As I was growing up I always thought of the church as a place people went to. Today I have come to see it more as a community people belong to.
The irony of the 21st century is that we may have lots of digital connections but very few personal connections.
The power of the church as a movement and in its organisational forms, is its capacity to facilitate personal relationship. So many of the letters of the New Testament highlight the kind of relating to others that is appropriate for people who say they follow Christ: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2,3), to give one of many examples. It is a beautiful picture of how things can be.
I was once told that people will come to church for all sorts of reasons, but they will stay for only one: they have made friends there. In large measure, I believe that is true.
The power of the church in 21st century is its capacity to facilitate healthy human relationships, at the same time making space for others to enter into those relationships. This then makes it possible for new networks of people and friends to emerge, and for the church to grow.
What I appreciate most about St Luke’s is that I believe we are a community. We are not all the same but we are all inter-connected. We don’t know everybody but everybody is known. We are diverse but we share a common vision for the hope of Christ. We have different backgrounds and experiences but we share a common destiny.
We have further to go, of course. We are learning as we go. We see only part of the picture, and don’t always get things right. My prayer is that we can keep opening ourselves to God’s purposes, to the lives of others, to making new friends, for mutual support, for being the people that God wants.
In our digital and fragmented age, there will be nothing more attractive than such a community. By God’s grace, may it be more and more so for us.