Community Idealism

A few weeks ago our community group added two new couples to our group and so much of the night was built around getting to know each other a bit better.  Whenever I start a group I tend to like to go back and study together Acts 2:41-47.  It seems to be the small group text!  It's beautiful in its description of the early church and the type of oneness and community they experienced shortly after the ascension of Christ.  It's always a great starting line for a group to look at the model of community they experienced as they daily met together, met each others needs,  shared meals together, and studied and prayed together.  In reading the passage, there is something simplistic that goes against what we so often experience today within a culture that exalts the individual to the communities detriment.  In that sense every group I've ever been a part of longs to experience what they must have experienced.  

Here's the problem with this type of community idealism, it fails to reflect the depths of the text.  See here's my confession, I too easily can begin to exalt their example, and fail to think about the burden and challenge it truly would have been.  Think about it, have you had a friend ask for money or even a ride before?  It's uncomfortable!  Meeting the needs of others is always costly, yet they did it.  Or how about the fact that they gathered in homes daily across the city.  As much as we long for that, there is also a part of us that truly enjoys the drive in the garage and then letting the door down before we step out of our car.  We like our isolation!  They sacrificed their's to experience the fellowship of the Spirit.  

Here's the second problem with this type of idealism, it fails to reflect the movement of the text.  In Acts 5 the community experiences problems within, you have people lying to one another in order to gain a profit off of selling their land.  In Acts 6 you have some widows that aren't having their needs met.  See in order for us to understand the early church, we have to see it in light of the whole picture, both the beauty and selflessness of Acts 2 along with the disfunction and selfishness of Acts 5-6 and when we do we see that the early church was an incomplete picture of community.  Incomplete because it had nuggets of what God created us to enjoy, but was marred by our own sin.  

Here's why this is important; too often groups read Acts 2 and feel like that's what they need to achieve and six months later when its still tough and you still don't know their kids names' you begin to think, "we're doing it wrong." The truth is it's always been challenging, yet always worth it.  So how do we avoid falling into the idealistic trap?

• Be honest about the challenges -Its great to start with Acts 2, but in the discussion talk about the challenges to that picture of community that you will face.  It will be hard, it will be difficult, name it on the front end, it sets expectations.
• Embrace the differences- In many respects people often look for similarities with the people in their group, but Paul seems to suggest throughout his writings that there is something powerful about the diversity of the body (see 1 Cor. 12:13), and it reveals a more incredible change than a community that all looks alike.
• Remember the source of unity- Too often people can look for commonalities based on age, affinity, etc. but the early church found that type of unity despite differences because of the unity they found in one Lord and one Spirit.  Talk about the source of your unity as a group, so that you can be mindful of Who it is that unites each of you together.