By Executive Director John Yoder

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Most global cultures are collectivistic, placing a higher emphasis on the concerns of the group than the concerns of the individual. By contrast, America is the most individualistic culture on earth.

In most of my blogs, I try to balance the pros and cons of American and global cultures. But the past few years have seen an unhealthy spike in isolationism and loneliness. Most of us Americans need to learn the importance of community from our global brothers and sisters.

The pandemic was a massive social setback for all of us. This is especially true for children, who missed out on extended socialization during their formative years.  Even older adults with developed social skills suffered setbacks during the pandemic.

Another factor hindering interpersonal communications is social media. It’s easier to focus on our screens than the person in front of us. It’s easier to collect likes than to give and receive love. For many, it’s difficult to put phones on silent mode for even one hour, to focus their full attention on the person in front of them. Additionally, the polarization of American society has resulted in the fear of posting anything potentially controversial, anticipating an angry backlash.

All of these things conspire to make us retreat into our personal spaces. Many young adults desperately need the church to lead the way in helping them hold meaningful face-to-face conversations.

Let me suggest four ways we can reconnect to community.

1. Reconnect with the church. The pandemic was a convenient excuse for many to drop out of church. But the Christian faith is not a solo sport. God designed it for community. The idea of a Christian that is not connected to a local church is foreign to the New Testament.

2. Engage in community. It’s not enough to simply attend worship services. There are numerous “one another” commands in the New Testament that cannot be obeyed in isolation: love one another, encourage one another, bear one another’s burdens, exhort one another, and more.

3. Engage in genuine conversations. Sometimes small group discussions don’t move beyond the surface level. All of us need genuine conversations where we can know and be known. Many Christians have no such meaningful friendships.

4. Simultaneously, engage in online community. This sounds like I’m contradicting everything I just said. But in today’s online world, the church must engage in community both face-to-face and online. Here are 3 reasons why:

• There are unchurched people who won’t attend your services, but will engage with you online. Jesus says we must “go to the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in”. If we want to go where the wandering sheep can be found, we must go online.
• There are lapsed members of your church who won’t attend your services, but will engage with you online.
• Active members of your church spend more time online than they do in your services. Let’s not consider the church to be the exclusive domain where God can be found, leaving the Internet to trolls and sexual predators. Let’s saturate the Web with Christian content. Don’t view online ministries as competitors to the church. The Kingdom of God has no room for competitors, only collaborators. Plenty of reliable ministries have quality online content. Be on the lookout for them, and encourage your members to use them.

Today’s Christians desperately need to be called back to community! Let’s strive to reconnect to one another.