Toward a Theology of Community

I've been thinking a lot about Christian community lately (there's an understatement, eh?). As I've posted about numerous times, I think we're missing the boat somehow. We talk about "fellowship" and pretty much mean "superficial opportunity to consume food and leave without taking my mask off". Okay, not all of us mean that, but I think most do. We still talk about "church" and mean the building, not the people. I don't want to harp on conventions of language, but I think it's telling that so many of us routinely speak of "going to church" on Sundays.

Persecuted people seem to "get it" better than we Americans normally do. So do postmodern people in general. More to the point of this post, pre-modern people understood community much better than we do today. So I wondered to myself if the pages of Scripture might help me catch a fresh vision of authentic community. The answer, of course, is an absolute "YES"...

I know that Bible has tons to say about community, both implicitly and explicitly. So I just started wondering to myself, "where might I start looking?". Many scholars have long maintained that the "best" church referenced in the NT was the church at Thessalonika - they seem to have the least problems. So I simply read through the book of 1 Thessalonians and made mental notes of portions that dealt with community. My theory going in was that the "best" NT church would likely manifest a really good sense of community. What follows is simply my general observations.

Chapter 1 After heaping much praise on the church, Paul puts a fine point on it this way:

As a result you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the message of the Lord has echoed forth not just in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place reports of your faith in God have spread, so that we do not need to say anything. For people everywhere report how you welcomed us and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.(v.7-9)

Obviously it was their faith that drove the message home, but I had previously missed this little nugget about how their sense of community had played a role as well.

Chapter 2 After speaking about how well the Thessalonians had received Paul and the Gospel before he had to leave, we read an emotional section on just how much Paul missed this local body of Christ-followers:

But when we were separated from you, brothers and sisters, for a short time (in presence, not in affection) we became all the more fervent in our great desire to see you in person. For we wanted to come to you (I, Paul, in fact tried again and again) but Satan thwarted us. For who is our hope or joy or crown to boast of before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not of course you? For you are our glory and joy!(v.17-20)

I have no doubt that part of the reason for this "joy" had to do with their faith. But this section cannot be minimized to merely joy over doctrinal purity. Paul clearly loved being around these guys. They were the kind of company you don't want to leave. I don't think they could have been so loved without doctrinal purity, for sure. But because of that purity (and other factors) there is authentic community at work here, and Paul longed to be a part of it. Note, too, that it was Satan who thwarted Paul's presence in this community...

Chapter 3 Since Paul simply cannot get to them himself, he sends Timothy to the Thessalonians to check up on them and make sure they haven't lost their passion. When Timothy returns to Paul with his report, we read:

But now Timothy has come to us from you and given us the good news of your faith and love and that you always think of us with affection and long to see us just as we also long to see you!(v.6)

As we might expect, Christians involved in authentic community get hooked! They longed for Paul's presence in their community as much as he.

Chapter 4 As Paul settles down to the instructional section of his letter, he admonishes the Thessalonians to continue to live in a way pleasing to God. When he gets to the matter of love:

Now on the topic of brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. And indeed you are practicing it toward all the brothers and sisters in all of Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more...(v.9-10)

Here's where I'm getting a bit more speculative. I wonder if the reason why Paul chose his letter to the Thessalonians as the place to reveal his most extensive teachings about the Rapture (v. 13-18)had a lot to do with their sense of community. It makes sense to me. He begins his teaching on the Rapture with these words:

Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope. (v.13)

Doesn't seem only natural that Paul would be most concerned about these particular Christians precisely because they had such an authentic sense of community? They were connected in a way that most Christians merely play at, and therefore the pain of separation (by death) was felt all the more acutely by them. So Paul feels compelled to not leave them in the dark - he wants them to know that their community will be reunited with the Almighty some day soon. He's certain these words will be a comfort to them, too (v.18). The Thessalonians, by virtue of their deeply cultivated sense of community, were in a unique position to truly appreciate the teaching of the Rapture. Their minds were ready for it, no doubt, because they had also cultivated a deep faith in the Word. But I think it was their community they provided the impetus for why Paul chose them to deliver this message to.

Hopefully I'm not overstating my case. I do not believe that "community" comes before "doctrine" or "holiness". I once left a church because the pastor believed that "love and unity come before doctrinal purity". What I do believe is that the natural outworking of "doctrine" and "holiness" should be deep community. But it often isn't. We let our arrogance get in the way of community. Each of us has decided that we have a lock on absolute truth - if you don't agree with me, you're wrong. Simple as that. We've lost the art of "agreeing to disagree" - we no longer think there's even a time or place for such a notion, calling it "wishy-washy" or "liberal".

I desperately want the kind of community that the Thessalonians had within their local body. Paul wanted it to. Do we thirst for it? If Piper's right and we "glorify God by enjoying Him forever", then doesn't it make sense that this thirst is God-given?

Are we passionately pursuing deep community or merely going through the motions of fellowship?

Hatushili