Why Community Is Everything

It was one of the last times I attended the Ichthus Christian Music Festival and Jon Foreman of Switchfoot was speaking from the stage. Something hit home when he said, “I think what it’s really about is community.”

Last week we held a Zoom meeting for our current Sonshine members. For an icebreaker, I asked them what they missed about Sonshine. Although the answers varied, the most prominent response was that they missed each other. They missed the sense of community that Sonshine provided each Sunday evening.

As a former band director, I know how important forming a sense of community is. We even used to play some of the same community building games at band camp that we use for each new cast of Sonshine. Of course, leadership plays an important role in creating community and we did a great deal of leadership training.

Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser was the foremost authority on student leadership for bands and I often took students to his workshops. He often spoke of the four levels of maturity and the importance of finding leaders who were in the higher two categories. These leaders more often used the pronouns “we/us” as opposed to “I/me”. They were more apt to put the needs of the band (the community) ahead of their own.

I grew up in the 1970s—also known as the “Me Decade”. At church, I heard a lot of talk about “my personal savior” (a phrase you won’t find in the Bible) and the most popular Christian bumper sticker said, “I Found It”.

Two disclaimers:

1) I’m not saying that we can’t have a personal encounter with the living God. I just think that maybe that’s not what it’s all about. The Bible is a history of how God interacts with God’s people, not just the occasional individual.

2) My childhood church did have a strong sense of community at times. It’s just that I always felt an undercurrent of “once you believe enough of the right things, you can join the club and be in community with us.”

It’s interesting that Jesus began his ministry by forming a community (the twelve) and he never had a litmus test for joining him in fellowship. He didn’t preach about the Kingdom of God and then say, “And if you believe it, you can join me for dinner.” He just met people where they were, invited them in for a meal, showed them compassion and concern, and then shared his ideas about the coming kingdom.

I think some of my favorite moments in Sonshine musicals occur when the community engages with God. In “Chosen” we hear: “Why have you left us here alone? Can’t you see that we’ve been trying for so long?” And later we hear, “Where have we turned, O Israel? Have we taken God for granted all along?” There’s lots of “we/us” language in there as the community lifts their voices to God. And in “Dream Maker” we sing, “Dream Maker—we hear you in our dreams. Your voice directs our lives. In our sleep, we clearly see your eyes.” And finally in “Chains”, we sing, “We’re taking a bold step forward, although we’re uncertain of the way. We’ll meet the challenges, face the risk. Through the Spirit we’ll follow God each day.”

Of course, one of our favorite traditions in community-forming has been the “warm fuzzy” board. This gives cast members the opportunity to share notes of encouragement with each other. Occasionally, even the director gets a few. Here are some recent ones that spoke about the community of Sonshine:

“This year and tour was a lot of fun, but more importantly, it was also the most meaningful. I was able to strengthen friendships on tour and make new ones that will last a lifetime. I absolutely love the community and support that Sonshine provides. Especially today, it’s hard to find a group of people who care so much, support, and love each other.”

“This group has given me so much! Thank you for the experiences and the growth in both my faith and acting and voice.”

“This is a place where we can be ourselves and have fun together. Thank you for everything!”

Maybe Jon Foreman was correct. It’s all about community.