Organic Community: creating a place where people naturally connect. This is another book that has caught my attention lately. It fits well with Asset Mapping because it moves us from focusing on the bottom line to focusing on the story, from seeing the scarcity in our group to seeing the abundancy. This is seeing our church as a cup 1/2 full, and looking what we have to offer to God’s mission rather than what we don’t have.
The basic essence of the book takes a look at the weaknesses of the “master plan” approach, recognising that the day after we put a 5 or 10 year master plan in place for our church, something changes in our life together that basically upsets this plan. It is saying that people naturally connect when they are not forced into a certain mold, but are given room to fit into the community as works for them.
A living reality of church is finding ways to meaningfully do life together. So, we may say that small groups is the way to go. When I was pastoring at Sherbrooke Mennonite Church in Vancouver, I was know to say every year in my annual report, “If you are not in a small group, then you are not receiving the kind of care that we hope you might have.” (or something like that) We never had more that 50% of our people in small groups. What kind of care and community experience were the other 50% receiving? Maybe Sunday morning worship and serving in a ministry provided exactly the right amound of care and community that they needed. Maybe it was a book study with friends that provided the small group experience.
One way or the other, this book has helped me to see that an organic community has a variety of expressions, and that this is good. We should not expect everybody to fit into one mold. I encourage you to read this book and let it help you find the ways that people naturally connect and celebrate with them.