Integral Christian Network is one such place of belonging. We are a community of mystics, evolvers, spiritual practitioners, and more. People come into our community from many different streams of background and are drawn by many different aspects—though nearly always a longing for more.
Read MoreAs I proposed in a previous article in this series, the days of the king (or queen) have passed. The time of being subjects reigned over has (mostly) passed, but we still elevate the hero or heroine, the celebrity and the guru.
We still want the great leaders who will solve the problems and set things in order. Those with the power, wisdom, and authority to make things right. A great, singular savior out there somewhere.
And at the same time, we often resist being led. We are not just followers, but have our own story, our own journey, and our own sovereign realm we have to look after—our lives. We also have opinions and perspectives. The ways we think things should be and how they should be done. As we should!
Read MoreThroughout this series, we’ve been talking about “community” as a general blanket term. But there are many different types of community. Not just spiritual community versus other reasons for gathering, but forms of collectives that have different purposes and general ways of being together. What are the reasons that we gather together?
Commonalities of some kind are what bring us together in community. They are the gathering principles of attraction and bonding that form collectives. These may be shared experiences, common intent, similarity of beliefs, access to resources, related needs, associated risks, and more.
On one level, geographical location has long been a major determining factor for access to communities, though as we have already described, that is changing rapidly. With this limitation drastically altered, nonlocal communities can form with much greater specification and specialization.
Many communities come together simply to engage in a shared activity, like a book club or choir. Here, we’re considering those with some sort of higher purpose.
As I have pointed out in this series, the church as we know it is changing. It is being deconstructed, often by people who never use that word, but they know there is something wrong with the church as we know it. Of course, there is also something right with the church, too. The challenge is to leave the wrong and keep the right!
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