“Cultivating Communities” vs. “Building Churches”
Kathy Escobar has written a great blog post on “the difference between ‘cultivating communities’ and ‘building churches’”:
i think it’s fairly easy to build a “church.” the typical elements are not that hard to find–a gathering place, music, a good message, and some kind of programmatic glue will usually do the trick. if the music and the message are good enough, some Christians out there will come. i’m not saying they’ll come in droves–i think that’s a unique phenomenon these days, but i do believe that if the basic elements are there, some people will come and find what they are looking for.
cultivating real communities is a whole other animal.
i believe that finding ways to knit hearts together, share life and meals, gather around a common purpose but allow for a wide range of diversity and perspectives, nurture a spirit of justice and action, and somehow create a safe and challenging container to learn to love Jesus, ourselves and others and be loved by Jesus, ourselves, and others requires a whole different way of thinking.
She goes on to outline four ways that “cultivating communities” and “building churches” are different:
And plan now to participate in the TransFORM gathering in Washington, D.C., April 30-May 2. It’s a free event focused on equipping men and women to form new missional communities of practice—and Kathy Escobar is going to be one of the main speakers!