{"id":19166,"date":"2013-07-19T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2013-07-19T16:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=19166"},"modified":"2018-01-13T21:34:03","modified_gmt":"2018-01-14T05:34:03","slug":"church-tribes-vs-jesus-tribe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-tribes-vs-jesus-tribe\/","title":{"rendered":"Church Tribes vs. Jesus’ Tribe"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post about church tribes is written by Sam Riviera, a frequent contributor to this blog.<\/p>\n

\n

\"church<\/p>\n

Yesterday’s post \u00a0introduced to the concept of church tribes<\/a>. This post looks at the pros and cons of church tribes, and how to be part of Jesus’ Tribe.<\/p>\n

Benefits of Belonging to a Church Tribe<\/h2>\n

There are benefits to belong to a tribe… especially a church tribe.<\/p>\n

One of the primary benefits of having a tribe is that it gives us a sense of belonging, a place where we can call home, and feel protected.<\/p>\n

We all want safe havens where we are listened to, accepted, and loved. Most of us can handle aggressive, angry, hostile people much better when we know we have a loving, supportive family waiting for us at home, and a loving, supportive group, be it a church or a social club, with whom we will gather to escape a hostile world and support one another.<\/p>\n

Together we can accomplish what we could never do alone. We can work on common goals, trade ideas and \u201chave each others backs.\u201d It’s nice to be part of a group where together we can form a united front that tells people,\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t mess with us or we\u2019ll stomp on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if others think us strange, weird, or crazy, that\u2019s OK. We have each other to tell us that we\u2019re normal and everyone else is crazy.<\/p>\n

Disadvantages of Belonging to a Tribe<\/h2>\n

Nevertheless, there are some disadvantages to belonging to a tribe, and to church tribes in particular.<\/p>\n

Most tribes expect those who belong to conform to the rules of the tribe. This is especially true of church tribes. If we want to belong, we must first learn who\u2019s the chief, who are his right-hand people and what we are expected to do to show proper respect to them. We may be expected to show not only respect, but to give gifts of time, money and other items to the \u201ctribal leaders\u201d.<\/p>\n

We will be expected to know our status within the tribe. We may be expected to wear the tribe-approved dress, learn the tribal rituals and music, and learn what behaviors are considered acceptable by the tribe.<\/p>\n

If we intentionally or unintentionally break the rules, we will almost certainly discover that something is amiss. How? Someone else in the tribe is certain to point our mistake out to us. Perhaps other members of the tribe will ignore us. We will find out that we\u2019re no longer being invited to \u201cinsider\u201d parties. No one tells us tribal gossip as they did in the past. Everyone is suddenly too busy to have time to talk to us.<\/p>\n

If we cannot manage to restore ourselves to the good graces of the tribe, we may discover that the tribe no longer considers us one of them. Although we probably won\u2019t literally be murdered, we may find that we are the victims of \u201ccharacter assassination.\u201d Unless we\u2019re total idiots, we\u2019ll get the message. \u201cGet out. Go Away. We don\u2019t want you. And don\u2019t you dare post your grievances on a blog, or we\u2019ll sue you.\u201d (All of these things have happened.)<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 Tribe<\/h2>\n

Who belongs to Jesus\u2019 tribe? \u2013 Everyone. Jesus came for all of us. Jesus came for rich and poor, young and old, fat and thin, fit and disabled, Jews and Samaritans, the clean and the unclean, those like us and those unlike us, those of our ethnicity and those of other ethnicities, those who believe the \u201ccorrect\u201d theology and those who have all kinds of strange ideas, Republicans, Democrats and people with no political affiliation, straights and gays, people in suits and people in bathing suits, people like us who \u201chave it all together\u201d and people who don\u2019t, Baptists and atheists and you-name-it.<\/p>\n

Whose tribe should we choose? The Baptists? The Democrats? The Samaritans? Weight watchers?<\/p>\n

How about Jesus’ Tribe?<\/p>\n

Don’t confuse the Church Tribe with Jesus’ Tribe. The two are not always the same.\u00a0Whenever church people create rules that exclude others, they are creating a religious tribe that did not originate with Jesus.<\/p>\n

Tribes are not necessarily bad.\u00a0We all need our safe havens. We all need people who accept, love and support us. We all need people who want to hear what we have to say.<\/p>\n

We just need to make sure that we allow Jesus, our Tribal leader, to make the rules for our tribe.<\/p>\n

Instead of excluding others from our tribe, or even inviting them to be a part of our tribe, do you think it is possible to realize that we are all part of the human tribe, the tribe Jesus honored by becoming part of the tribe? Is it really possible to learn to love, honor and accept all of our neighbors, just as Jesus did? When we join Jesus’ Tribe, we find that we can have all the benefits of belonging to a tribe, while not having to deal with any of the disadvantages.<\/p>\n

Jesus’ Tribe is so broad, it invites all people from all backgrounds among all ethnicities and from every socio-economic level. Jesus’ tribe has no official language, no preferred music style, no political persuasion, no dress code, no rules about tattoos or hair-length or food choices.<\/p>\n

Jesus just loves all, invites all, and accepts all. If we are part of His Tribe, we will do the same.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Church tribes often create religious rules that exclude people in ways that Jesus never did. Therefore, our church tribes are not Jesus’ Tribe. There are many benefits and disadvantages to belonging to a tribe, but the Jesus tribes incorporates all the benefits but none of the disadvantages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2296],"tags":[1235,1336,1394,32,1397,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-19166","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-z","8":"tag-church","9":"tag-guest-post","10":"tag-sam-riviera","11":"tag-theology-church","12":"tag-tribal-church","13":"tag-tribalism","14":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nChurch Tribes vs. Jesus' Tribe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Church tribes often create religious rules that exclude people in ways that Jesus never did. 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