To be or not to be… community
Bill at “Provocative Church” gives us a sarcastic list of “10 ways to avoid building community…“:
1. Keep conversations short.
2. Always sit in your “assigned” seat.
3. Avoid new people.
4. Come late to church.
5. Leave immediately after the service (or early).
6. Be physically present but mentally absent.
7. Don’t share a meal.
8. Stay very, very busy.
9. Make your default response “everything is great†or “fine”.
10. Don’t show up.
So, how are you doing at avoiding community?
I guess a #11 could be: Don’t reply to this blog post…
But to answer your question, I guess for me it is easy to get busy and that can avoid community. ON Sunday’s as I help to lead the congregation, often the prep needed to ensure our service goes well distracts me from the conversations that can be so life giving. This tends to lead to short conversations…
I guess also for people in a leadership role, it is more difficult to be open about not doing so well…
great list…
#12. Don’t fight that fear of talking, just ride it out until church is over.
John Santic,
I also find busy-ness a problem when the church gets together. When I stop to think about it, it seems ridiculous that I would spend so much time and energy on the schedule and the agenda (which I do for the people, right?), but then I ignore the people themselves.
Alan,
Thanks for adding to the list. It is always easier to maintain the status quo, isn’t it?
-Alan
#13 Never be satisfied with the church you attend. If you get fed up with something, just go down the street.
Alan, the busy-iness is one that rings so true. As a staff member of a church, it amazes me at times – how much the church makes people busy and unfortunately; it is for “not” most of the time.
Leah,
Interesting addition, and very true! Your #13 shows a focus on self instead of others, which is definitely a way to avoid building community.
Jeff,
Isn’t it interesting that busy-ness usually has the opposite effect than we think it will? We are “busy” in order to build community, but we end up avoiding community by staying busy.
-Alan
This whole busyness problem has been addressed over and over again in our fellowship. Our folks are so used to being worn out from being in a church building every time the doors are open that it is truly a blessing for them to be able to actually minister to their own families and even then have their own families minister to other church families on Sunday evenings.
Dustin,
I know that I was taught that if I was not “busy” at church, then I was not a faithful Christian.
-Alan