Though people are discovering some new relationships in neighborhoods, I am finding that many desire regular fellowship and connection outside their neighborhood. Many connect with extended family, friends at work where they spend 40-plus hours a week, at local activities and community gatherings, school functions and by serving others in need. And then there is the socio-economic reality. Almost every neighborhood or community is segmented by race, creed, color, economic or social status, or language. As a result, many suburban communities, for example, wind up connecting people of the same stripe (e.g., white, republican, professional people making over $200,000 and living in million-dollar homes, with discretionary time and income).
That is why we need to distinguish between place-based and place-centered. Place-centered community makes it all about the place, the group, the class—in other words, all about US! Place-centered people want the entire world to revolve around their home or ethnic group or neighborhood or socio-economic group. It may feel good at first but soon becomes very ego-centric. Relationships, social activities and serving opportunities are soon evaluated and performed in that arena. But Jesus was not a place-centered person, and Christianity is not a place-centered community. The Trinity is on the move and we are called to go…into the world.
Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Although he could have remarked, “The guy who lives next door to you,” he envisioned a greater kind of community where “place” was not the center of community, but rather “mission” was at the core. The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches that the “inconvenient” relationship—the guy across town, from another social and economic group, another skin color—might be the “place” where community is built. In other words, place matters but place is not the focus.
A place-based community sees place as a Launching Pad, not a Landing Zone. It is not all about my lifestyle, comfort and convenience. It is about the cross…and the cross is never a comfortable, convenient place. That is why I like what our missional communities led by Jon Peacock and others are doing, moving into apartments where 40% of Chicagoland people live (mostly singles and immigrants). Stepping outside the comfort zone and into the chaos and complexity that is the real world. And bringing the simple love and life of Jesus there. I admire them and long to be more like them.
Someone said, “True community begins at the edge of suffering.” It is not camaraderie—it is true community. That makes sense to me, especially when cross-carrying is the order of the day.
More to come…
