Community

from nakedpastor.com

During our gathering, one thing that seemed to keep coming up in our discussions was the idea of community, and the need for a genuine, authentic community.
I think a lot of people do feel disconnected. Even though we are surrounded by people in our daily lives, many of us are left feeling alone and lonely.
Instead of engaging regularly with our neighbors, many of us start thinking ‘high fences are the best neighbors.’
Or if you’re like me, you close the garage door as soon as you pull up to avoid any interactions with the neighbors.
Growing up in South Carolina, we had porches in our houses. But I think the porch is a thing of the past. Porches, at least from my recollection, always brought in conversations. I’ll walk to school, and people will be out the porch wishing me a good learning that day.
But now, instead of the porch, I think we like our TV more. Inside the comfort of our house.

And the truth is, we live in isolation.
Maybe that’s why facebook and myspace and social networks are doing so well.
Or maybe these social networks are feeding into our being isolated from physical community.
It seems like our goal is to avoid people, to avoid real human contact, as much as possible. I know that I’m naturally inclined to feel that way.

And the scarier thing is, I see this disconnect happening in many of our churches.
Sure, we meet and greet one another on Sundays. Our average-Joe church goer has many, many acquaintances and people to greet and people to greet him. She may be acquainted with many people, but isn’t known by any of them.

How do we change that?
I don’t think I’m way off saying that our culture, this generation, they are craving relationships.
So how do we go about providing an authentic community for people who feel so disconnected?