Categotry Archives: community

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Creating Community, or Finding It (part 3: Our Journey)

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Categories: changing mindsets, church, community, food for thought

So read parts one and two to catch up…

With my changing views on community, I think what I’m about to share here is the most significant factor–because it really demonstrates what can happen when we let community happen instead of make it happen. (And this is just what our journey looks like–not an inference as to what yours should look like.)

This is a preview of Creating Community, or Finding It (part 3: Our Journey). Read the full post (1027 words, 1 image, estimated 4:06 mins reading time)

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Creating Community, or Finding It (part 2: Community Happens)

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Categories: community, food for thought, Meanderings (look it up)

In part 1, I started a stream of thought about my changing picture of community, how it used to be so tied to the institutional structures (which are essentially created communities), and how I’m seeing it as more of an organic, naturally occuring thing. I talked about the feeling of alone-ness that so often happens to…oh, heck, just go read it. Sheesh, I’m sitting here writing the dang thing all over again… 😀

So for us believers who have found ourselves outside the walls, if the solution for our alone-ness is not (necessarily) to create new communities with others who share our experience, how can we re-think it? We know it’s important, we see it as a need; what, if anything, do we do about it?

This is a preview of Creating Community, or Finding It (part 2: Community Happens). Read the full post (770 words, 2 images, estimated 3:05 mins reading time)

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An Online Community for Disenfranchised Believers

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Categories: church, community, link love

This morning, my blogger friend Glenn, a former institutional church pastor, just launched a new site you should check out.

Communitas Collective describes itself as “a place for the rest of us.” It’s a social online community site specifically designed for people who are leaving (or have left) institutional forms of church and are trying to navigate their relationship with Christ without that map. Since that idea comprises quite a lot of what I talk about here…I guess it makes sense that I would be excited about this.

This is a preview of An Online Community for Disenfranchised Believers. Read the full post (275 words, 2 images, estimated 1:06 mins reading time)

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Thoughts on Building Authentic Christian Community (June Syncrhoblog)

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Categories: community, food for thought

(This entry is part of Glenn’s June Synchrhoblog. This synchroblog lasts for several days, so check back as more links are added. And if you want to participate, be sure to link back to Glenn.)

The feeling of “alone-ness” I spoke of in my last post is something that is common among people who, like me, are in various stages of separating from institutional forms of church. Some simply feel like misfits among the status quo; others have been wounded or victimized by spiritual abuse. And some have even attempted alternative forms of community outside the walls of church, only to have them implode and end unpleasantly; so they are fearful of trying again.

This is a preview of Thoughts on Building Authentic Christian Community (June Syncrhoblog). Read the full post (1264 words, 1 image, estimated 5:03 mins reading time)

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Some Thoughts on the Need for Community

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Categories: church, community, Meanderings (look it up)

A few days ago Erin wrote an honest post called “A Place For Us“, which touched off a firestorm of comments as people shared their ideas, hopes, fears, dreams, and longings to find authentic Christian community with others without the trappings of organized religion. Just reading the comments can be almost overwhelming (but try it anyway). If nothing else, they point to a deep shared need among the growing number of people who are disenfranchised with religious systems.

We might be disillusioned with institutional church. We might be jaded and wounded by the abuses we’ve suffered. We might be nauseated by the idea of regular structured meetings of any kind–under a steeple, in a home, or in a park. We might be so broken that we just don’t trust anybody outside the virtual world of blogging.

This is a preview of Some Thoughts on the Need for Community. Read the full post (1250 words, 2 images, estimated 5:00 mins reading time)