Alternative Communities

I had lunch with a friend yesterday. It was a great time to catch up and relax around a table with good food and a good friend. During the conversation he shared his dream for real Christian community. "Wouldn't it be great" he said "if a group of Christians could just move into a community, buy houses next to one another and share our lives deeply, kinda like a Christian commune?"

Who has not felt a longing for deeper relationships, something real. Something beyond, How are you? How about this weather? How about those Broncos? But I've been thinking a lot about my friend's solution. Is forming a Chrisitan sub-division really what God would have us do? Is gathering a bunch of folks, who are already Christ-followers, together in a "holy bubble" the answer?

In April 2002, the Wall Street Journal had an article entitled: "Megachurches as Minitowns." The article focused on huge churches that function as their own self-contained communities. They have fitness centers, cafes, climbing walls and skate parks. You can get coffee, enroll your children in child-care, go to an arcade or take your children to "playland." Dr Randall Ballmer writes:
"By making it nearly possible to inhabit the church from morning to night, cradle to grave, these full-service churches can shelter congregants from a broader society that seems unsafe, unpredictable and out of control, underscored by school shootings and terrorism... (The churches reflect a desire by congregants for) a universe where everything from the temperature to the theology is safely controlled...They don't have to worry about finding schools, social networks, or a place to eat. It's all prepackaged."

I'm convinced that Jesus would not have us isolated from the "real" world in "christian" communities, as attractive as that sounds to us (except for most preachers). Jesus calls us to follow him into some unpredictable and dangerous places. He calls us to engage the darkness of this planet, not cloister ourselves from it because of fear. He calls us to make ourselves uncomfortable in order to extend His reign in this world. How uncomfortable have you been lately?

Jesus' prayer for his followers was:
"[Father] I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.16They are not part of this world any more than I am.17Make them pure and holy by teaching them your words of truth.18As you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world.19And I give myself entirely to you so they also might be entirely yours. John 17:15-19 (NLT)

Jesus asked His Father to keep his followers safe while they lived in the dirt and the darkness of this present world. There will be a day when we'll live together. No more terrorism, abuse or church splits. That day we will fully inhabit the world and the relationships we were created for. But, this side of heaven, may we commit ourselves to being entirely His - living as those sent into this world, to make a difference in the lives of those He loves.