Loosening the Chains

   Our pastors and leadership at New Song recognize that community is central to the church. When the early church is described in Acts, you can see that it is so much more than just coming together a couple times a week in the church building. They lived in true community with one another and it was powerful! 

    Nicaragua is such an interesting mix of being more community-oriented than life in the States, but at the same time true intimate community is difficult to find. Everyone's homes are open. People come in and out of each other's lives and homes. I know that I can show up at someone's house at anytime and will be welcomed with open arms (visiting with my neighbors at the Corner House- pictured right). I love that part of Nicaraguan culture. I love how quickly I felt like family here.
   And yet, relationships usually don't go very deep because people do not seem to trust one another. There is a lot of gossip and so people have a hard time trusting each other with their hearts. Conflict resolution is non-existent within this village. People will just cut off relationships at the first disagreement or disappointment. And the phrase I hear most in Nicaragua is "Tengo pena"; which can be translated as "I'm embarassed or ashamed". Pena stops people from sharing their real hearts; it stops people from apologizing to one another even when they know they should. Pena is one of the heavy chains that is holding this village captive. Fortunately we have a God whose heart is to loosen the chains of the captives and proclaim their freedom (see Isaiah 61:1).

    Our pastors and leaders have been discussing how we can bring deeper community into the church. This month they decided to start home groups in the community. I love the direction that we are moving as a church! We have started 3 home groups in different sections of Candelaria, each being led by one of the three pastors. We meet together every Thursday night for worship, prayer, Bible study, and a time of building community together (small group worship- pictured left). I love the diversity in our small groups! My group ranges in age from 12-60 and includes high school and college students, young families, older married couples and single moms. I love this view of community groups rather than what I have traditionally seen where groups tend to be very homogeneous including mostly people of the same age, life situation, etc. I think that as the church segregates itself into homogeneous groups we are losing a depth to community where you learn from one another through the diversity of your experience. Also we are perpetuating the myth we can only build community with those with whom we share common interests rather than the truth that community is something the church should choose to BE because we follow a God who desires to put us in restored relationship with Him, with ourselves, with one another, and with our world. 
    I love to see how our home group is beginning to come together as a true community. They have already decided that they want to take up an offering each week so that within our group we are able to meet any major needs that arise within the group. We want to say, as it says in Acts 4:34, "There were no needy among them…"
    Last week as we were talking about this offering, the pastor had offered to share each month the amount that had been collected and given out without telling who the money had been given to so that we don't give pena to anyone. In my heart I immediately felt that if we were going to have true community we needed to be open and honest about our needs. We needed to know to whom the money was given and why so that we can visit the sick, encourage the discouraged, and really walk through our problems together. I didn't want to see pena keep our community from diving deeply into life together. However, as the only non-Nicaraguan in the room, I didn't feel like it was my place to say anything. I sat in my chair silently debating whether or not I should say something. Before I could make up my mind, three different people from our home group spoke up and said, "No, pastor. There is no reason for us to have pena within our own group. We need you to speak to us openly about what the needs are. We want to be able to do more for one another than just give this offering. We want to walk together, but we can't do that if we don't know what's going on." They decided as a group to take a risk on community and to really walk together. And the chains of pena begin to loosen in this place!