Flourishing Community

There are few people who do not nod in agreement when talking about a desire for a healthy & vibrant community. Non-believers, people of other faiths, even most cynics - when presented with a vision of a healthy flourishing community - will agree that at the very least 'it sounds like a good idea'.

Our Christian perspective informs us that such notions overlap with a Kingdom vision. We have rich resources, such as passages in Isaiah and Zechariah that inspire us towards that vision. The over-arching story from Abraham onwards is of a people who are devoted to God and blessed by Him themselves being a blessing to the their surrounding community (and ultimately the global community). We know that Jesus came to fulfil just that, and in being Christ-followers we take part in the very same project.

We can seed, contribute towards and help enable flourishing community for all because of our faith in Jesus.

But as Christ-followers seeking first His Kingdom we should also recognise some fundamental difficulties. The sad reality is that there is a sea of need out there, that can easily dwarf whatever good we might bring as an individual or as a small dedicated group. From a population growth perspective, we might also wonder if we and fellow believers can keep up even if we believe that just a few of us can act as sufficient yeast to permeate the batch of dough.

But I fear that another fundamental difficulty also needs to be understood: that the principalities & powers are not done yet. Our Kingdom activity in the name of Jesus pushes back these malevolent powers for sure, but given time & opportunity they will happily go on the counter-offensive - especially if the witness to Jesus as Lord subsides, the salt & light diminishes. This is saying (in spiritual terms) that over time the Kingdom wins of a particular flourishing community can be lost. After all, do we not see that over and over in the books of Judges, Kings and Chronicles?

Kingdom gains that enable flourishing community flow primarily out of lives lived for Jesus. Lives lived this way flow from lives won for Jesus, and they are of course the result of witness to Jesus and Good New declared. The yeast is supposed to work into the whole batch of dough, and the tiny mustard seed is supposed to grow into a tree that provides for all - in other words that there is ultimately 'Gospel Saturation' (a term used by disciple movement pioneers).

Kingdom initiative to enable flourishing community is excellent. But it needs to perpetuate, regenerate, and by God's grace spread. That means it is unmistakably connected to the basic call made by Jesus: "Come, follow me!".