Community
I grew up in an area that used to be known for its tremendous hospitality. This was before it was marketable for the tourist industry. This was a time decades (and centuries) ago when the islands were isolated from the rest of the world. I don’t mean that it was a backwater sleeping away from the world at large. Believe me, World War II was fought on their doorsteps with German U-Boats patrolling the shores. Look up Torpedo Alley – you’ll be surprised.

What I mean is that folks literally washed up on shore and started their lives over. People shared what they had because it helped guarantee survival. Being friendly and peaceable was a side benefit. Hoarders were a great enemy, however, those that tried to go it alone were regarded as a curiosity. No one could really figure out why a person or family would move to the islands and then try to isolate themselves from the community. Weren’t they isolated enough?

Change in a Community
The Igbo people of Nigeria have a saying, “Igbo doam.” It means the Igbo survive. Considering that there language has a similar present tense and future tense, it can also be translated “Igbo will survive”. The main reason the Igbo believe this is that as a whole, the culture of the community is one that is open to change. An individual that will not change is considered to be broken in many ways: one way is in the community, the other is with God, himself. Another way to state this that is similar to modern western thought is ‘bend without breaking’. In this case, bending is adapting in order to survive else a person or community breaks under the pressure.

Personally, I can say that I was almost broken by recent events in my family’s life. I did not want to change the way I live my life. I did not want to change our schedule. I did not want to be far from home. Without a patient wife and a wonderful community I would have never embraced the change my family was undergoing. I would have ceased to function and literally fallen apart.

Possible Meaning
An article leaked out written by one of the Committee of Nine members about avoiding present mistakes in the ICOC. In many ways, it addresses the dangers of ‘staying the course’. Reading it made me think of home and the principles of community as I understand them. The article seems to embrace a different set of principles than what I would consider.

Before I start, it is necessary to say that the article has some very valid points. This is not a bash on one of the Co9 folks. If someone is looking for a “What else the ICOC is doing wrong” type of post, it won’t be here. This is something larger than a specific denomination, but it includes them as I am a part of it, though not formally. Having put this caveat up front, let’s go on to the actual article.

Community means at least two things. One, is that a group of people look to the needs of each individual to survive. Second, a group looks to adapt in order to survive. The first principle is simple to say and difficult to perform. The second is abstract and difficult to quantify in a straightforward way. I hope to address both.

Adaptation
look at “Are we Growing” on Christian Chronicle. Not adapting, but this has nothing to do with instrumentation. It has to do with creating an ideology making God an idol and thus always making the problem “me”.