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 INTRODUCTION
In our paradoxical age, the axiom 'more is better' has blurred the lines between quantity and quality, which are now often seen as the same. This idea has also crossed over into the area of human relationships.
NOW YOU SEE ME - NOW YOU DON'T!
The Communications Revolution has offered us unprecedented opportunities to stay in touch with each other, but the same revolution also allows us to be more isolated and invisible than ever before! The growing on-line community, whose members spend hours talking to each other only through computer screens, offers anonymity and just one dimension of connectivity, not enough in itself to build a healthy relationship. Young people look to the Internet to find answers, interaction and community. In the United States, teens spend more time online than watching TV. Who would have believed that ANYTHING could do that?
The quality of our lives is directly related to the quality of our relationships. God's word puts it this way, 'The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.' (Proverbs 12:26) and, 'A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.' (Proverbs 18:24).
GOD AND PEOPLE!
The church in America is mostly about buildings and programs. Many Americans decide where they will attend church based on the attractiveness of the building, if there are programs that cater to their kids from nursery through young adults and satisfy their own quest for 'how to' type instruction. We always tend to see Christianity through the filter of our own culture. America is a consumer-driven society; should we be surprised if some aspects of this have spilled over into the church? But the true church is not about buildings and programs-it's about God and people! If all our churches burned to the ground tonight, we could still have 'church' in the parking lots tomorrow! This speaks of relationship, both vertically and horizontally.
TRUE CONNECTIVITY
The American 'virtue' of independence can hinder the need to build healthy relationships in the Body of Christ because we think we can do it all alone; we don't need anybody else. But God has been building a new 'covering' for the church world-wide based solely upon relationship and not heavy authoritarian or sectarian structures. The role of the leader is also changing from a religious representative and teacher to an approachable leader; from an organizational manager to a spiritual father, a role which is more relational than task oriented.
TRUE BLUE!
True Christianity is not a religion but a relationship; a personal interaction between the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost and people. Prayer is the connectivity that sets up the lines of communication between all of these. The last part of Proverbs 18:24 says it all, '. . . there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.' This suggests that the quality of eternal life ultimately depends on the relationship we have with God. If you want to make it to Heaven, it's not what you know but Who you know.
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