Sacred Community

Becoming a sacred community is not easy. Yet, it is what we are called to be as the body of Christ, the church. The Greek word for church is “ekklesia” which literally translates “called out.” There is something sacred about being called out by God; all who call themselves "Christian" are to be called-out people not only when gathered as a community of faith, but in the daily ups and downs of life. But far too many people today settle for just being a part of a church rather than a sacred community being called out by God to do God’s work together in the world. At the core of being a sacred community is knowing and being known by other people in the community, and this is not just simply knowing names—though that is a very good place to start when getting to know someone. The foundation of a sacred community is relationships. Jesus taught us this by the way he lived, taught, traveled, worshiped, prayed, and even ate. 

I can’t tell you how many stories I've heard about people who have gone to church for 10, 20, or 30 plus years and do not know the people of their church community because either they sit on the opposite side of the sanctuary, or they are not in their Sunday School Class or Men’s Group or UMW.  True sacred community is being more than just a group of loosely connected acquaintances who happen to gather in the same place at the same time every week to worship. Sacred community is really knowing and caring for each other’s hopes and fears, success and failures, strengths and struggles.  However this is what makes true sacred community both so worthwhile and yet so difficult. True community requires us to be vulnerable, exposing our true selves and sharing our thoughts and feelings. Rather than presenting the side of ourselves who we want and choose people to know. Not only was this at the core of Jesus' ministry, but John Wesley established bands and classes for this very reason. One of the first questions asked at each band meeting was, "How is it with your soul?" That's not simply a "Good morning, how are you?" That's a question that asks and expects the respondent to be vulnerable, transparent, open.  Opening yourself up like that is a huge risk, and yet without such a risk—without being vulnerable and honest with one another—true sacred community can never be reached.

So on a scale of 1-10, how well do you rate your church as a sacred community? Be honest.

1              2              3               4               5               6               7               8               9               10

When we are honest with ourselves about where we are—both in strengths and weaknesses—we can begin to learn and grow into the sacred community—the ekklesia—that God is calling us to be as God’s body, the church. It should be the goal of every church to grow more and more as a sacred community. I, the pastor, cannot do it alone because, remember, at the core of a sacred community is open and honest relationships. “I am the church; you are the church; we are the church together.” May it be so. 

(This blog is much in debt to a book I am reading right now by Jamie Roach called Sacred Community; it is a part of the Ancient Faith Series put out by Barefoot Ministries. I highly recommend this 8-week study. It is geared for youth groups, but anywhere you read "youth group" or "students" you can substitute "church" and "people" and glean lots of really good, in-your-face, reality-check lessons for the church as a whole.)