Tomorrow morning fourteen of us board a plane headed for Lima, Peru where for twelve days we will be ministering for the gospel. I am jazzed about the whole thing for a couple of reasons. First, we are flying Delta and that means all the Biscoff cookies I can eat. There is just something about Belgian ginger-flavored shortbread that I can’t get enough of. I wonder how many a person really can eat in nine hours of total air time? Second, I am really excited because four of us are all from the same community group.
When we started planning this trip a few months back and I was asked to lead the group of men, my first task was to find men who would be willing to go. I spent some time thinking and praying about those that I would ask. Every time I took it to God, I could not get the guys in my group out of my mind and heart. I could not think of anyone I would rather go with or men that I knew would give more of themselves to God. So, I made the ask. They said “yes.” With their “yes” we moved from community to redemptive community.
Community is some of the most important stuff of life. God made us for community. He made us for Himself and for one another. Apart from connection with God and others, life is not what it was meant to be. Many of us get that. We have and experience wonderful community with God and people and we can’t imagine life any other way. What many of us miss is that God didn’t just create us to experience community, but He created us to form a redemptive community as we exist in community with one another. OK. So what does that mean? Great question. God made us for one another, community. That’s plain enough. As we come together in community we form something Scripture calls the Church, or redemptive community. The singular difference between community and redemptive community is movement. If community is a circle of people caring for one another, then redemptive community is a platoon of soldiers caring for one another as they engage in mission. The caring for one another is present in redemptive community but it is coupled with an outward focus of engagement in mission, God’s mission.
The movement from community to redemptive community can be subtle or sudden, but it is perhaps one of the most important shifts a group of God’s people can experience. By nature we keep to ourselves. We find those with whom we are comfortable and cared for and we stay there. We have no reason to leave and we think that life can’t be any better. The trouble is that our inward focus keeps us from fulfilling God’s purpose for our community and experiencing bonds that are deeper than we could ever imagine. God didn’t create us just to reach out to one another. He created and called us to reach the world. The love we share with one another is actually meant to be shared, a living testimony of the love Christ has for the world. As we consider turning outside our circle to reach out to others, the fear is that the bonds we have with one another will weaken. However, what actually happens is the bonds deepen. As community turns outside itself to engage in mission, the bonds of community actually deepen for you discover that each person is necessary. We discover that each one is important. We discover what it is to be the very body of Christ. This is the shift happening in my group, and I can’t tell you how much it excites me as I watch and experience the movement from community to redemptive community. We get to be part of the very process of Christ making us into the very thing He has meant us to be. It all started by adding movement to our community. What about your community? Is there movement in your community? In what ways is your circle turning outside itself? It can happen at once or in little and small ways. As you turn, you make room for God to work in your midst to change you from community to redemptive community. What an exciting change that can be.
A fellow traveler,
Blake
Spiritual Formation Pastor