Reclaiming Community

I could go into the myriad of reasons our communities have broken down over the last two hundred years but that would be an entire course lecture so I will save it for another time. What is most important is recognizing we do have a serious and devastating dissolve in multigenerational, interdependent communities which were once a tightly woven fabric of support, strength, stability and safety. Once upon a time when someone in our community was being challenged or had a need there were many people to come to their aid. Many hands make light any load. When an entire community is looking out for the greatest good of each other, then any challenge that presents itself is not too great a burden to be remedied. Unfortunately, now we live in a world that is isolated and hyper independent to their own hurt. It doesn't take much digging to see the negative effects of this relatively new lifestyle choice of humans. For thousands of years we were focused on living multigenerationally, interdependantly, in community. For thousands of years that was the magic sauce that made humans resilient and progressing. In just a few hundred years we have almost completely dissolved the magic sauce that made us. The negative impact on our mental and emotional health is enough to set off alarms but as we take a deeper look and notice the negative impact on our physical, relational, financial, spiritual and vocational health as well the loss of functional supportive community becomes a national self created crisis more dangerous and damaging than nearly all the external threats we face as a country. 

It is clear that times have changed. Entire ways of exisiting have changed and although many are choosing to move back to a homestead model of doing life, it is unrealistic to think that is an option or even a desire for the masses. With that in mind we have to begin to think outside of the box for ways to facilitate the development of multigenerational, interdependant communites. It is true that there are micro communities all over any city. Everything from church to the country club has it's own little tribe feel and practices. These,  largely social, goups leave a lot to be desired in attending to the needs of the whole person. In order to find the level of support many people need these days they have to extend themselves across many different, niche specific, groups which is time consuming and energy depleting. Each group will rightfully expect participation in exchange for reciprocity and support. To do that across several organizations is nearly impossible for the average person. Burnout has become a regular state of being for many in the US these days. So what can we do?

What I dream of, have dreamed of for three years now is a micro community from fifty to five hundred that have a wide demographic of people actively participating in consistently with shared values they willfully adhere to. The place that comes up over and over again that potentially fits that description is the organized church. The practices I am about to propose will sound amazing and desirable for some. Others, many others  will say they are already doing that but I can almost promise you that if their congregation was polled on their own personal experiences with anything resembling what I am about to propose they will tell you they are not receiving that kind of community involvement in their life. They may see it happen for some other people around them but it isn't consistent or offered to everyone without bias.