Chapter 3: Forming and Restoring Community in a Nomadic World

By Doug Smith, St. Luke's Cedar Falls

Doug Smith

I found this chapter to be a helpful and hopeful change after the bracing reality check of Chapter Two. While it is true that the church is no longer the focal point of public life in the way it once was, this is nothing new. The author reminds us of many examples in both the Old and New Testaments where God’s people were displaced and nomadic, searching for community in a world they no longer understood.

The church today finds itself in a difficult position. Our numbers overall are declining and the church seems irrelevant and outmoded in the face of modern culture. I have at times wondered: Who would seek out a church if they had not been brought up in one? What is it that we have to offer that is so compelling that it would draw people in? It feels like we have reached another point where God’s people are again exiled and nomadic, searching for meaning and purpose.

Here’s where the author begins to lay out his vision of community. We all are searching for community, a place of belonging. The story of our faith is rooted in community. Our understanding of the Trinity is itself the illustration of a perfectly balanced community. Throughout the stories of the Hebrew Bible, we see people overcoming displacement and aimless wandering with community, and unfortunately, undermining that community from time to time as well.

Jesus’ ministry with his disciples was also one of building community. “Following Jesus meant close observation of his actions in relationship, going where he went, staying where he stayed, sharing conversations, listening, and trying things out. It was about being formed into a new way of life” (p. 46). But we are reminded that even with Jesus himself as the “community organizer,” things didn’t go perfectly. Their time together was “fraught with misunderstanding, confusion, and even denial” (p.47).

These imperfect attempts at community continued into the apostolic age as well. Right from the start there were problems with competing agendas and an antagonistic culture in which nascent Christianity was an unwelcome upstart. And yet, I am encouraged because it was in the middle of this picture that these early Jesus-followers were so magnetic and compelling that people joined them by the thousands.

And it is from these stories of our early history that we, today, can find hope. What is it that will draw people into exploring a life of faith in God? “God’s mission is about forming and restoring community” (p. 53). People want and need true community, and I believe they can recognize it when they see it lived out. The challenge for us is to find new ways in this generation to create a compelling sense of community.

This chapter doesn’t go into detail on what those new ways might be, but it does give us a caution. “In seeking to attract new members, the church has also often sought to welcome neighbors into its established life on its cultural and social turf, rather than risk forming new expressions of Christian community on the neighbors’ turf. As the body of Christ, however, we are sent to join up with people where they are, to listen deeply to their lives, and to discern together with those neighbors what new life God is bringing forth” (p. 56).