[vc_row text_align=”center” text_color=”#ffffff” type=”image” padding_top=”300px” padding_bottom=”200px” bg_image=”749″][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text css=””]In chapter three, “Lost Community,” Conway presents some telling elements that have contributed to the decline of community among God’s people. First, he speaks of the fact that humans are social creatures “hardwired for community.”   He then posits that American culture “has gradually experienced a systematic loss in community since the 1960s and that certain influences have contributed to individualism and self-reliance.  Hollywood’s Rambo, and hero movies where the main character takes out a town all by himself sets before our minds a goal that seeks a time when we are dependent on no one for financial, emotional, or physical help.

Secondly, he presents without much explanation the social needs are met by joining institutions but that a distrust in them has fueled the decline of community.  Churches, he argues, is designed by God to meet many of these social needs but the same distrust in organizations in general influenced the deconstruction of churches without any plans to rebuild.  Instead, the movement spread to separate Jesus from the church.

This is central to my emphasis in much of my writing.  It appears that we are accessing the cause and effect differently.  The distrust in institutions and problems that create it among churches is a by-product of the church institution.  The “called-out” is, by definition, describes a class of people in a physical community who naturally form a bond of fellowship.  But, the sphere of fellowship and the means to establish community is not by forming themselves into an organization, building a church building, opening a bank account in the name of the newly found organization, hiring a preacher, and opening up for business twice a week.  The place of operation and fellowship is in the home.  This is the root problem — not the determination of church community but the breakdown of the home.   Nothing in the Scriptures supports the idea of a local church organization as described above.  If we may speak of a local church (the very word “church” being suspect for proper understanding), then it would be a family of individual souls whose home is open for sharing life.  The home was deconstructed, first.   When applied as the first century Christians lived, there is no need for a church organization.   Even the well-used text found in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 that supports a church treasury is a false assumption.  Paul instructs the saints there to lay by “himself in store” that there be no collections when he comes.  This is individually applied and executed.  The only collectivity involved was when Paul and his traveling companions came to town to collect it to transport it to Judea.    The giving, planning, and cooperation were done among individuals.   This same application should be made in discipline and caring for one’s widows.   The use of the word ekklesia in both examples simply refers to other saints (the ekklesia) who would be burdened to care for a burden that should be met by the individual.    This assumption is the root problem.

Given the establishment of a human innovation to carry out God’s plan, we have created problems for which there is no biblical antidote.  We must not seek to rebuild.  We must seek to abandon it in favor of a tight knit family of individual saints whose homes are shared.

Immediately, we see problems connected with this as some supposed saints have been so influenced by the world with things  to which we do not want our children exposed.  Once again, recognizing this should cause us to focus on rebuilding our homes to provide the kind of atmosphere for all saints to thrive.   This is the fundamental solution to social needs being met.  Besides, an organization that is naturally set up and run as an organization can never meet those needs like a home.   We could say more about this and intend to do so, but when individual church members are too embarrassed to bring a brother into his home because of what he may hear or see with no thought of causing offenses, the problems is not resolved by rebuilding the church.  That’s the very thing that assists so many to hide their worldly pursuits and ungodly habits.  They can conveniently attend a “service” and look good doing it, maintain good standing with others as a faithful member of that church, and then take off the religious garb when leaving to resume life as usual.

So, while I agree that fellowship is critical and that we should fight the urge of isolation and individualism, I disagree that the local church organization is the answer.   It does not work and if it appears to have done so in the past, it is because it is a better option than isolation but is still wholly lacking in providing for the needs of the saints.

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