Being Community: Take 2.

Well Ryan Lundquist hit the nail on the head again in his short article in the Rancho Cordova Post regarding community building.  Lundquist has done a great job in tapping into a real need not only here in Rancho, but everywhere. That’s the need for community with each other.  So many people are isolated today from each other and the negative effects can be long term.  I think one thing that I have appreciated about Ryan’s articles is that they remind me so much of the local church in its truest form.  They remind me of what we’re experiencing here in NHCC.  Our church fellowship is just over three and a half years old and I am already amazed and overjoyed as I continue to see real, committed community unfolding all the time.  It’s great to see people who are committed to Jesus Christ grow in their commitment to each other.  I’m reminded of all the little things like the two ladies who just took some food over to a new friend when she was sick.  I’m reminded of all the times that people have encouraged each other and followed up with each other when times got rough.  I’m reminded that we’re all a fellowship of second chancers and just a bunch of people who are really growing to love each other.  I guess it all just reminds me of Acts chapter 2 in the Bible where the text tells us that they were “enjoying the favor of all people.”  Ryan had some good and simple suggestion in his post for building community in his neighborhood.  Those would also apply for the church body.  There are countless ways that all of us can step out of our comfort zone and just let others know we care for them.  So thanks Ryan and Thanks New Horizons Christian Church.

• •
RSS Trackback URL Steve | August 25, 2008 (12:31 pm)

Rancho-Cordova-CA-Church

5 Comments

Write a Comment»

  1. Alice Huante

    August 30, 2008 | 8:47 am

    1

    Great article in the post. Isolation is one of the hardest barriers to overcome especially in today’s hectic world. It is the simple things that help to overcome that as pointed out. Just a simple hello or wave, hi or how are you, not only are you making someone else not feel isolated, it helps me not feel isolated! Just as in church, a church is a building, a neighborhood is a neighborhood, it is the people inside both places that God intends for each of us to touch in some small way!

  2. Steve

    August 29, 2008 | 8:22 am

    2

    Thanks Todd for the “Kudos” and sharing what’s going on in the your neck of the woods. While there are some very disturbing things about our day and age, it is exciting to see average Christ followers living out first century Christianity instead of leaving the compassion to the “Professionals”.

  3. Todd Owen

    August 29, 2008 | 6:37 am

    3

    Steve and Ryan,

    I appreciate your thoughts in the Rancho Cordova paper. The church seems poised on the edge of a social “wave” in which people are tired of isolation, self, etc. and are crashing into the idea of community. We’ve recently moved to a town in NW Iowa (to preach) and have done many of the things that you suggest in your article. Also, we have noticed that simple, straightforward care and compassion has yielded amazing short-term impact. It reaches people in places of deep need.

    Kudos on a good word. Thanks for putting it out there for public consumption!

  4. Steve

    August 25, 2008 | 8:38 pm

    4

    Ryan,

    Right on that “church” is not a service with in four walls, but extending beyond. Really, the term technically refers to God’s people who are called out. But to what? To be salt and light and love in the world. Jesus said that they would know we are his disciples by the way we love. What are some additional ways that we can simply love those around us the way Christ would?

  5. Ryan

    August 25, 2008 | 5:05 pm

    5

    Thanks Steve for the kind remarks. You have a great heart. I wonder what would happen if we were to take the Golden Rule literally and find ways to build relationships with people right where we are at most of the time - in the neighborhood. What if we were to continually ask, “how can I love my neighbor as myself?” You said it right that Acts 2 is the hallmark of the church and that it ought to be normative to express love in simple ways, take care of each other, eat together, etc… We need good theology and orthopraxy indeed in our churches, but if we define “church” only as a service rather than a living organism that extends beyond the four walls of Sunday worship, we will all really miss out.

Write a Comment