UBER Series# 5, Community – Live Better, Live Longer
By: Pastor Cheryl Thomas

(in my notes go online and see or go to www.careynieuwhof.com)
Carey Nieuwhof- Connexus Church in Barrie Ontario- He is a Pastor, Blogger, and hosts leadership podcasts.

Posted a blog February 4, 2016
“What The Church Can Learn From the Astounding Rise of Uber”

1. Owning a great taxi cab is no longer enough- having a great church is no longer good enough…

Polishing a current model of ministry to make it better often comes at the expense of true innovation.
We have to be cognizant of what this generation requires and adjust without loosing the mission of heaven. CT 

2. Innovation doesn’t ask for approval

The point is Uber already won real marketshare before most people even knew what was happening.
Uber is a great example of how innovation changes things rapidly.

Innovation -It just happens—much to the annoyance of existing power structures, which tend to be about preserving what has been.
So don’t be afraid of innovation and rely on the wisdom of heaven as we navigate change. CT

3. Fighting change doesn’t stop change

It’s rather surprising to see how angry and opposed taxi cab owners have become in their opposition to Uber.
The best leaders see change and adapt to it, never compromising the mission but reinventing the methods (which is exactly what Uber is doing).
Complaining about change doesn’t change anything either.

4. When you confuse method with mission, you lose

Taxi cabs have been a method of temporary transportation for a century.
But the mission behind the taxi industry is transportation.
Uber never mistook the method for the mission. It appears that the taxi industry has done just that.
We all get wedded to our methods.

The cab industry could have become innovative and pioneered Uber-like service and innovation. But it didn’t.
Now it looks like the cab industry is far more wedded to their method than they are to their mission.
Know any churches like that?

5. Your past success is no guarantee of your future success

Having the best cab fleet of the 21 century may not matter as much as it did 5 years ago.
The best way to ensure future success is to keep experimenting and keep innovating.
When was the last time your church innovated?

6. Innovation spawns more innovation, while defensiveness spawns death

Very little has changed in the cab industry in the last few decades.
Uber was only an idea as recently as 2009. It launched its first service in 2010.
That’s because an innovative culture spawns more innovation.
Church leaders, take note.
Defensiveness spawns death.
So start innovating.

7. Self-interest will inevitably lose to public interest

The church should be the least self-interested organization in the world.
Ever notice that selfishness and defensiveness are only attractive to the person being selfish and defensive?
Ask yourself: does your church come across as self-interested? 

UBER- supercharged…vehemently, with high degree, superlative examples of its kind

1. Uber Zeal – alignment
2. Uber Challenges the Status Quo – creates those who upset the applecart
3. Uber –churches-

• Led By Holy Spirit
“…being sent out by the Holy Spirit…”4 Always follow the Holy Spirit!
Acts 16:7 “…they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.”
• The Word Is Proclaimed
“…they preached the Word of God…” vs.5
The Gospel is the power of God. “… Gentiles heard … were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” 48
• They Minister As A Team
“They also had John as their assistant.” vs.5
Timothy was a good son before he became an apostle.
1 Corinthians 4:17 “I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord,…”
• Confront Demonic Guards
“…they came upon a certain Jewish wizard or sorcerer…” vs.6
“Apostolic ministry is a ministry of warfare … invades new territories and breaks through. It is the first to encounter the spiritual resistance of the powers of darkness and the first to penetrate the barriers they erect.” Hector Torres
• Operate In The Miraculous
“

4. Uber – Supercharge your finances- be UBER generous

5. UBER COMMUNITY- Live Longer Live better in Community
6. Sociological purpose and outcomes of Community
7. Cosmological purpose for Community

1. The Sociological purpose and outcomes of Community

“Let him who is not in community beware of being alone… the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community

Community is all about one another…it is two words in english but one in greek..Ah-Lay-loan

It is used 100 times in 94 NT scriptures, Paul wrote 60% of the one another verses. 1/3 deal with getting along, 1/3 deal with how to love one another, and 15% stress the importance of humility and deference. http://overviewbible.com/one-another-infographic/

If community is an expression of ONE ANOTHER how is one to create community in a western culture that prides itself on fierce individualism.

In 2009 Psychiatrists Jacqueline Olds and Richard Schwartz authored a book titled “The Lonely American”, and said over the past decade, America has become an even lonelier country for many who live here.

Drawing from social commentary, pop culture and their combined clinical experience Olds and Schwartz explore the sad tale of stoic individualism, and asserts that this celebration of individualism leads to emotional disconnection, sickness and loneliness; a dangerous disconnection from our fellow human beings. http://thelonelyamerican.com/ 

In a meta analysis of 148 studies  researchers  conclude that being isolated from others isn’t just lonely — it may increase your chances of an early death, and that social interactions play an important role in health.

Further the researchers conclude that, “physicians, health professionals, educators, and the media should now acknowledge that social relationships influence the health outcomes of adults and should take social relationships as seriously as other risk factors that affect mortality…” Additional Information  http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316. 

African Quotes on Unity and Community

• Unity is strength, division is weakness. ~ Swahili proverb
• Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable. ~ Bondei proverb
• It takes a village to raise a child. ~ African proverb
• Cross the river in a crowd and the crocodile won’t eat you. ~ African proverb
• Where there are many, nothing goes wrong. ~ Swahili proverb
• Two ants do not fail to pull one grasshopper. ~ Tanzanian proverb
• A single bracelet does not jingle. ~ Congolese proverb
• A single stick may smoke, but it will not burn. ~ African proverb
• If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. ~ African proverb

“Ubuntu an African proverb that considers the success of the group above that of the individual.”

According to Ubuntu, there exists a common bond between us all and it is through this bond, through our interaction with our fellow human beings, that we discover our own human qualities.

Ubuntu- “I am what I am because of who we all are”

 

Now I am not saying there isn’t a place for solitude and solitary reflection…For if we are unable to be content with who we are that is just as unhealthy. However apart of our confidence and self esteem comes for belonging to healthy community.

Abraham Maslow, a nonbeliever, reinforced God’s original design and planned through his well-known theory of the hierarchy of needs. Maslow believed that one could learn as much by studying healthy, well-adjusted people as one could by studying those with problems. His conclusion was that each of us has various levels of need. As we satisfy one level, we then move up to the next level.
Maslow’s research revealed that before we can be a person of value and become all that we were intended to become we first must have our social needs met.

We must be a part of a group, affiliating with others, experiencing caring and sharing relationships.

Fountain House an organization working within mental health posted an article on their website titled “The Working Community and Maslow’s Need to Belong. According to Abraham Maslow, satisfying the need to belong is a prerequisite to developing self-esteem and confidence, which in turn is a prerequisite for self-actualization – the motive to realize one’s fullest potential. These higher order needs require a social context, which is why belonging supports self-esteem in Maslow’s pyramid.

 “the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation. Belonging helps people in times of trouble. It provides a place to share good and bad news and to avoid loneliness and feeling unloved. It’s the place to get the information and the real interpersonal rewards that build confidence and self-esteem…” http://www.fountainhouse.org/blog/working-community-and-maslows-need-belong (April 2012)

“Hara Estroff Marano, in 2003 published an article for psychology today stating
“A lack of close friends and a dearth of broader social contact generally bring the emotional discomfort or distress known as loneliness.  It begins with an awareness of a deficiency of relationships. This cognitive awareness plays through our brain with an emotional soundtrack. It makes us sad. We might feel an emptiness. We may be filled with a longing for contact. We feel isolated, distanced from others, deprived. These feelings tear away at our emotional well-being.” https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200307/the-dangers-loneliness

In another essay The  Psychological Sense of Community (1986)  McMillan and Chavis provide the following one-sentence definition of community: “Sense of Community is a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together.”

Their essay highlights four essential elements of community:

1. Membership– boundaries, safety, belonging, personal investment and common symbol system
2. Influence– bidirectional the member has voice to influence the group and the group has voice to influence its members. Jeremy Bentham “It is vain to talk of the interest of community without understanding what is the interest of the individual.”
3. Integration and fulfillment– speaks to elements that go beyond mere surviving but is that which speaks to one desires and values
4. Shared emotional connection–McMillan and Chavis assert that shared emotional connection is a definitive element of community. http://www.wright-house.com/psychology/sense-of-community.html

So that is the thinking of Academia…

• The Philosopher Socrates said; “there is no possession more valuable than a good and faithful friend.”

• A more current philospher Francis Bacon said, “friendship doubles joys and halves grief’s…”

• Author Mark Twain said; “to get the full value out of joy, you must have someone to divide it with…”

• Theologian Spurgeon said, “Communion is strength; solitude is weakness. Alone, the fine old beech tree yields to the blast and lies prone on the meadow. In the forest, supporting each other, the trees laugh at the hurricane… The social element is the genius of Christianity.”

• God says; Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecc 4:9-12

Ever since creation, everything that lives exists in an elaborate network of relationships.

Plants for example:
– Rooted in the soil.
– Reach for the sunlight.
– Require insects for pollination.
– Spread seeds by means of the wind.

Torn from the soil or shielded from the sun they wither and die.
Shielded from the insects and the wind they cannot reproduce.
Survival and health require a connection to the created order.

Another example from nature is the huge redwood trees in California. They are the largest living things on earth and the tallest trees in the world. Some of them are 300 feet high and more than 2,500 years old. You would think that trees that large would have a tremendous root system, reaching down hundreds of feet into the earth. But that is not the case. Redwoods have a very shallow root system. The roots of these trees are, however, intertwined. They are tied in with each other; interlocked. Thus, when the storms come and the winds blow the redwoods still stand.

With an interlocking root system they support and sustain each other. They need one another to survive.

So do we!

Human beings must be connected through relationships as well.
– We cannot experience healthy growth in isolation.
– We cannot reproduce in isolation.
– Even our salvation is about a relationship with God.

God’s eternal purpose is to express his love and have a community of His own that mirrored the community that existed in eternity.

Right in the beginning of our story God declares, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18

Proverbs 8:1-6

“Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table.  She has sent out her maids, and she calls from the highest point of the city. “Let all who are simple come in here!” she says to those who lack judgment. “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.”

Wisdom- in proverbs 8 is personified through the use of personal pronoun I…General consensus that the “I” is Jesus speaking… then in verse 30…

Then I was constantly^[a] at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence,  rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.

Wisdom, it seems, does five things: She builds, she prepares, she calls, she hosts, and she offers insight. 

God is building community

• with a support system- pillars- pastors, evangelist, prophets, apostles, teachers, deacon, leaders
• that can sustain its inhabitants, its family- prepared meat, wine, and table
• that welcomes those without wisdom – calls to the simple {easily seduced, sill}
• where one can find wisdom
• a place where one can learn to walk the way of understanding

It’s an UBER Community is a place where: 

God gathers we who were so far away and brought us near to Him…So we are no longer called outcasts and wanderers but citizens with God’s people, members of God’s holy family, and residents of His household…. being built on a solid foundation…Eph2:11-19

We were

1. “Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel” (12)
2. “Strangers from the covenants of promise” (12)
3. “Having no hope” (12)
4. “Without God in the world” (12)

But now we are a part of God’s UBER Community

1. We are now “fellow citizens with the saints” (19a)
2. We are now “members of the household of God” (19b)
3. We are now part of “a holy temple in the Lord” (20-22)

So how does this UBER Community function, what constitute a community, one that is a superlative example of its kind.

Although people often mistake the Apostle Paul as a loner/ lone ranger he was very much a part of community:

• Church in Antioch
• Church planting he stayed in community, worked in community, ministered in community

COLOSSIANS 4:7-18

Tych’ icus will tell you all about my affairs; he is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, and with him Ones′imus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of yourselves. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.

Aristar′chus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, receive him), and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.

Ep′aphras, who is one of yourselves, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always remembering you earnestly in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in La-odice′a and in Hi-erap′olis.  Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you.  Give my greetings to the brethren at La-odice′a, and to Nympha and the church in her house.

The apostle Paul knew well what is was to create a lasting community

I have chose one New Testament community highlighting the important ingredients necessary for creating an UBER Community…

1 Thessalonians 1: 6-8  Paul writes about the Thessalonians saying, “…you became imitators of us … you became a model to all the believers…from you the  Lord’s message rang out …your faith in God became known everywhere.”

So what did Paul model to create such an exemplary community? We discover Paul’s methods in 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12

But we were gentle^[c] among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. ⁸ So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. ¹⁰ You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father with his children, ¹² we encouraged you, comforted you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Paul demonstrates, gentleness, and affection. He invested in them, laboured among them, left an example worth following and influenced behaviour.

1. Paul modeled gentleness– v7- But we were gentle like a nursing mother… Paul uses the analogy of a nurse as gentleness is a fitting characteristic of a nurse/ nursing mother…

• It is the care that places the welfare of the child above that of the mother.
  “The figure implies a special effort to protect and to provide for every need, even to the extent of great sacrifice” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary).
• The term gentleness also implies, mild in bearing with faults of others…gentle though firm in reproving.
• And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle ^G2261 unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 2 timothy 2:24
• This does not imply that issues and concerns are not address, but it is the manner in which we address things in God’s UBER Community.
• ( I love you but this behavior is unproductive and unprofitable)

An UBER Community is a gentle community.

2 He modeled affection vs 8- because we loved you so much…other translations say, having so fond affection…the longing of love…

being affectionately desirous–The oldest reading in the Greek implies, literally, to connect one’s self with another; to be closely attached to another

The term used by Paul is “affectionate longing.” It is a term that is used in the nursery but is masculine and tender. It conveys or describes:
• A yearning for
• A fond desire for
• to fill a need for
• A heart’s appetite for

Use examples of Paul’s great love- timothy, –his son none like him, the Corinthians, how concerned he was for Epaphrus life

Affection must not be confused with affectation- Pretending to like someone is an artificial behavior meant to impress others.

“It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart… for God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:7-11 NIV)

“…you are our letter written on our hearts.”

Romans 9:1 holy spirit testifies that I wish I could my self be cursed and cut off for sake of my brothers…

We must not be afraid to show affection for our brothers and sisters in Christ.  The Apostle Paul was a great correspondent, expressed his joy, and commended the early churches for their Christian fellowship.

An UBER community is an affectionate community.

3. Paul invested into the community v8b- “…we were so delighted with you that we were ready to share (impart) not only the gospel and our very lives with you.”

This is where we often fall short as believers and community… we are quick to quote scripture lead one to the lord but share our very lives…
Paul says that he was well pleased to impart to you….

The picture is that of an old master spending years teaching, training, and preparing his apprentice in all the craft and skills he knows so that the apprentice can take his place. He invests who he is into the apprentice.

Paul mentions two areas that he invested in the believers:
The Gospel of God, Also our own lives.

Paul is taking a part of himself and giving it to the church in Thessalonica. For community means we are willing to invest who we are and what we know into the lives of those we are in community with.

I have had more learning take place across a dinner table with someone that ever I could receive in a structured learning environment.

Where we shared:

Hurts, Frustration, Failure, Stress, Successes, Joys, Life Lessons

An UBER Community invests in its people.

4. Paul laboured tirelessly v9- “surely you remember our toil and hardship working day and night in order not to be a burden to anyone.’

It’s a labor born of love… which voluntarily assumes and endures troubles and pains for someone else.

Paul says that he toiled and labored night and day to keep from being a burden to the believers.

An UBER Community labours to see that Christ is formed and that none miss out on the goodness and promises of God.

5. Paul lived well among them v10 – “you are a witness of how holy righteous and blameless we were among you.”

Paul lived an exemplary life to show them how to live godly.

Devoutly = holy and pure before God
Justly = upright and honest in his relationships with people
Blamelessly = in his business dealings with others

He lived what they preached.
He walked the talk.

An UBER Community lives well so others can follow their example

6. Paul exercises influence in verses 11-12 Paul uses three terms in verse eleven to describe his influence toward the Thessalonians. Paul encouraged, comforted, and charged the believers to, look at verse 12, to walk worthy of God. He is instructing and encouraging them to live a godly life. He does so as a father does his own children.

1 Thessalonians 1: 7 says of the church you were imitators of us and the Lord which resulted in the message of the Lord rang out and they had become renown far and wide for their faith.

A good father will not require of his children what he does not own himself…

UBER Community requires of us gentleness, affection, investment, hard work, lives that are worth following and the courage to influence.

Beyond affecting change and transformation on the earth the church / God’s UBER Community is called to affect the cosmo’s

2. THE COSMOLOGICAL PURPOSE OF CHURCH/OUR COMMUNITY

Cosmic- relating to the universe or cosmos, distinct from the earth : inconceivably vast

In the same way the faith of that community was known everywhere in a physical, earthly and historical sense so to our community is meant to affect and reverberate not only the bounds and confines of the earth but it is the purpose of God that the Church/His Family/His Community displays the wisdom of God in the heavenly realms affecting change in the very atmosphere.

We need to bring our hearts to understand the grandeur of the mission of the church. Most of us live our lives with little awareness of the amazing fantastic wonderful reality that we are members of His body, part of the family of God, we are the CHURCH.

Ephesians 2:7 the reason God rescued us …is that the coming age he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace.

His intent that now through the Church the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to rulers and authorities in heavenly realms. Eph. 3:10

The Church was not an after thought but part of God’s eternal plan.

Sometimes we don’t meditate on how our jobs, home life, leisure or church involvement fits into the cosmic significance of the church. 

At times our lives lack the flavor of eternity and the passion of something bigger than ourselves. 

The Church should carry out its mission, with life, with the flavor, with the understanding that, spiritual entities in heavenly place  are be made to know and recognize the wisdom of God.

In fact Romans 8:19 says, “The whole creation groans and waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” Rom 8:19

Psalm 87 tells us that God loves the gates of Zion more than the dwellings of Jacob…and that glorious things will be spoken of us as ones born in Zion…a community large enough in it vision to express the diversity of God…as the record will record that Zion is not comprised only of those of Jewish descent but the record of Zion will include those from Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre and Cush 

It is amazing to me that Pentecost, the day the church was born that God chose to birth the church in the midst of thousands of people gathered together from every corner of the known world. Acts 2:9-11 says that there were “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes.”

The church is at it’s best and strongest when it is made up of all different kinds of people with all different stories who come together and combine their individual stories into a great epic of God’s love.

So What will eternity say of this community…

“…They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor…” Isaiah 61:3

The church manifests the wisdom of God in the same manner as a beautiful painting manifests the skill of the painter, a bridge displays the skills of an architect, and a beautiful song displays the he skills of a lyrist and musicians. Angels…men…history will regard this community as the Masterpiece of God.

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