On Transformed Community Culture

From "In the Spirit of Transparency" - January 18, 2002

Several disciples recently approached us with the following questions: “why is it that we hear word of mouth talk about significant developments happening in the community, yet our leadership has not communicated anything to us about these things?” “Why are we being kept in benign ignorance?” “If we are truly a Christian community, shouldn’t there be more transparency than what we seem to be seeing right now?” These questions about the lack of transparency in the community surfaced for us the urgency of changing old paradigms that have outlived their usefulness, and of taking bold steps to transform our community culture.

The Lord’s Vision for Us
Our vision statement says that we are “a communion of families and a community of persons.” The word “communion” comes from the Latin cum unus which means “with one another.” This word implies a unity, a oneness, a bonding that can come only when barriers to communication, sharing and participation disappear. This unity requires the giving of oneself and one’s gifts without reservation to others who are part of the communion. Our vision is the result of a prayerful discernment of the Lord’s will for our community. Thus, we can say that the Lord’s plan is for us to become a real communion.

The Lord’s Example
The Lord does not expect us to do something that He Himself has not done for us. To reconcile us with His Father, the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself totally to mankind by becoming man and by sacrificing His life for us. In so doing, He cleansed us of our sins and united us to Him. We have become the Body of Christ, who is our Head. To empower us to remain in communion with Him, He gave us His Holy Spirit to be our advocate and guide. To nourish us in this communion, He continues to offer Himself to us in the Eucharist- where He is really present body, blood, soul and divinity. Our communion with Christ and our participation in His life and love is total and substantial.

There is only one standard when we evaluate the quality and strength of our communion, and that is the standard established by Christ. For to the Lord, each one of us is vital and important to His Church. So vital that St. Paul exclaimed in Galatians 2:20 “I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” Therefore, every member of His community should recognize and bring to fruition the very vital role that he or she must play in the life and mission of God’s community. Everyone counts in the Lord’s community!

Our Current Situation
For everyone to matter, we must transform our community from its current patriarchal culture into a collaborative, participative, interdependent community. We can not remain self-absorbed, group-focused, internally-directed and beholden to friends and idols. We must, as our community’s name demand of us, be OPEN TO THE SPIRIT OF GOD, attentively and heedfully open to His promptings and direction. When He shows us the way, then we must follow. Let there be no doubt that when the Lord directs us individually or collectively to do His will, He also equips us.

When the Lord gave the Holy Spirit to each and everyone of us, He did not allocate Himself in portions. We received His Whole Being! This trustworthy belief should therefore give us the confidence that, in Him and through His gifts, each of us is capable of contributing to the common good. The Spirit’s gifts are not the monopoly of the community’s stewards and coordinators; therefore the life and work of the community do not depend exclusively on them.

Bold Steps Needed
The stewards have recognized this by empowering the body of coordinators to oversee the operations of the community, while they devote themselves to prayer, discernment, preaching, teaching, mentoring and enabling others. But the journey to the transformation of the community must go beyond such initial steps. The stewards must lead the way in dismantling the artificial, functional “barriers” that in the past caused each ministry, and as a result- the members, to operate independently of the others. Rather, they should encourage and cultivate collaboration. The stewards must discard the tendency to place people in “boxes” that define members’ willingness, aptitudes and capabilities based on “snapshots” of past experience with them. Rather, they must affirm and upbuild the members, encouraging them to identify, use and unify their gifts for the work of ministry, and trusting them to be able to handle substantive community endeavors, communications and issues with spiritual maturity. Finally, the stewards must consistently model the servanthood of Christ by living up to their calling as stewards, rather than “governors” or leaders.

The coordinators and the members must accept and utilize their empowerment to actively perform the Lord’s work, for the praise and glory of the Father. With empowerment comes responsibility and accountability, both personal and communitarian. Personal responsibility entails the steadfast commitment to deepen one’s communion with the Lord and with His Church through prayer, Word, sacraments, ministry and community. Communitarian responsibility entails a persevering commitment to share the Lord’s love and blessings with the community, the Church and its mission field, to share in the God-given trust of stewarding the community towards its vision and mission.

Communion with the Church
The most important step we must take is to bring our community into alignment with the Church, so that we may realize what we have solemnly pledged in our Community Commitment and Community Covenant: submission to and full communion with the Church. As a vital part of the Church, we will living witnesses to the love and glory of God!