Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us

While we readily recognize the ways in which the larger culture challenges Christian beliefs and commitments, we don’t always notice how profoundly our expectations, desires, and practices are also shaped by our culture. We bring the values of self-actualization, individual success, consumption, and personal freedom — and the choices that result fr

When we pay attention to practices, we are likely to notice the significance and beauty in small acts of grace and truth. We have a framework for talking about what is good and holy in our ordinary communities, and for seeing how we can strengthen places that might need it. While dealing with practical concerns, practices can also help move our dis

Promise-keeping, truthfulness, hospitality, and gratitude have often been understood as duties or obligations, things we ought to do. They are much more than duties, however; they make living in community possible as well as good, sometimes even beautiful.

and helps us to get at the moral and theological commitments that structure our relationships. Practices are at the heart of human communities; they are things “people do together over time to address fundamental human needs.” Every community has practices that hold it together; for Christians, practices can also be understood as responses to the g

Considering them as practices opens up the possibility of recognizing them as the relational dynamics of grace and truth — what grace and truth look like when they are embodied in community.

practices are most powerful when they are not noticed, when they are simply an expression of who we are and what we do, a way of being in the world and relating to one another that seems “natural.”

The winsome and life-giving character of Christian community is often accompanied by profound difficulties arising from disagreements and betrayals. Unless participants are prepared for the inevitable challenges, when difficulties develop, they will quickly become wary of moving toward deeper involvement in any church or community. The testimony of

working with practices allows us to move beyond important but individually focused literature on spiritual formation so that we can also attend to the formation of good communities.

A combination of grace, fidelity, and truth makes communities safe enough for people to take the risks that are necessary for growth and transformation. That same combination makes it possible for groups to handle disagreements without being torn apart and to minister to the world in ways that are far greater than the sum of the individuals involve