Traditional Church Community
Is it possible to build community if you are part of a traditional church? Well, Arthur at “the voice of one crying out in suburbia” says, “Yes,” in his post “Community in the traditional church.” Actually, Arthur says, “Yes, if…” If what? Well, if the people are willing to make a conscious, intentional effort at building community. This is how Arthur starts:
While recognizing that the traditional model of the gathering of the church is far and away the most common, I also recognize that this very common cultural icon makes it difficult to enjoy real, intimate, dare I say Biblical community. I count where we gather as a family in this camp even though we don’t have some of the traditional barriers to community. Creating community is more than eliminating some of the trappings of traditional Christianity but instead involves a conscious and intentional decision to cultivate the reality of what God has created among us.
By the way, community takes conscious, intentional effort outside of the traditional church as well.
If you’d like a look at a very traditional church which has not only achieved community but is also the most effective evangelistic and disciple making system in a local church in the world, you want to purchase a used copy of Growing the World’s Largest Church by Karen Hurston.
Yoido Full Gospel Church is a cell church – in fact it is THE cell church. But outside the disciple making cell community it is a very, very, very, very traditional church.
It’s a right hand (traditional church), left hand (cell community) thing. They are both very different, but Yoido proves that you can have both ina single church. Like Mae West said, when given a choice between the two, I recommend that you choose both.
David Oliver Kueker,
Thanks for the comments. I have heard of Yoido, but I don’t know much about it. What is benefit of the “very, very, very, very traditional” part of the church that is not available from the “disciple making cell community”?
-Alan