It's been a while since I posted. I've moved to Atlanta to begin pastoring a church. I'm very thankful to be here. Anyway, here is one thought that seems to relate to a thread I see below.

I'm noting a hunger for community among the members and attenders of the church I pastor. It is not a particularly large Southern Baptist congregation (especially by Atlanta standards) but it is large enough that someone can come Sunday morning (the only service on Sunday) and easily not see another member. For the summer we took our weekly meeting (usually divided among topical studies) and combined it into one class. All ages are together. Seniors are sitting with youth for a Bible study. Several people are commenting to me how much they love getting to know Christians of different ages, hearing them talk about Scripture, having their lives overlap. There is something to be said about our congregational lives overlapping enough for us to know one another. Some members seem genuinely perplexed about how to encourage and experience community.

I still remember my first experience of church community. It came in September of 1994 when Helen and Hardin Young, now deceased but longtime members of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, invited me to their home for lunch after church. It wasn't just me, they invited a several people of all ages. Sitting in that living room and being a part of their lives changed my life. After that one lunch, the Youngs felt like my grandparents. Every Sunday I would see them and other seniors at church and feel like I was a part of a family.

Thinking back to Mark's post below, I know that I joined Capitol Hill for the teaching and the community. Writing about it now, it seems a little corny--I've learned more about the church in the past few years. I understand that some churches grow so large that they have to make decisions about what to do (multiple services, multiple sites). The church I pastor isn't at that point and may never be at that point. Nonetheless, I want to be a part of a church whose members see one another, whose lives overlap. Part of my reasoning is biblical. So Jesus says that they'll know who his disciples are by the love they have for one another. An implication of this is that the lives of the members of a church overlap enough for this love to be evident to others. Admittedly, part of my reasoning is pragmatic. I was so affected by that community life that, as a pastor, I want to do anything and everything I can to encourage it for others. For now, I'm trying to encourage the lives of church members to overlap. I'm trying to do what every pastor is trying to do: to encourage a community that is both inviting (and perhaps perplexing) to the non-Christian and edifying to the Christian.