etc

2) Develop an apprentice and let them lead

3) Create opportunities to connect/or serve those outside the group

4) Create space for new people by multiplying the group as needed

Russ Johnson planted Northview Church in Asheville, NC and is sold out to Jesus Christ. He’s passionate about the gospel and seeing that every man, woman and child in his community has the repeated opportunity to see, hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ.