Modern day life in our country is very individualistic. It’s about me, myself and I. We are given the message that if we like something we do it, if we don’t like it we don’t do it. We do whatever we, as an individual, like.
Yet many cultures have the sense that there are community obligations that we have, irrespective of who we are or what we like. Here people are so inter-connected that what happens to one member affects everyone else.
We see this as we read the Bible. I was struck this week by the Philippian jailer in Acts 16. We find that when he came to faith in Jesus, it was not just him but his whole household (who was part of that household we are not told, but presumably a cross section of family members and possibly servants). When he is baptised, it is not just him but his whole household.
We might object to that and say, shouldn’t every member of that household have to make their own decision? That’s a good question. That’s how we would work it. We may treat faith and baptism as being a purely individual decision (though an aspect of infant baptism is that household members speak for others), yet in truth we are all very influenced by those around us or by the celebrity icons in front of us.
God has made us for community. Church is community. It is community bound by common faith rather than common ancestry or heritage.
In our life as a church community we, too, move beyond individualism. That’s why our 40 Days Desert to Destiny is a church-wide, community-based process of people journeying together. This weekend I met with our Life Group facilitators, some of whom are doing it just for this period, and who we are inviting all of you to be participants.
There will be individual readings and corporate Sunday focus, but our gatherings in community provide special opportunity for us to support one another in our walking with Christ.
I am excited by the possibilities – commencing in March. Let’s look for ways to move beyond individualism and live out the community of Christ.