COMMUNITY

I thought a good starting point for this online discussion would be about what Vocation is all about, even though it doesn't match what we are learning as a group right now. We have four core values at Vocation: community, authenticity, mobilization and creativity. Let's start with community.

Why do we need community? I have many friends who have become disillusioned with church and have thus decided to 'abstain' from community and live their faith out alone. Can we really do this? Whenever I think about going it alone, I harken back to my rowing days. Have you ever tried to train as hard as you could for 18 sessions a week all by yourself? Probably not, and I don't recommend it. It's virtually impossible to push yourself by yourself. We were created to be in community and in fellowship, whether it be in training for sports or in our faith.

Why is there so much disillusionment about the church community? We are never going to get community perfect. We are probably going to be hurt, and our expectations are probably not going to be met. I think we often become disillusioned because the church fails to live up to its calling. That's why we put our faith in Christ, not in the church. And that's also why we seek after God first and try to live out his expectations for the church, not ours.

So what is it all about? A community focuses on what brings it together. It learns from each individual's uniqueness, and honours that uniqueness. A community is not a one-minded enterprise, but a collection of unique people sharing with one another.

Your thoughts are welcome...What is your experience 'in community'? What would a God-given community look like today? How does it act? Where does the church fit in this whole community thing?

So...here's the deal...

We are all busy throughout the week and I had been thinking of doing this for a while and someone encouraged me to do it, so here goes! To stimulate ongoing discussion/reflection/communication, a blog such as this is a wonderful and simple way to talk online. I'll try to regularly post some reflections/thoughts and we can discuss them through comments. So...to add a comment, you simply go to the end of the entry and you will see a hyperlink like "1 comment". Simply click on that link, enter your comment and name and you are done! You'll have to enter a little text code, which prevents automated "spam commenting". Any questions, email me.

This will be a fun, easy way to express our thoughts and I want to emphasize that any and all thoughts are welcome. It goes without saying that we should be respectful and open to what people have to say.