Community

In preparation for a two-part series on Christian community, I'll be sharing a few quotes on this subject along the way.  Here's the first one:

"We must be open to and committed to those in the surrounding postmodern culture, and be prepared to invest quality time in the lives of people we naturally come into contact with through our social or occupational lives. We can’t look down on people who are different to us and expect to reach them as to do so would mean we take on the role of a master as opposed to a servant. We may even fear or look down on others if we see they are different. And if we are looking down, we are not looking up. It is not possible for Christians to effectively communicate within a culture or a group of people whom they fear or despise. Those in the church are not very good at making relationships a high priority (emphasis mine). That’s because they speak first, and then if a secular person accepts that word, then they are welcomed into the community of faith and a relationship starts. Now that rarely happens. But what if we did our relating first and then the speaking? What if we reversed the order to encourage people to belong to a community of faith so they would be in a familiar environment when they chose to embrace the beliefs of that community? They would not only be more likely to feel like they belonged in community, they may be more likely to take on board the ethos the people within the community.

The highlighted sentence grabbed my attention because it is so true.  If relationships are one of the hallmarks of authentic community & we've been created as relational beings, why are these words so painfully true?

Source: Next-Wave.org