The issue of people, as in Christians, being disconnected seems to be a hot one.
Barna, in his book Revolution, has caused many to worry that he was encouraging people to disconnect from "the church" or from meaningful community altogether.
I recently received an email from someone who is seeking consistent community with others but finds that many of her young friends just want to get together from time to time over coffee or a meal to talk about the Lord. She finds this to be insufficient in meeting her own needs for spiritual community.
Andrew Jones, in his exploration of current trends, suggests that in many western, post-christian countries "about half or more than half of the believers DO NOT attend a church service on Sunday." The fact is, the majority of these people are probably not connecting with what we might call a consistent spiritual community. Jones says, "Their most significant communal rhythms happen through a number of separate events and occasions in homes, coffee shops, clubs, festivals, etc. And in the past 7 years, the internet has become another of those places where spiritual gifts are shared and the accountability of relationship is maintained despite physical distance."
I think there is clearly a trend toward disconnection and dis-affiliation. I think it would be very easy to react to this and say, "It’s important to be connected to one another… in a real way… in a committed way. That’s part of being in the body of Christ. So… find a spiritual community to be part of, i.e. a house church network, or something!"
However… that’s not where I am coming from. Personally, I think the disconnect that is taking place is important and helpful. It’s part of the positive chaos that is a prerequisite to a needed re-organizing of structures, networks, and healthy connectivity. We have been, for so long, connected to structures, programs, and hierarchies in unhealthy ways that there will be, and (I think) must be, a swing toward a radical disconnect in order to find the type of connectivity that supports, heals, nurtures, and renews. This "swing toward the disconnect" does not frighten me.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I, personally, need to be connected. That’s just me. I have been through periods of disconnect and I need connection. I need to continually find healthy, supportive ways to be connected to spiritual community and family. I do not need to be under someone’s positional "spiritual authority." However, I do need to have mentors and fathers in my life whom I am relationally connected to and listening to. I do not need to attend a weekly event or "service." However, I do need to belong to a spiritual community that I participate in life and mission with on a regular basis. I do not need to be preached at, or given a ministry assignment, or told how to live my life. However, I do need spiritual brothers and sisters who know me, whom I can be open with, and who are walking beside me, truly, in my journey.
In short, I personally need healthy, spiritual (truly spiritual) connectedness.
The PROBLEM IS… how to get there! This is no easy task. The answer is not to simply say: join a house church, or start a simple church yourself, or whatever, whatever! We can do this and still find ourselves in the type of connections that we ran from in the beginning. So, it’s just not that simple. Granted, I think it’s a good thing to experiment with a variety of ways to support healthy missional-community lifestyles. Granted, I personally am enjoying tinkering with simple/relational church networks structures to try to provide a framework for the type of healhty connectedness we are looking for. BUT, the fact is, we are not there yet. We are just scratching the surface of finding ways to support healthy spiritual life and community. It is all very experimental and we are all in a learning process.
And that is why I suggest that the disconnection, overall, is a good thing. We need to fully disengage from everything that is not supporting healthy spiritual/community life before we can find new ways to engage. We are still in this process of finding new ways. We will continue to learn and explore together. But it is those who have, or are, disengaging (disconnecting) that are most able to be creative, to try new things, and to be part of the renewal of the body of Christ that I believe is taking place. We have so far to go in discovering the support structures that will facilitate the ongoing movement of God’s Spirit today.
So… will the disconnection that is taking place result in the oblivion of the church if we don’t do something about it? Probably not. Probably the church is in a healthy process that God himself is in charge of. I think we can go with it and trust the process to him.
Comments
8 responses to “Are We Too Disconnected?”
Good post, Roger. I very much agree with you.
Re: the use of the Internet. Some people (those unfamiliar with the Internet) don’t think connection can happen in online discussions. However, I find that people often are able to often have much deeper discussions more freely express themselves online than even in a small group where several voices are fighting for the time available. Online, like here, each of us can express ourselves fully and more thoughtfully.
Amen and amen to what you have written. I also agree that there has to be a disconnect in order for people to realize they are in unhealthy systems. What is truly amazing though is how many “connections” are made with people that God brings into our lives, that perhaps we never would have made a connection with otherwise, simply by being and living as the church (Body of Christ) wherever we go. I know we have found this in our own lives. We are truly moved by the beautiful connections God has brought into our lives since we have left the institutionalized church. By no means are we hurting for fellowship, because we are watching God’s divine placement of like-minded believers into our lives. Thank you for taking the time to so clearly write about this topic. If only more people could catch the vision and understand this powerful move that God is doing within His body. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM. (2 Corinthians 3:17)
I have done some looking into 2Cor.3:17 (Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom.) Interesting stuff. One of Paul’s deepest connections with soteriology is the notion of freedom. When we are saved, we are free.
But this freedom is not finite. It is not an end in itself. Salvation is not just a road to keep us from sinning (otherwise my dog would be the best Christian there is: he doesn’t smoke, drink, swear, or hang with the dogs that do!). We are freed FOR service to Christ. Our slavery now is displayed in our allegiance to Christ’s body – the church.
We are continually saved as we enter into community with others. For Paul, this is where “church structures” seem to stop. Any official “structures” of church happen within the movings of the Spirit. Eph. 4:7-12 is a great look at all of this… Robert Banks, “Paul’s Idea of Community” was a great book looking at how Paul dreamed about church. I’d be interested to hear more posts on your topic.
Great stuff! Thanks for continuing to share your thoughts and journey. We have personally been through a long disconnect process. The surprise has been how hard it is to enter the reconnect phase.
I guess like everyone the “detox” has had to be more than just church structure and culture but a complete realignment of our “world view”. Despite my best attempts I was still looking at creating a new form even though I knew I was searching for substance. Recently however I feel I am starting to see a little more clearly. I feel maybe the revolution we are experiencing is tackling the negative consequences of the Industrial Revolution. ICan we see a return to the strengths of village/family life but reclaimed in our post modern cities. Christians hopefully are again going to start thinking about their grandchildren’s children in their planning of the future as well as how we spend today. This is could take us out of searching for “a” new form and allow us to journey into a way of existence where communities of faith will be much more holistic – based more around extended families and the connectedness of extended families with each other and their community. I hope we can lead (serve) the way forward this time instead of spending the next century playing catch-up. I have hope again!
All I can say is “yep”.
Having experienced the tail end of the “Jesus Movement” of the late 70’s, I too have noticed the trend towards disconnected, image-oriented, money-driven ‘churches’. We must realize that it’s a symptom of our society and culture (or lack of it).
It’s sadly ironic that the people whom I’ve recieved the most support from have been those in the neo-pagan culture and movement. While not particularly ‘Christian’, the community structure is amazing. My Christian experiences lately have been “we will pray for you, trust the Lord”, while my pagan contacts have offered me places to stay, been invited over to ‘break bread’, etc.
Not suprising though. The pagan culture arose out of the need to attach meaning and celebration of life. It seems that today, Christianity is more concerned with our ‘spirituality’ than celebtrating the fact that we as Christians are free from the penalty of sin, and to rejoice and enjoy the gift we have been given.
It’s a sad commentary when the pagans act more like Christians than the Christians. One person actually had a bumper sticker that read “God, save me from your followers!”
(Maybe the Jesus hippies had it right after all.)
– brent
Hey, we’re missionaries in Brazil, striving to start simple churches. Sounds easy. Man, it’s not. We’ve enjoyed reading some of your blogs, and will keep reading them. We’re new to blogging (http://my.opera.com/brazilnuts), and would welcome any comments… especially to our newest question. Already understand the WHYs, searching for the HOWs… Lathams
Hello! I agree with your comments about the need to remove ourselves from the way we know in order to move into a better way of community. I have found it interesting in my time of House Church how many people want to be connected yet are fearful or negative about the structures that are needed in order to connect. I think there can be a balance of freedom and connectedness. In fact that is what I am striving to create. It seems that there are lots of blogs and bulletin boards and websites about simple churches yet not enough connection to actually create one body of believers. There has to be a way to keep Jesus as the head of the body and the body parts (individual churches) functioning how they are made to function. Yet connect everything with a nervous system that is controled by Christ. Even our body functions this way. If the toe, a body part with a specific and important role to play in maintaining balance gets cut on a piece of glass our brain sends a signal to the finger to apply pressure to the toe. So connectedness is vital to the health of the body.
The persons statement about caring for generations is something that I think simple house churches are creating in that at some point in the future, depending on your theological viewpoint, the time will come that we will all be meeting in underground gatherings. If a connection isnt there between these gatherings we will not have cared for our great great grandkids and we will not have supplied them with the structures needed to survive in that time. To me it is part of our duty to secure a central networking place that protects house churches (meaning that it could easily be moved underground) while allowing them to help and work together for the betterment of God’s kingdom. I’m not a dooms day preacher or anything but it doesn’t make sense to not be prepared.
Hi Roger,
Your recent posts prompt me supply a link to Chaordic Commons http://www.chaordic.org/cd_process_activities.html
Rev.Dr.Meredith J. Sprunger (UCC retired) introduced me to Dee Hock 6 years ago, and my subsequent follow-ups uncovered Margaret Wheatley.
Your posts have provided no small measure of encouragement and satisfaction for me in my own “tinkering”.
Godspeed, Michael