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Looking for Community in Community

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Looking for Community in Community Looking for Community in Community Dave Reiss TC533: Theology and Television Dr. Kutter Callaway Fuller Theological Seminary TABLE OF CONTENTS I: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………….2 II: A THEOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF COMMUNITY………………………...3 III: THE NARRATIVE WORLD OF COMMUNITY……………………………………..6 A: THE TRACE OF COMMUNITY……………………………………………………….6 B: THE CHARACTERS OF COMMUNITY………………………………………………7 C: REAL WORLD STRUGGLES OF COMMUNITY………………………………….…8 IV: COMPARING NARRATIVE COMPLEXITIES………………………………………9 A: NARRATIVE COMPLEXITY OF COMMUNITY…..…………………………………10 B: THE NARRATIVE COMPLEXITIES OF SMALL GROUPS…………………………12 V: TRUTHS ABOUT COMMUNITY FOUND IN COMMUNITY ……………………….13 VI: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………15 WORK CITED………………………………………………………………………………16 1 I: INTRODUCTION In 2009, Community, a witty television show about a ragtag college study group, premiered. The study group, diverse in age, ethnicity, and worldview, attended the ridiculously outlandish Greendale Community College. The characters continually referenced the popular culture of the present and of our childhood in the eighties and nineties. As the show progressed, their pop-culture references moved from clever nods to homage and outright parody episodes. The narrative world created in Community for this study group, while at times absurd, resonates with the style of community that can be found in a church’s small group program. I have been working on understanding and developing small groups, both at my church, San Pedro Presbyterian, and in my studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, for several years. Around three years back, I began to move our church’s program into a small group model. During my Biblical Theology of Mission course, I designed a plan for developing adult mentors who could lead our small group program for youth. Last summer, I took on the mantle of adult education, and felt that small group communities would play an essential role in our congregation’s spiritual development. I used my seminary courses for practical ministry support. In Adult Leadership Development, I designed a training course for small group leaders, then I took an independent study on building a small group program from the ground up. Finally, in Art of Evangelism, I wrote about the evangelistic possibilities of small groups. At San Pedro Presbyterian this past year, we pioneered sermon-based small groups, “a lecture-lab model for studying the weekend sermon in-depth during the week” (Osborne 2008, 15). Small group participants were invited to engage in the week’s biblical text on three levels: the sermon, a weekly devotional, and small group discussion. The groups allowed members to connect with each other while creating an framework for spiritual growth (46). Small groups are 2 the “base-community in which men and women can meet one another to be, to plan, and to act for the careful nurturing of relationships” (Icenogle 1994, 23). There are significant parallels between study groups and sermon-based small groups. Both gather together with a larger audience for learning and insight, and are given the opportunity to connect with the text on multiple levels: lecture/sermon, homework/devotional, and study/small group. They are able to move from the “familiarity stages toward a working knowledge of [academic/biblical] principles” (Osborne, 65) in their smaller groups. The small group process helps people to not bury lessons into the deep recesses of their brains; it allows them space to develop, discuss, review, and process the materials together in community (62). In this paper, I will compare the study group in Community with community that can be found in sermon-based small groups. First, I will offer a brief theological understanding of community. Then I will analyze the narrative world in which the Greendale study group exists, as well as some of the behind-the-scenes struggles for this television program. Next, I will compare the Narrative Complexities of Community with my church’s sermon-based small group ministry, focusing on their centripetal and centrifugal direction, respectively. Finally, I will extract key lessons that can be learned from the show and apply them to small group ministry. II: A THEOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF COMMUNITY In the ninth episode of Community, “Debate 109”, the college debate team argues their rival community college on the topic of whether man is inherently good or evil. While referencing Lord of the Flies, Greendale argues that “Man, when left to its own devices, will descend into chaos and evil,” thus man is evil. The rival college rebuts, “The average life expectancy for a man in a community is 23 years longer than a man alone,” therefore man is 3 good. These two arguments briefly touch on humanity’s struggle between community and individuality as well as the one between good and evil. Humanity is wired to grow and flourish in small group community. God has eternally existed in community. The trinitarian small group of Father, Son and Spirit has “existed in community as group being in creative action… [this] divine group existed as three persons in conversation and mission” (Icenogle, 22). Since we were created in the image of God, there is an innate desire for us to exist in community. After examining all that was created, God saw that it was good, yet he also said that “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18, NLT). The Triune God knew that man needed something more, so he made a suitable helper, bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. Since God exists in relationship, we are designed to live in relationship; man and woman were created to existed in perfect community with each other and with God. Yet the serpent appears and tempts them. The man and woman listened to the lies and were deceived, severing community with God as they hid in their nakedness and shame. The damage was done, and trust was broken. Distance arose between God and humanity, and conflict developed between man and woman. This result spilled into their children’s lives, as one killed the other out of jealousy. From this point on, humanity lived in the tension between the desire for camaraderie and the desire for superiority, the desire to belong and the desire to control. This disparity between our innate longing to be together and our sinful desire to be in control is seen throughout the pages of the Bible. The tension is seen between Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Esau, Saul and David, Elijah and Ahab, and Jonah and the Ninevites, to name a few. The struggle between community and individuality carries on into the New Testament as well. Much like the ragtag study group on Community, Jesus gathers his own band of misfits who continually jockey for positions of power and authority. This comes to a head when James and 4 John ask Jesus to let them “sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left” (Mark 10: 37, NLT). The rest of the disciples are furious, as we all would be. Jesus uses this as an opportunity to help the disciples understand that true community can only be found when we humble ourselves and look out for the betterment of others instead of ourselves. “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45, NLT) The early church also struggled with disunity. Various groups would cling to one minor aspect of theology while forsaking major ones. The concept of circumcision caused major tension in early church communities, dividing Jewish and Gentile Christians. The fragmentation in early church communities became the subject of several of Paul’s letters as he would admonish them to agree “wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose” (Philippians 2:2, NLT). Paul addressed the division in the church in his first letter to the Corinthians. “Some of you are saying, ‘I am a follower of Paul.’ Others are saying, ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Peter,’ or ‘I follow only Christ.’ Has Christ been divided into factions?” (1 Corinthians 1:12-13, NLT) Kosuke Koyama examines church division in his article, Is Christ Divided?. The people in Corinth chose to break into four factions rather than working together for the advancement of God’s kingdom. Paul wrote to remind them that Jesus is the “One in whom ‘all things hold together’” (Koyama, 140) and the only way to combat disunity is “concentration on Jesus in his suffering and his victorious resurrection” (141). Focusing on Jesus is the only way to experience authentic community. 5 Circumstances have not improved in the past 2000 years. “The fact remains that the Christian church - the church of the one who holds all things together - is perhaps the most divided religious institution existing” (141). Koyama laments that denominationalism is tearing apart the body of Christ. Denominationalism is a church prioritizing its own denominational teaching. This division is deadly, demonic, and “an extremely arrogant undertaking” (143). It becomes evident that the fractured community which occured in the Garden of Eden has continually plagued God’s chosen people, along with all of humanity. One of the key elements in story is conflict. “Ongoing conflict is integrated to episodic storytelling” (Callaway and Batali 2016, 189). Character and community are developed and matured within community. “Human beings don’t figure out who they are in a vacuum… We frequently find out who we are by bouncing off people who challenge our conceptions of ourselves” (Joustra & Wilkinson, 84).
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