Pastor Eugene Park wrote an article that’s posted at The Gospel Coalition: “The Folly of ‘Looking for Community.’” Seems like a strange title. Folly? What could be the problem?
When Park asks newcomers what brings them to church, “the most common reply is, ‘I’m looking for community.’” But this makes him wince. Why? Because community “isn’t something to be discovered. Community is never found, only built.”
Community is never found, only built.
Surveys abound indicating that, in this social media age when we’re all connected, loneliness is at epidemic levels. Why is this? “The internet has redefined community in terms of choice.” The days when you were born into a community for life are long gone. Today you can “form a community” with anyone, anywhere.
“We now treat community like a stop at Chipotle. You can curate your community, just like your burrito, down to your exact preference.” And when community becomes a consumer commodity, it’s oh-so-easy to walk away when things aren’t to our taste.
“When we try to ‘find’ a church community, we only treat the church as a consumer. We look for the perfect fit and bail at the first sign of discomfort. We avoid the depth needed to truly transform and sustain our souls. We need to stop thinking like shoppers and more like builders.” Park proposes three principles:
1) “Don’t be an architect”—that is, don’t dream up the ideal church. Rather, commit to a real church.
2) Building community “requires friction, not comfort”—“it’s only through effort, sweat, and tears that anything worthy is built.”
3) We may be “desperate to find community in hopes that it will fill some empty part of our souls.” But only Christ can satisfy our deep longings, and the church exists to point us to Christ.
