by Doug Stevens

A clique is a small, closed group providing conditional acceptance and the promise of security for select insiders who are bonded by narrow interests and the expectation of conformity. A church that is a clique retreats from the world to create its own insular reality, alternative society and eccentric customs. In extreme form, a clique can become an ugly, oppressive, authoritarian cult.

Larger, better organized and more competitive than a clique, a club is an association oriented to causes for which it advocates and/or activities at which it excels, providing privileges and perks to members, elevating the status of those who qualify and participate above the common folk who don’t make the cut. A church that is a club is impressive and pretty, self-important and self-righteous, reinforcing the dominance and dictates of a religious caste system. In extreme form, a club becomes an elitist, image-conscious social register that forgets its original charter.

True community is open to all, for the benefit of all, engaging and leveraging the gifts of all … discovering and practicing a dynamic unity in diversity that is a mutually appreciative, joyful and challenging, never-ending and ever-expanding project. True community is the irresistible ideal that is always beyond our reach and yet the irrepressible desire of the human heart.

A church that embodies true community believes that all of humanity is created in the image of God, and convinced that Jesus Christ has redeemed us

— and is delivering us — from the clutches of self-centeredness, self-indulgence and self-loathing; from the idolatry of tribalism, classism and sexism; from the scourge of discrimination, hostility and cold indifference; as well as from all sorts of ruinous habits and destructive addictions.

The church as true community, in its most radical, beautiful and compelling extreme, is the community that follows Jesus … the community that embraces, nurtures and strengthens its members on their daring faith journey … and the community that is called, committed, equipped and sent on a mission to represent Jesus by extravagantly loving and sacrificially serving everyone we encounter, as a witness to the Good News of God’s grace unleashed in a world of hurt. It’s not about size or material resources, it’s about an open heart; depth of conviction; a culture of acceptance, reconciliation, and massive encouragement; and a clear, loving confrontation with the truth that, through the Holy Spirit, awakens us, restores us and powers us through.