Why Community?

In class we’ve been looking at different types of communities, how they are structured, and what roles they can play in our lives.  Coming up with an all-encompassing definition for “community” was an interesting exercise since the idea of community is a very broad one and communities come in all shapes and sizes.  One of the most interesting part of the discussions we had as a class was what was left unsaid.  We never discussed the overriding purpose of communities in general.  Yes, we talked about roles and purposes of specific communities but it was in the context of which communities we belong to rather than whether or not we belong to a community.  This assumption didn’t surprise me and isn’t uncommon.  There is something in us that tells us that we need to be a part of a group.  We all have a deep longing to be accepted and to belong.  But why?

I think that the answer is written on our DNA.  In Genesis 1:26, God refers to himself in the plural.  Before man is created, He says, “Let us make man in our image…”  As a Trinity, God is, in His very essence, a part of a community.  Since man is created in the image of God, it is a part of our makeup to exist as part of a community. 

After each stage of creation, God looked at what He had made and commented that it was good.  However, in Genesis 2:18 God makes a note of something that is not good.  It’s not a thing created that isn’t good but rather the condition of a created thing.  He says, “It is not good for the man to be alone.”  God immediately sets about rectifying the situation, the solution – Eve.  God led Adam through a search of the animal kingdom to find a helper but none could be found, highlighting the uniqueness and special qualities of Eve.  The solution to the first problem faced by humanity was for God to create a community.  We are designed to be in community. 

This design can be seen in all facets of human life.  Most of the burdens we face are too heavy for us to carry on our own.  In sharing burdens with our fellow man lightens the burden.  Many times when we experience joy the first thing we want to do is share it with someone else.  Sharing joy with those that we live in community with makes our joy more complete. 

Living in community makes us better people.  Proverbs 27:17 tells us that “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”  A piece of iron does not sharpen itself nor do we improve as people on our own.  The more varied our community is, the more likely there is to be someone with similar interests.  Being around someone that excels at a thing that we excel at (or try to excel at) challenges us to strive for our best.  At the same time, a varied community also means that there will be others that are not like us.  Being around those that have different interests and talents from us exposes us to things that we may not otherwise be familiar with.  This leads us to expand our horizons and become more well-rounded people.

Perhaps the most telling thing about the idea of community in the Bible is found in comparing the condition of the people at the beginning and at the end.  The Bible starts with two people, the first human community, living in a garden.  The Bible ends with multitudes of people, the pinnacle of community, living in a city.  The goal was never for us to forge out on our own and interact with other people only when necessary for procreation and the occasional exchanging of goods.  The goal is for us to live intimately in community, together in a city, living life together daily, sharing burdens and joys.

Spending time thinking about why we live in community has helped me understand the concepts of types of communities, structures of communities, and maybe most importantly, the possibilities of communities.