Goooood morning Church family, we are so excited that you are here this morning at *insert generic non-denom church name* to worship with us! We are gathered here today to sing to the God who helps us during the hard times and helps us fight our battles. Philippians 4:13 says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and let's respond in worship and thankfulness and invite the Holy Spirit to this place
A good and challenging point. We should be suspicious of getting too comfortable with our modern world's version of 'family', which often looks like individual housemates, as opposed to the import of the words Jesus and Paul were using.
I've been blessed to be part of a church which really seeks the loyalty and intimacy you describe here. The downside is the allegations of 'cultish' behaviour from others, both Christian and non-Christian alike. But I guess that's par for the course.
Definitely. I'm not sure there's an easy way around potential accusations of "cultish" behavior, when hyper-individualism is so engrained into our understanding of the world.
Do any of the three options for where I could go next strike your interest more than the others?
I definitely have a close community at college, my roommates and bible study are all very close. "How are you doing?" is a question that rarely takes less than five minutes to answer.
I'm not sure how things will develop as we all move off to separate places. I'm planning to pursue a PhD, which will likely require me moving multiple states, but I'm hoping that the friends I've made here continue staying close—emotionally and geographically. (And, if they do, I would love to move back close to them one day.)
It's a beautiful thing to be in a church that genuinely tries to embrace the "church family" concept. Even though I've only been going to church for about a year, I was lucky to be welcomed so readily by my community. I've given and received gifts, met people's kids, given people rides home, gone to lunch with people outside of coffee hour, etc. I know a lot of people in the church are very tight-knit and have celebrated milestones together, with no sign of stopping.
Part of the reason is, I think, out of necessity. We're the only Orthodox church in the city, with the next closest one being over an hour away. The only other way to keep a tight-knit community, in say, a Baptist church, is to actively try to make it like a community. This is what my mother experienced as a child, where her church family was quite literally like a family in many instances. I don't think many churches care to create a community, especially those with extreme congregation sizes (i.e., megachurches or super-tiny-cliquey churches).
As for your next article, I want to ask for the Byzantine one (they are my Roman Empire), but I think it'd be best to continue with how you see how we can practice the NT vision of family.
Option 3 is most interesting to me! Would love to hear more of your thoughts on this. I really appreciate you drawing out just how radical Jesus’ commands were and makes me wonder how else we could live that out
*Padded power chords in the key of D major*
Goooood morning Church family, we are so excited that you are here this morning at *insert generic non-denom church name* to worship with us! We are gathered here today to sing to the God who helps us during the hard times and helps us fight our battles. Philippians 4:13 says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and let's respond in worship and thankfulness and invite the Holy Spirit to this place
A good and challenging point. We should be suspicious of getting too comfortable with our modern world's version of 'family', which often looks like individual housemates, as opposed to the import of the words Jesus and Paul were using.
I've been blessed to be part of a church which really seeks the loyalty and intimacy you describe here. The downside is the allegations of 'cultish' behaviour from others, both Christian and non-Christian alike. But I guess that's par for the course.
Definitely. I'm not sure there's an easy way around potential accusations of "cultish" behavior, when hyper-individualism is so engrained into our understanding of the world.
Do any of the three options for where I could go next strike your interest more than the others?
I'd say the third option, just to find out your practical suggestions as there's always deeper to go in living as a follower of Christ!
Out of interest, do you have a community of people that approaches Christian living in the way you've outlined here?
I definitely have a close community at college, my roommates and bible study are all very close. "How are you doing?" is a question that rarely takes less than five minutes to answer.
I'm not sure how things will develop as we all move off to separate places. I'm planning to pursue a PhD, which will likely require me moving multiple states, but I'm hoping that the friends I've made here continue staying close—emotionally and geographically. (And, if they do, I would love to move back close to them one day.)
It's a beautiful thing to be in a church that genuinely tries to embrace the "church family" concept. Even though I've only been going to church for about a year, I was lucky to be welcomed so readily by my community. I've given and received gifts, met people's kids, given people rides home, gone to lunch with people outside of coffee hour, etc. I know a lot of people in the church are very tight-knit and have celebrated milestones together, with no sign of stopping.
Part of the reason is, I think, out of necessity. We're the only Orthodox church in the city, with the next closest one being over an hour away. The only other way to keep a tight-knit community, in say, a Baptist church, is to actively try to make it like a community. This is what my mother experienced as a child, where her church family was quite literally like a family in many instances. I don't think many churches care to create a community, especially those with extreme congregation sizes (i.e., megachurches or super-tiny-cliquey churches).
As for your next article, I want to ask for the Byzantine one (they are my Roman Empire), but I think it'd be best to continue with how you see how we can practice the NT vision of family.
I'm counting this as a vote for Byzantium for the record...
Option 3 is most interesting to me! Would love to hear more of your thoughts on this. I really appreciate you drawing out just how radical Jesus’ commands were and makes me wonder how else we could live that out
Love it! Good write