Un-intentional Community

A "hot topic" in modern-day Christianity is "Intentional Community." I'm not an expert on this whole I.C. idea, but I'll give you a rundown of what I know about it. I.C. is living together with the purpose of seeking a shared vision, also sharing responsibilities and resources. Christian I.C. is based on the latter portion of Acts 2:

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

There are also a lot of mainstream books on this idea of intentional community. One really good book is "irresistible revolution" by Shane Claiborne. Although not strictly about intentional community, Shane exhibits a great example of a working community. I'd highly' recommend the book.

With all that said, I'm all about Community. I think Bonhoeffer in "Life Together" and Merton in "No man is an Island" both do a fantastic job of going through scripture and showing how necessary it is for the Christian to live life with the support of a community, and if you don't like the idea of community you should grace yourself with these fantastic reads.

But this "Intentional Community" thing is, in my opinion, an extremely dangerous trend for Christians. Here's the bottom line:

Our Intention is not Community, our Intention is Christ. Once we start living selfless lives reflecting Christ's love the community can't help but follow. It can't help overflowing. But, if we shift our gaze from Christ to some ideal way we should be living, we've lost sight of the goal. We've substituted something we can do on our own for what Christ has already done for us. We're seeking an ideal over the Ideal.

I have been a part of fantastic communities both in Clemson and here in Boulder. I love my roommates, all solid christian men, and can go to them with any need. Spreading larger I have amazing friends, brothers and sisters, to lean on. Larger than that is my Church, which is a body of Christians whom I love each dearly. This fantastic network of support, this amazing community which I've fond myself flourishing in, its of no work of my hand. It was completely Un-intentional. A gift from Christ. For this gift, I could not be more grateful! Thanks be to God.

Would you try to build something with your hands with the assumption that you could do it better than Christ? Would you dare?

-mike