God never intended for
any of us to live the Christian life alone.
A
WAY TO SEE CHRIST IN OTHERS - One of the most important ways the community
helps us is by embodying Christ’s continuing presence on earth. When my
brothers and sisters love and accept me, I feel Christ’s love, too. When I
confess my sin and they forgive me, I know that God forgives me, too. When they
pray for my brokenness, I know that they are sharing in the healing work of
Jesus. In our dog-eat-dog, enemies-with their teeth-bared world, when we feel
the crush of hostility and of our own failures, to have our Christian community
surround us with compassion and encouragement lightens our loads, strengthens
us, and gives us the courage to keep on trying.
A
SOURCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND GUIDANCE - The community also furthers our
continuing conversion by being a place where we teach each other and hold
ourselves accountable to each other. When I hear what God is teaching others,
it teaches me, too. When I submit to the guidance and scrutiny of my brothers
and sisters, it forces me to grow and to be accountable to the commitments I
make.
Ignoring
this powerful element is one of the main reasons many small groups never really
experience Christian community. They prefer to remain superficial.
Inadvertently, perhaps, they enter into a pact of mediocrity in which they
tacitly agree to let all the members "mind their own business" and
not to hold people accountable either to each other or to the teachings of
Christ. It’s a great loss, for when we refuse accountability to the community,
we not only fail to grow, but we put ourselves in grave danger.
I
tend to overfill my calendar with activities, projects, and meetings, a flaw
that, for me, has spiritual roots. When I began work on my first book, I took
the idea to a group of trusted Christian friends who knew about my weakness.
We
had a wonderful and terrible meeting. After listening to me for a while, they
said they thought God wanted me to write the book. They also asked to see my
appointment calendar. It took only moments for them to see that I couldn't
write the book and do everything I had already scheduled, so they insisted that
I should cancel several speaking engagements and resign from some committees. I
took their counsel, although giving up some of those plans made me heartsick. I
also sent each of them a schedule of my "writing days" as a further
step toward accountability. It is clear now (though I knew it then) that they
were right. If I had failed to submit to their wisdom under God, that book
would still be merely a few notes in a manila folder.
Such
accountability doesn't need to have overtones of checking up and scolding. It
works, instead, to encourage us and help us in our growth and commitments. We
may ask for guidance about how to handle a difficult relationship on the job or
about how to put together a family budget that reflects our commitments about
lifestyle and giving. And we'll be glad, usually, to have people ask how it’s
going. The community gives us a place to air our growth and our struggles, our
successes and failures. It simply gives us a way of guiding each other ever more
fully in the ways of Christ.
Howard Macy is a
Professor Emeritus at George Fox University. He is the author of Rhythms of the
Inner Life.