Here is a section from a book I've been re-reading the last couple of days. It talks about how important it is to focus on love and how that is the "what" that creates community. The book is Titled "The Language of the Emerging Church, and the section/chapter is called:
L is for Love
"An undervalued word in recent Christian communication, having been replace by "community."
Community is good and useful word, but is is also dangerous. Why? Because community can become a commodity one seeks to acquire or experience by attending a church that talks a lot about it. And talking about community and promising community are almost guaranteed to hinder the community gathered around the talk and promise from experiencing true "community."
An analogy will make the reason clear. If a sign were put up along a busy street saying, "Self-Image Group meets here at 7:30pm." or "Acceptance Group meets here at 8:30pm.," what kind of people would show up? You can almost guarentee that no people with high self-image or a hight acceptance of others would show up for either; rather, people struggling with self-esteem would crowd the room at 7:30, and shy, lonely souls needing acceptance would should up at 8:30. One could just about guarantee that a roomful of people struggling with insecurity and inferiority would do little in their hour to encourage one another; not would lonely and shy people go far to show one another acceptance.
Similarly, when we advertise community as our "product," we will attract people who want to consume it, and thus we will soon dissipate whatever capacity we had to produce it.
Instead, if we take Jesus' cue and put a sign that says, "Learn How to Love, tonight at 8:30pm.'" whoever shows up can be challenged and encouraged to serve, forgive, reconcile with, give to, speak the truth to, not judge, and be merciful to one another. In this way, by focusing on learning to love, people will hardly be able to leave that hour without experiencing some increasing measure of community."
