Great thoughts from greater minds than my own

From Matt Adair, teaching pastor at Christ Community Church in Watkinsville, GA

Collin Hansen writes about the uncertainty that surrounds the relationship between a struggling economy and people's desire for community. Optimistically, Christians believe that an economic unraveling will go a long way to convincing people that they need each other. Pessimistically, it appears that we're not looking to share our struggles but to hide from each other and watch a different favorite TV show every night in isolation from our friends and neighbors. The church has an opportunity to cut against the grain of culture and learn how to live in community. But let's be careful - because far too often, community in the church is disconnected from mission and has no intention of gathering in people who don't know Jesus into our life.

Quoting Robert Putnam, who wrote Bowling Alone, Hansen writes:

As Putnam observes in Bowling Alone, the demands of private piety and church-based service can insulate evangelicals from the needs outside their homes and churches.

"Most evangelical volunteering, however, supports the religious life of the congregation itself—teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir, ushering at worship services—but does not extend to the broader community as much as volunteering by members of other faiths," Putnam writes.

Worshiping God is a worthy priority, of course. The very act can even attract outsiders to investigate what marks our faith communities as unique. But if we depend on this outreach method alone, our churches become safe havens for respectable Christians. We give alms, but we do not give ourselves. And our neighbors will never learn what kind of life-giving community they could find inside.