Some Core Thoughts/My Story On Community Living

Glenn on Fellowship

The Core of What Community Means to Me

I suppose there are as many reasons for joining or trying to start a community of believing Christians as there are types of communities. The idea is actually older than the New Testament in terms of people living closely together, sharing their deeper thoughts and dreams as well as food, lodging and also what might be called "non-essential" material things.

There are many reasons one may not wish to continue in community living also. Such a life- no matter how structured or unstructured- can be daunting. More on that later.

-Very Important Background Information-

I joined Jesus People U.S.A. on the basis of two very real things: deep personal conviction of God's call on my life to do so, and deep personal need.

In January 3, 1971 I made an initial comittment to follow Jesus. He had revealed Himself to me in such ways that I seemed to have two choices: walk away or follow Him. To this day these are still the only two choices I believe I ultimately have.

My mother had divorced my father when I was nine years old, and frankly, this devastated me. If there had been few marks of family in my life prior to that, there were less after. I visited my Dad two weeks out of every year, the rest of the time living with Mom in a working-class suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (West Allis).

I was the youngest of three children, my sister some ten years older than I, my brother eight more. It has often been said that the younger family members take the worst "hits" in family disputes as they don't have the understanding or social/emotional "equipment" to deal with the stress like the older ones. I believe that to be true.

I gained more and more friends, but of the sort that thought sex games, doorbell-ringing, vandalism and cigarette smoking at very early ages were a good idea. At that time, so did I. Let's just say my choice of childhood friends didn't include saints-to say the least!

As the years passed I got deeply involved in music, singing, learning guitar, bass, drums and harmonica. I played in a long list of bands and at times played in two bands simultaneously.

I'd been the "fat kid" for years, lost all the weight between tenth and eleventh grade and began moving through a number of relationships with girls, mostly of the sort that saw little wrong with drugs, sex and rock and roll- and that was literally all I cared about until I surrendered to Jesus.

When one learns early on that people can't be trusted, one begins going "solo" making major decisions. That was a costly mistake for me, proven over and over by drug overdoses, drunken binges, a few trips to the police station and basically helping others to the same trail of ruin I had been on.

Death had knocked several times, and I'd almost lost the chance to change. The truth is I had begun to hate myself, had given up on myself and not only couldn't see any way TO change, I honestly didn't know anyone else who had their life any more together than I did. Yet I was searching for someone who seemed to...

A good number of my friends- believe it or not- had at least fairly decent parents. My own seemed clueless so it was not uncommon for me to ask other's folks about the deeper matters of life. For whatever reasons, they often listened and tried to answer my questions about life, death, the reasons people stayed together or separated. But few of them made any more sense than it seemed my parents did.

Then I came to sense the God Who made me, calling... me! The difference in my life after inviting Jesus to take me and do in me what He would became downright amazing, extremely so to my friends at school and in bands, but even more so to me.

-A Foundation Towards Maturity-

As I read the Bible daily, grew in prayer and sharing my new-found faith with others, a fourth thing happened most naturally. I began looking for closer fellowship with other Christians. I knew then (and now) that people are not God and so cannot be trusted in the same sense one would and should trust Him. Imperfect as they were, I found an increasing number of people who truly seemed to love Jesus Christ, love or at least accept me- and who wanted to gather for those reasons.

My first taste of community came from several churches I was attending every time their doors were open. While nobody -including me- was perfect in any of them, there was a sense of awe of God in the worship meetings. In one of these fellowships, there were perhaps a large number of unbelievers who simply found in religion a social context for their lives, but the leadership and many key members there clearly loved the Lord and welcomed me. This made me WANT to gather with them.

And so it was that not only did I realize my need to be with sober, drug-free, non-sex-crazed people who loved the Lord, His Book, worshiping Him together and hearing sermons and teachings in accord with His Word and will, there were core people who at every level seemed over time to be true disciples of Jesus Christ... not merely "pew-warmers". Had I not linked with such people I sincerely doubt I'd have ever grown in Christ, and probably wouldn't have remained a Christian.

To be able to daily fellowship with godly, solid, biblical followers of Jesus who knew and know they're not perfected but journeying together, encouraging, calling to account, in a word, discipling one another with mentoring and pastoral care was and is to me, a slice of heaven! To someone as weak and prone to sin and self as I was and yes, in many ways still am, such a common life looks very much like the gift of God it is.

-What Community Is To Me-

I'm not saying fellowship saved or saves me... I'm saying my own life with God is thoroughly wrapped up in the prayers, biblical encouragement, rebuke and teaching of the believers I'm closest to. It has been over thirty years as I write these words, and what I've just stated here is still emphatically true.

Like many, I came to know Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior in the Jesus Movement. One of the first "Jesus houses" I encountered had a poster on the wall with flowers popping out all over it. The message said, "Bloom where you're planted".

The Bible tells us about the need for good soil in order to bear good fruit. I'm convinced the spiritual "soil" one is planted in has a lot to do with the fruit produced. Then again, there is a huge place in which the illustration doesn't hold true: we "branches" (Jesus being the vine) have free will. We have nearly EVERYTHING to say about our own spiritual growth -or lack of it.

Besides the various implications of shared life in a community, the word "family" as in "extended family" is part of this gift I enjoy and share in.

Yet there is no family without struggles, pain, chaos and at times, frustration and dysfunction. Part of why the JPUSA community exists is to be a place of welcome, healing and challenge to those whom God sends to be part of this large extended "family" for whatever length of time. Living among broken, hurting people in the exact way I do isn't a call for everyone! But for me it brings life, and powerful lessons.

I learned something in those first months of my walk with the Lord: the fact that I had to live my life regardless how those around me live. Their Bible study wasn't mine, unless I actually paid attention and joined in. Then again, I might not agree with their perspectives or their sense of interpretation... therefore it was my life, my mind and my responsibility to "search the Scriptures" to find out if what I was being taught was true.

Personal responsibility is one of the safeguards as well as one of the problems of community, especially close, intentional community life. How so?

-It's My Life And (in the end) I'll Do What I Want-

The fact that I choose to read or not, attend prayer meetings and church services, worship meetings or not, social events, etc.., basically, participation is up to me. Even if there is some sort of mandate to "show up", one's mind can be a million miles away. One can be basically belligerent, even full of discord and schismatic (divisive, causing division in a local congregation) and yet work alongside of innocent, godly brothers and sisters in close community. It happens all the time.

While living in closer proximity to believers does not insure living intimately or sharing true godly character and service to the Lord, one can blameshift to the point of the community being one's scapegoat. It's "their fault" for the way I feel, for my not getting what I deserve, etc., etc.. So as I said earlier, community in itself can be a great or a terrible experience. But it has to do- same as in a traditional church format- with the people. And I mean ALL the people involved!

But in the end, I must (and will in the end) take full responsibility for what I think, believe, say and live out in my daily life. So community begins and to an extent, ends, with me.

As I see it, some things have changed greatly in the thirty years I've walked this road, while others have remained essentially the same. People are people. They are imperfect. They make and break commitments, they love and obey God or turn away from Him and His Word and His people. We are all what the Bible tells us we are- in the positive, the negative or the mixture of both.

-The Reality of the Human Beings, Living in Common, or Not-

I've known some people around here for nearly all those thirty years, and they've grown closer to God and one another. There is more "fruit of the Spirit" in their lives than ever. They are "planted by streams of water" and are "ever green" and fruitful due to their own choices in use of time, linking with godly, serious Christians and all the rest. They take care to plant and harvest, sow and reap spiritual edification. Others plant rocks and thorns and reap in kind. Same community, different attitudes, character and issues in the each person.

I've known some who began well but are bitter, living in and sharing little other than stress and misery. Community for them was -or became- a nightmare, an endless trail of tears.

Living closely with others means we all share the pleasure of spiritual maturity and growth as well as the heartache of bad attitudes, sin and the consequences of unrepentant folks.

There are many, many reasons people join or leave, start and finish or begin but do not continue living in a community setting.

As one's needs begin to be met (i.e., I no longer have a drug habit, nor am tempted with sex by whomever will go to bed with me, caught up in musical idolatry, etc.) one might begin to think of personal rewards. "If anyone DESERVES 'promotion', I do"! Or we begin thinking "how come they are able to have that material item, or are going out to eat when I'm stuck with this casserole"? It can be as basic as jealousy, envy and pride.

James sums it up well, and these same wise words about conflict that so easily relate to family, society and traditional church structures most certainly relate to intentional Christian community:

(James 4:1) What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? (4:2) You lust and do not have; {so} you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; {so} you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.

The Holy Spirit through James goes on to tell us that when we ask with bad motives we don't get what we want and all sorts of havoc takes place. It's as old as Cain and Abel and it happens -regardless of issues of authority or structure- over and over again in history.

(James 2:13) For judgment {will be} merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

Those who learn to accept God's grace in a fuller sense realize that all of us only deserve hell, and anything less is God's love and grace sovereignly given us. It indeed is NOT a matter of good works and earning good things from God! But continuing to a maturity that shares such grace and mercy with others, even if they have truly sinned against us is a major issue in community life. In fact, a community may survive and flourish with most of the people learning to forgive one another, but those who do not learn and appropriate such grace and mercy to the others will never remain in such a community.

Jean Vanier in "Community and Growth" states that people join a community in order to experience the mystery of forgiveness. While I heartily agree, I think that learning to face one's sins, confess and repent of them as well as forgiving other's their sins is an absolute essential part of why some communities flourish while others simply come to a sad and bitter end. It's the people- not the structure.

-Community Structures?-

In my three decades of visiting, reading about and listening to others living in various sorts of Christian communities world-wide, one clear structure as a "one-size-fits-all" has never surfaced. There is neither an absolute intentional community structure nor a local congregation (church) structure given in the Word of God as an absolute template, therefore it is folly and useless to demand one.

I'm not saying structures are irrelevant or without importance to a people and a place, rather that structures don't answer deeper needs. That takes the Holy Spirit moving through godly, yielded people, leaders and those not in "leadership" as such. We see wonderful and horrible examples of how things went both right or wrong in this regard throughout the Bible. Jesus rarely speaks about structure while He regularly speaks to attitudes, character, obedience and disobedience to God in the lives of the people.

Many years ago I found myself in an overseas festival round-table interview with several Christian leaders. The topic shifted to structures within the churches, and the matter of what is often referred to as "structural sin" arose. While I'm certain many will not agree with me (and that's fine, we all have differing views) I do not see Jesus shedding His blood for ANY structure! He died and focused on people, and in the final analysis, it's people, their attitudes, character (or lack of it) and their sin nature rather than structural issues that will bless or curse, heal or kill, edify or destroy a local congregation be it a typical church, contemporary fellowship or an intentional Christian community.

I've heard endless debates world-wide and within JPUSA about both polity and structure and I've yet to be convinced that the Bible dictates what so many individuals would on these issues.

Community based on God's call, God's Word, God's love and our willingness to walk in obedience to Him and service to one another as well as those beyond our fellowship are THE issues at the heart of healthy community.

The very word comes from the root "common" and to the degree we hold more things in common than not are a barometer as to how genuinely we express community. The focus is on "Him" and "them" rather than a self-centered life of "me and mine".

Here is one blessing and/or curse of community: it will typically change us more than we will change it.

IF a particular fellowship is a work of the Spirit (and that's an entirely separate article of great length) and not merely humans doing good works, God will accomplish what He chooses through it. There will be spiritual life lived out and shared beyond it. God will be honored and the fruit will be eternal. If it is only a work of people intent on personal gain and selfish ends, it is simply a collective and not authentic community- at least for those with such poor motives and goals who populate it.

I am SO thankful that with all the sin, mistakes and bad humor in myself and in many of those I serve with that generally and specifically, I'm blessed by a long personal history lesson that God is real, truly works through community living, and that He causes biblical, spiritual growth that can and does draw others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as one result of authentic community life.

Further, He creates through us, biblical disciples who love and obey the Lord if and as WE ourselves do so. I state emphatically that it does not take an intentional Christian community exactly like Jesus People U.S.A. in Chicago to see such fruit! But I can also say I've been incredibly blessed to see that it truly can and does happen as those in any community of believers are willing to pay the price and live the Word of God out in everyday life.

I am convinced intentional Christian community is the call of God for some, but by no means all believers. I am blessed to share my life, gifts and sins, debts and assets (of all kinds!) with a group of people who at the core, believe and serve God and others rather than "the American Dream".

Some think of community living as "heaven", others think it "hell"! In reality, it's neither or either- the kingdom of God is within you. I'm convinced that it greatly depends upon the degree to which you follow Jesus as Lord of your life in the context of a close community lifestyle.

Depending on your response and the corporate response of those in that time, place and commitment, it can prove a wonderful -and shared- blessing.

Gloria Deo!

Posted 12/19/01