Putting "Community" Back into the Community of Believers- Acts 4:32

Last week I heard the end of a conversation on one of the Christian radio stations about why the millennial generation is not really involved in churches. I didn't get to hear much of what was said, but when I tuned in, they were discussion some sort of big conference in which representatives of many large church organizations and denominations were discussing different ideas for how to bring in and keep twenty-somethings. The man talking described all the big ideas and programs that were thrown out in the brainstorming session. Until finally a young man- in his twenties- stood up and said, "You know, I think if there were just one other person in the congregation that I was really close to...that I had a really deep relationship with...I would come back."

I don't think there are very many of who would argue too loudly that we are by and large missing some of the connection to our brothers and sisters in Christ that the early church felt. When I read passages like Acts 4:32, I sometimes long for those relationships as well. Don't get me wrong, I have some incredibly close friends in the church that I am currently attending and in the church at large. But how many of us can say that? How many of us have relationships with the others in the church that are so real and so lasting, that we don't even count our possessions as our own? Can we really say that we are of "one heart, one mind?"

I don't think that phrase means that we never disagree. After all, Peter disagreed with the others in Jerusalem initially about bringing in gentiles. Paul disagreed with Peter about his practice of disassociating with the gentiles when the Jews came around. Paul and Barnabas disagreed over the inclusion of John Mark on the next missionary journey. No, being of one heart and one mind most certainly cannot mean that we will always have the same opinions and hold the same exact beliefs. Just look at Romans 14 as an example.

But what it does mean is that we have the same purpose. That purpose is to glorify Christ and to spread the kingdom of God. And it does mean that we actually view each other as family and not just as "church friends." You know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the relationships that we have with people in the church that consist of "Hey how are you doing?" "Great, how are you." "Doing good." "How was the ball game last night?"

It's just got to get past that at some point for us to be family!!!

Jesus said that the rest of the world would recognize us as his disciples when they saw our love for each other. Do they? Or does our association with the church more closely resemble our other associations with social clubs and PTA meetings where we hold a loose connection that gives us just enough common purpose to meet on a semi-regular basis in order to discuss our children and our common goals?

Now I have a hunch. If what I am writing is resonating with you and you are thinking about your frustration that your church doesn't sound at all like the church of Acts 4:32, then my guess is that your temptation (like mine) is to think about all of the things that could be done differently in order to better facilitate better relationships. You might think about more effective meeting times and different styles and locations of assembling with the saints that might seem to be more conducive to building relationships. You might think of different programs that would really encourage people to get closer together. You might get really excited about the idea of a congregation-wide ropes course team building activity! (That one is probably gonna be a little difficult to pull off!!:)

I'm not going to go anywhere close to commenting on any of those things. Changes can be helpful or they can be hurtful to a local congregation. The shepherds of each congregation have a responsibility to evaluate their flock and where they are and to lead in a direction that enables Godly relationships to thrive in an atmosphere of family trust that is so real "we don't hold our possessions as our own." But that's up to them.

What is up to me...and you...is to ask "what am I doing right now to build a real and meaningful relationship with someone else in the church?"

There is a bumper sticker philosophy that is attributed to Gandhi that says "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Apparently Ghandi didn't actually say that. What he did say was, "If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do."

In other words, you're not going to change the world by just sitting back and "being the change." But the change that we must focus on first is the change in ourselves.

So how about it? Do you want to see the church look like the church of the first century again? Do you long to feel the connections that the earliest Christians did? Connections so strong and so real that they gladly sold property and gave it to the church. Connections so real that if someone was in need there wasn't a moments hesitation. Relationships that went beyond any blood lines to the point that brother and sisters in Christ forgot that they were brothers and sisters "in Christ" and simply became brothers and and sisters  who shared a common home in heaven with a loving Father and they therefore recognized that what's mine is yours and what yours is mine." Do you want that? Then I guess I'm going to challenge you in a slightly bumper sticker way to

Be the change you want to see in the church.