Community and Individuality - a balanced perspective

The tension between individualism and community can be easily verified in our world, particularly in our Christian world. In one hand, we have the world-making processes of our culture reminding us constantly that we need to cut through our own paths, to focus on self-improvement, and to pursue personal fulfillment. On the other hand, within the church—particularly in the Lutheran congregation— we know that we have a call to live in community with one another. There is an increasing number of authors calling for a return to a more communal sense of the Christian Lutheran congregation, and it is a valid call. From the use of the pronoun You, which tends to be heard more in the singular than in the plural, to the call to congregational worship as opposed to individualistic small (or big) screen. Like any gift, however, this sense of community must be reclaimed with care, for Christians, and especially Lutherans, do not want to carve a path into into legalism or that may stifle and deny individuality.

The Call to Community

Christianity was never meant to be an individual entreprise. Right off the bat, Christians were called to be together, to love and serve one another, even when there is only 2 or 3 of them. Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12 remind us that the Church is like a body: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12). This is not a superficial or sentimental unity but a deep God-given connection through faith that unites them. Each member is different, but all are part of one body. This metaphor pints to a foundational truth about Christian community: it is not optional but essential.

Martin Luther emphasized this truth in the Small Catechism, particularly in his explanation of the Third Article of the Creed, where he teaches that it is the Holy Spirit who calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies “the whole Christian church on earth.” It is not by accident that we are bound together in faith; it is the work of the Spirit. As Christians, we are not isolated, self-sufficient individuals, but part of a greater whole—members of the communion of saints.

This clear teaching of the Scripture, which is echoed by our Confessions, prevents any type of Christian practice that relies on "I pray and read my Bible at home/alone", and doesn't give support to "I love Jesus but I don't like the Church". Whereas a personal, individual practical life flows from a faith-filled heart, it does not stand alone apart from the life with the people of God. Not necessarily in a building, but certainly in the Body.

The Blessings of Community

The life in the Christian community is splattered with blessings. In the body of Christ we find teaching, fellowship. support, encouragement and accountability too. The writer of Hebrews urges us believers, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:24-25). Living in community means mutual edification and growth in faith and love together.

For Lutherans, the Sacraments are a key expression of this communal life. In Baptism, we are welcomed into the body of Christ, not as isolated individuals but as members of a community. In the Lord’s Supper, we commune not only with Christ but with one another, sharing in the same body and blood of our Lord. Holy Communion is a powerful reminder that we are united in Christ, not just spiritually but physically and sacramentally.

The Danger of Legalism

However,  the very structure that binds us together and is a spring source of blessing, can also become source of judgment, comparison, denial and spiritual oppression. History is filled with examples of times in which the sense of community yielded not the fruit of the Spirit but the inclinations of the flesh. Legalism, mistaken pietism and abuse of authority drove the Church into the swamp of legalism, a collective approach that denies individual autonomy and hinders the Spirit’s work.

The Lutheran Confessions are clear that salvation is a gift of grace, not something earned through adherence to human traditions or communal expectations. In the Augsburg Confession, Article VII, we confess that “the church is the congregation of saints in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.” It is not bound by human laws or traditions, but by the Word and the Sacraments.

When we think about pernicious communal views and practices, we think of the Pharisees and other religious leaders of Jesus' time. That is why Jesus Himself warned against the dangers of legalism in His confrontations with them. In Matthew 23:4, He criticizes them for tying up “heavy burdens, hard to bear,” and laying them on people’s shoulders, while neglecting “the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23). The Pharisees had created a system in which community membership was defined by external conformity, and individuality was suppressed in favor of legalistic rules. This is a warning for us today. A healthy church community must avoid the temptation to control its members through man-made rules, instead fostering an environment where the Gospel is preached clearly and abundantly to sustain, bind together and make grow the body of Christ in our Christian life.

A Lutheran Balance

Lutheran theology offers a balanced perspective on community and individuality. We are called to live in community, but that community must always be shaped by the Gospel, not by human expectations or pressures. The Lutheran emphasis on vocation helps to preserve this balance. Each person is called by God to serve in unique ways, whether as a parent, a worker, or a citizen. The doctrine of vocation recognizes that individuals have different gifts and callings, and that the church exists to support and nurture these, not to suppress them.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian, in his book Life Together, emphasized the importance of authentic Christian community while warning against its potential dangers. “The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.” True community, Bonhoeffer argued, is found not in an idealized vision of collective life but in the daily, often messy, work of loving one’s neighbour as oneself.

Luther’s Reformation was, at its heart, a rejection of the legalism that had crept into the church and a reclaiming of the Gospel’s freedom. As we live in community today, we must hold fast to that same Gospel, ensuring that our congregations remain places of grace, where individuality and community are not in conflict, but are both cherished as part of God’s design for His church. 

Churches that deny the importance of community may trend into an environment of rampant self-interest and individualism. Here, faith can become something private and utilitarian ("What is in here for me?"), disconnected from obvious need of sharing in good and bad times with the members of the body of Christ, which, at its heart, has the unique Christian sense of denying the self. When the mutual support and accountability a community provides are absent, excessive focus on personal spiritual growth overtakes  the call to love and serve their neighbour. 

On the other hand, churches that overemphasize community to the point of legalism are always on the trail that leads to rigidness, judgment, and ultimately, exclusion. What one observes in such environments is that an unwritten and unspoken “mold” exists that members are expected to fit into. Those who do not conform - and there are so many of them - become outsiders. This approach gets in the way of a faith nurturing environment, and can turn the church into a place of control and conformity rather than a place of Law, Gospel, Grace and joyful collaboration. IN both cases, we see a distortion of the Gospel applied to the life of the Church as Christ's body, united by Christ's love and called to live in a reality where individuality and community sharpen each other towards the life under the bond and freedom that God's Grace provides.

Conclusion

The tension between essential communal life and healthy individuality exists, and it needs to me acknowledged, not suppressed. There is no ideal community on this side of heaven, therefore, we have to deal with the challenges it brings. Just as, for example, our Traditional Christian Liturgy does, by balancing "I" moments (e.g., confession of sins and Confession of faith) and "we" moments (e.g., Invocation, Gloria in Excelsis, the Liturgy of the Sacrament). Grounded in Scripture and nurtured by the sacraments we recognize both gifts as God-given presents. The Church, the body of Christ, is the a place where live out our faith in relationship with one another, supporting, encouraging, and holding each other accountable. At the same time, we strive to have this gift not becoming a burden, trying to make the Law, not the Gospel, the food that feeds the body.

Instead of seeing individuality and community as part of an unhealthy predicament, it is  fruitful to work with them as complementary dimensions of the same soteriological reality. While a binary framework of either/or can be rightly critiqued, an approach that binds the sacramental and ecclesial aspects of the Church will further illuminate how individual and communal aspects of salvation function together in the lived experience of the Christian community. The relationship between personal faith and corporate worship demonstrates that the Christian life of faith involves both an inward, personal transformation and an outward, communal practice.