Redeeming a culture of community
I just got the book Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam and I am excited. Today I flew through the first few pages of the book and have already learned some interesting tidbits that I thought I would share. Putnam writes:
As the 1960s ended, sociologists Daniel Bell and Virginia Held reported that “there is more participation than ever before in America”
But as quickly as 1990 we began to see civic organizations completely die out and close the doors. Even though civic participation was at an all time high in the 60′s it seems to have bottomed out in the 90′s.
So, what does this mean? Well, it means that those reaching adulthood in the 80′s would have had only a small opportunity to participate in civic organizations and in culture as a part of a larger community. Those reaching adulthood in the 90′s had virtually no opportunity to participate in civic organizations, because these organizations were dying at the time and would not have even shown up on the social radar of most young adults. And, those people reaching adulthood later than 2000 would have virtually no knowledge that such organizations exist and little reason to think about life as anything but an individual journey.
So the shift in thinking as gone from community minded to individual minded because most adults younger than forty have thrived in a culture of declining togetherness.
This has been my personal experience as well. I can remember my grandmother talking about her weekly Bridge game (it’s cards people) when I was a kid and wondering why she would want to get together and play cards with other people. For some reason the idea of spending that much time with other people for only recreational purposes seemed odd. Now I realize that my thinking was odd.
As I am reading this book and realizing how frighteningly individualistic our culture has become I am more convicted than ever that believers must redeem a culture of community within the body of Christ and secular culture. We must learn to live life together. We must learn to build up and rely on one another. I am convinced that life is better together.
Any thoughts?
August 29th, 2007 at 9:57 am
dude. that’s a really good book. you’ll enjoy it if you can get past all of the stats.
August 30th, 2007 at 8:26 am
Yes! There are so many people today who are longing for community – believers and non-believers. We were created to be in relationship – with God and others. These conversations have got to start and keep going. It’s great to see God working the same type of thing in so many different groups of people at the same time! Keep pressing in!
August 31st, 2007 at 6:06 am
Adam,
Bowling Alone is a good book. One that will give you much to ponder about the way we live our lives and how, as we move around the world make new acquaintances but rarely enter into relationships that allow others to truly see us for how we are – dreadfully sinful.
Brother I encourage you to press on….pray and study Gods Word and other adjunctive books that will assist you as you prepare to plant His church. Enlist the prayers and aid of others. I also encourage you to ponder the sense of biblical community that is lacking in to many of the churches across our nation. I am completely convinced that what all Christians need to be entrenched into a community of believers. We need to stop the lip service of “being Christians” and live for Christ – by being “Joiners” and not just joining a body of believers but being an active part of the body of Christ. Too many times, our flesh wants to enjoy all the comforts of being attached to a church body, but we don’t want to “really” be involved. We stay detached because of our sin – because of PRIDE! We are afraid to let others see beyond the mask that we all wear that we think protects us from allowing others to get to close.
The community that I long for and truly believe that we are to be a part of is one that allows us (or makes us) be more and more transparent. With this transparency comes liberty and freedom from the oppression of sin. As we mature in the Lord, we need this type of relationship to continue to grow. We must have other brothers and sisters that know us and love us to help us remain on the path of righteousness. As an aside, this is why there should be a plurality of Elders for proper church government – so one man doesn’t fall into a rut of believing his own thinking without having others men that are equally responsible for the congregation and that love and care about each other enough to protect each other from their own sinfulness. To call sin -SIN and point it out to one another and call for repentance and to walk along side each other – arm in arm always pointing the way to the Lord.
Another book you may be interested in that goes along with Putnams book is the Diffusion of Innovations by Everett M. Rogers.
Be encouraged Brother and press on towards the goal.