Thursday, June 19, 2008

Killers of community

I saw this list of 'Ten Killers of Genuine Community' and thought it was pretty good. I think this is one of the most difficult things about being the church. In fact, you could probably just put my name on this list. I seem to be pretty good at killing community. At any rate, to see Peter Scazzero's entire list, with explanations, GO HERE.

Here are the points:
1. We look to other people to tell us we are OK.
2. We think loving people means keeping them happy.
3. We lie.
4. We encourage false peace.
5. We are confused about anger.
6. We love our neighbors and not ourselves.
7. We over-function.
8. We are quick to speak and slow to listen.
9. We think "love believes all things" means we should believe all things.
10. We think differences mean division.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not exactly sure what number 4 means but if it means what I think it means I think it might be the number one killer of community because of all the thing it carries with it.

Number 6 is the one I feel most people neglet because in the 'Cristian buble' I think it is completely looked down upon. There's this unrealistic expectation that we should never take 'me' time for our wants and needs. Then the most of the world opperates in the exact opposite way. An example would be when woman spends all of her time helping single mothers get on their feet and fails to awknowledge their own family's existence. Not a good thing.

Number ten is my favorite. It is probably one of the best lessons I learned at Huntington that has been continually reinforced at WTS (differences does NOT mean division). Being different is okay and should be embraced. It is impossible to understand someone's oppinion that is so different from your own without taking a walk through their life story. It has been such a joy working for a faith based institution in which there is such a wide variety of different faith traditions.

Good list, I like it. I'm writing it down in my little book...yes, i have one of those books now. :)

dan said...

Carrie,
Yep... I agree exactly.