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The Suburban Mindset
Posted by Mike Boyink
The suburban mindset has invaded our churches. Our desire for peace, rest, and refuge become the subtle subtext behind what we do. We wish to maintain the illusion of community at all costs. We forget that the reality of community is often messy and larger than our suburban “wish dream” (Dietrich Bonehoffer’s term) of and idealized Christian community.
True community cannot exist in such a context. Like a family, it requires the honest interaction between people. It allows for conflict and confrontation within the bounds of Christian love. The suburban quest for community becomes a subtle idolatry. (This holds true for the emerging expression of church as well.) We have forgotten that true peace and rest is in Jesus alone as we look for it in our relationships with one another. Our idea of a deep Christian community becomes a trap. This corporate illusion of what christian community is must die if we are to develop into the community God intends us to be. Full Post >>
An interesting post from a blog I just ran across. Some of his other posts talk about the challenges of the cell/small group approach to finding community, when you’re dealing with people already putting in 12-13 hour days just to get to work and back. It reminds me how little I miss the corporate world, even though I had a short commute.
Comments:
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Some great thoughts on community - or the lack of true community. I liked the reference to “the illusion of community.” More of the original blog…
“As a result we distract ourselves with even more activities that give us the illusion of community. The church only fuels this distraction by providing activities for everyone. We can spend most of our week absorbed in church activities if we are “involved” with a local congregation. Yet our relationships remain for the most part superficial and lack any real depth. Those who desire more depth often resort to cell groups but in many cases, there is little true community here either.”
I believe our relationships remain superficial and lacking in depth because we are too afraid of being known for who we really are (fear of rejection). Unfortunately we often act the same way with God. We forget that there is nothing we can do that will make God stop loving us. We project our human behavior onto God. I stop loving others because of what they do to me, or don’t do for me. We expect God to treat us the same way. It’s true that we may make Him mad at us - but He doesn’t stop loving us.
Real community costs a lot. I’ve met very few people who are willing to risk the cost.
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