Community

“…proximity, homogeneity, and familiarity…interconnectedness…common interest or common purpose…”

We live in a world of communities: neighborhoods, schools, sports teams, hobbies, church, and even communities fostered in cyberspace. Philosophers and social scientists can argue over whether these communities are real or imagined, but regardless of their construction (literal or metaphysical), we feel them. Or feel out of them. Enclusion/exclusion, belonging/marginalization, interaction/isolation, visibility/hiddeness effect us. Our viewpoints and emotions are influenced by the way a sense of community confirms or supports our beliefs. Communities, such as our church family, that are drawn together by “efficacy or convenience, can over time take on stronger and stronger feelings of affiliation and commonality.” Conversely, feelings of being excluded negatively affect our viewpoints and emotions. How often do we feel as we walk the halls of church that we are drawn together but are not truly and meaningfully connected, despite our shared faith?

Our desire is to further grow the community of the CCPC Women’s Ministry through additional opportunities for “communing” together. Community spaces for sharing since the times of the ancient Greeks have traditionally being in the agora’s (public squares), the private spheres of the domicile (our private homes), and now a new third social space found on the web. CCPC offers public meeting times in Sunday worship, Sunday School classes, and weekly Bible Studies to develop the community of believers. We also have private walks with the Lord that we conduct in our homes through personal Bible study and prayer. These times of communing are situated in inflexible, specific times and spaces. This creates an opening for the unique third community space: the internet.

An on-line community forum offers a new space that is free of the constraints of time and place – you can collaborate, communicate, gather information, and become part of a group without having to get a babysitter, update your blackberry, or wash your hair!

For the times when, as women, child-rearing, work, commitments to spouses, and the realities of running households reduce time for our belonging to a community of believers,

Virtual communities use words on screen to exchange pleasantries…engage in intellectual discourse…exchange knowledge, share emotional support, make plans, brainstorm, find friends, create….People in virtual communities do just about everything people do in real life, but we leave our bodies behind.

We hope to encourage your walk in the public life of a Christian, your private life as a believer , and also in the social blessing of fellowshipping – together in the same space or on-line so you can bloom where you are planted and join together to put down roots and blossom into flourishing women of the Lord.

Quotes from: Burbules, N. C. (2009). Globalization and Education: Critical Perspectives (Social Theory, Education, and Cultural Change) (2 ed.). New York: Routledge.