Living in a world on the move
Part 1 — Communities for a mobile world
How do we live well in a world where less of us stay in the same place? In this increasingly globalised world, more and more people have spent time living in more than one country, are comfortable in more than one language, and no longer fit neatly into one simple cultural label.
In the world of the university Thailand is receiving more international students to come and study here, and also increasing numbers of Thai students are going to study abroad, for some or all of their courses. Even if we haven’t moved to another country, many of us still move when we start to study at university or when we finish and need to find a job.
In this first of two articles I will consider the kind of communities that are essential in this mobile world, and then in the second article we will look more specifically at how we go and how we receive those who come.
As I read the New Testament, especially the letters of Paul, it seems as if the world then is more similar to nowadays than I first realised. Paul is on the move, and not only Paul; life in the Roman empire of the time with a common language and extensive opportunities of trade, meant people were often mobile. Movement could be caused by an emperor’s decision, to seize a business opportunity, or the roving life of a soldier of the empire. This is similar to today; some moves are choices that we make, while others are not. Although not all the details are the same, as we read of the instructions to various churches in the letters of the New Testament, we begin to get a picture of how to live as a Christians in a mobile world.
There is a deep value placed on community, the new community of God’s people, the Church, which is not rooted in biological family or ethnicity. In the church of this time there were many with broken family relationships, and so the church needed to be the place for practical care, deep spiritual relationships, sharing life and being vulnerable. These communities were not closed off, but were open to welcome the stranger, poor and rich, slave and free, men and women, people of all religious or ethnic backgrounds- everyone had a place! We also see from the Bible that there were sometimes problems in these churches; it wasn’t always easy for people so different from one another in many ways to get along well. But they were always instructed to persevere and seek to resolve their problems and restore the broken relationships, and not give up.
It’s not always easy to create and maintain communities like this, especially when people are very different to one another. But this is where Christians should be unique. Christian community should look distinctively different to the other communities we see around us. But how is this possible? We are one in Christ and he enables love and unity to exist in our relationships with others that we would otherwise ignore or avoid. We are reconciled to God by the blood of Christ and are now one body, one building, a place where God lives by his Spirit.
Think!
As you think about the Christian communities that you are part of, your church, your university cell group, how similar do you think they are to the communities of the New Testament church? If you could describe the community in three words, which words would you use? As you look at the people in the group, are they all the same? And if somebody different came, would they feel accepted and as if they belonged? For communities that we have been part of for a long time, sometimes we find it difficult to look and see objectively. It might help to ask someone who has more recently joined to share their impressions and experiences.
Then think about yourself, what is your contribution to this community, are you really willing to love and be loved, to be vulnerable and to care for others, or are you holding back, hovering on the edge of the circle and unwilling to fully participate? Do we have deep authentic relationships, and truly share life with one another?
Act!
- Think about your cell group and church and the people there who are the most different to you ( in age, education, personality, background). How often do you connect with these people? Make a deliberate decision to spend time with someone different to you, who you don’t usually spend time with, at some point this month.
- Consider how you participate in the life of your community.
a) Think of the difficulties and problems that others are facing, and one way that you could help in the next month.
b) Think of one issue that you are facing that you could appropriately share for prayer within your community.
