What's A Healthy Christian Community?

| By Scott McClellan | Found in Communication | 4 Comments

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Yesterday, I had the honor of leading a breakout session at Dallas Theological Seminary’s The Electronic Gospel conference. My session was titled, “Friends, Followers, and Fans: Community in a Digital Age,” and one of the central questions of my presentation was how we characterize a healthy Christian community.

As the Church continues to change in the 21st century, I believe it’s vitally important for church leaders to move toward a definition or understanding of our values for a healthy Christian community. If we understand those values or characteristics, we have a helpful lens through which we can evaluate new and existing methods and venues such as church online, home groups, private social networks, etc..

Maybe you draw your values for healthy Christian community from a specific Scripture passage such as Acts 2:42-49 or Galatians 5:22-23. Or perhaps there are other passages that carry more community weight for you. Either way, I want to hear from you:

What are your values for a healthy Christian community? In other words, what characteristics must be present in a healthy Christian community?

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  • http://thesecondeclectic.blogspot.com Adam

    Would have liked to be at that conference. Sorry I missed it.

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-26962-Houston-Christian-Living-Examiner Amy

    Last week, I attended a lay ministry conference through the Texas Conference of the UMC. This question, especially how to involve Gen X'ers and the generations that follow, came up often. And I was the one asking because I was the only one in the room under 45. While I think technology is vital to our future, it has to be used for education, rather than just information dissemination or keeping people busy. It's a tool we can use to connect hearts to Christ. Personally, 1 Peter 2::4-5 is a great example of a healthy Christian community. If we are not living out our baptismal vows (in the UMC of prayers, gifts, presence and service) and being the building blocks of God's Kingdom, both individually and corporately, whether you are traditional or non-denominational, health of the Church is going to be a big issue! With that said, I think technology can also hold us accountable to how we live. If we are using technology as a soapbox but our Facebook photos show a different picture, we have a problem!

  • Adam S.

    Hey Scott! Was at the conference, wish I could've met you.

    A short response: My values for a healthy community are praying for one another, being vulnerable, celebrating big events with one another, sharpening each other, and helping give to one another. From a healthy interior "ecosystem" then our outpouring together would be that much stronger.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/ScottMcClellan ScottMcClellan

    Great stuff, Adam. Sorry I missed you at DTS!