I discover true community with others (Part 1)

While the kind of community that Christians experience with God is unique and unrivalled by any relationship, there is another kind of relationship that is unique as well, though it’s different and not quite as seamless and intimate. I'm talking about relationships to other Christians within the church (here I mean "church" as a local group of Christians meeting regularly). 

Let me first talk about some of the reasons why it's not always seamless before addressing why this community ends up being one of the most treasured benefits in my life.

As I said before, Christians are anything but perfect. First, Christianity embraces the truth that people—we—are essentially incapable of dealing with our shortcomings on our own. These shortcomings—like selfishness, greed, and pride—keep following us throughout our lives as Christians. Still, with God's help the goal is to learn to overcome them. In "learning to overcome," the emphasis is really more on the "learning" than on the "overcoming," at least as a realistically achievable goal. If I look at my own experience as a Christian who is eagerly trying to shed those shortcomings while also completely and exclusively embracing a new kind of identity, I can look back and celebrate some achievements. But as far as completely and always succeeding with that new and always-loving identity? Give me another 600 years and we'll talk again. No, seriously, Christians don't believe in achievable perfection in this life, and that has a tremendous impact on how we are with other Christians. We know nobody’s perfect.

This means that some of the divisiveness of "normal" life can be part of church life as well. In the US, one of the greatest dividers occurs along ethnic lines, manifesting itself in quasi-segregated churches. This is partly a painful reminder of the history—and current presence—of racism in this country, but it is also a recognition that different church cultures have emerged between ethnic groups that are hard to bridge.

With that in mind, local churches still tend to be extremely diverse, and much more so than other groups based on interest. I'm particularly talking diversity in age, social standing, or political opinion. 

And since I mentioned "political opinion," allow me one other comment about an area that Christians cannot be proud of: Throughout history, individual churches and sometimes the church as a whole have shown embarrassingly poor judgment regarding their partisan political entanglement. The involvement by some churches here in the US during the last several years is no exception to that. Still, it does not mean that local churches have to be divided. I'm a perfect example of that: I was brought up in Northern Europe with its rather progressive ideas about politics and society. These stand in sharp contrast to the opinion of many in rural America, and yet I am welcomed and loved in my local church here in rural Oregon. 

Diversity is certainly possible for communities that are organized around interests as well, but according to my experience that's typically just not the case. As I watch people in so many societies around the world becoming increasingly fragmented—politically, culturally, and socioeconomically—I don't think there's much hope for an increase of diversity in interest-based groups. Those interests by definition serve to divide us.

In contrast, faith is not an interest that you pursue because of your social position, your ethnic background, your generational belonging, or your ideas on how politics and society should work. Faith goes deeper.