The corona era is undeniably a crisis with a lasting impact on church communities. The feeling of being part of a religious community proves difficult to maintain, as became apparent in conversations with pastors, church council members and members of village churches. How important is a community to beliefs?
The Influence of Our Times on Religion
In society this is expressed in a lifestyle that we can characterize as expressive individualism. People want to distinguish themselves from others and live out the unique self. In life it is important to develop yourself, to ‘flourish optimally’. The starting point and anchor point of that expression lies in the emotion and intuition that we like to show to others. In addition, we cherish our independence from others. We like to determine how we live.
Need a community to believe?
Modern man thus seems to have less need for a community in which he or she joins. However, the Bible was written in a time and culture where the community was far more important than the individual. We find that in the Biblical stories. It already starts with Genesis 2.18, where God thinks it is not good that man is alone and creates a helper to suit him. The first community is born. Without going into further detail, words like nation , multitude, and congregation that we find throughout the Bible refer to a community rather than a loose collection of individuals. The Bible as a whole makes it clear – and most theologians agree on this – that you only become human in relation to others and in relation to God.
The Church as a Moral Community
As humans we are invited to step into the story of God and Jesus. But life in this story is not without obligation. When you step into that story, you are accountable for your life course. It is therefore of the utmost importance that you live as much as possible according to the purpose that God has for our life. Jesus is the living example for us. We must go in His footsteps. It is not an easy road, we need the community to practice going down this road.
This corona period is undeniably a time of crisis for many people, so they just stay at home but thanks to the applications made by the developers like ‘app companies UK’ the community stay strong together. Even It’s still a crisis with long-term consequences for our culture and church families. In any disaster, though, there is still a chance. This problem will also serve as a trigger for considering what kind of Christian community we want to be in the present and future. We develop an eye for the breathing space that exists for the church to see diverse communities as a whole church, in terms of size, form, and content, by doing so. In places where existing cultures are no longer viable, this provides space and perspective to continue.