I’ve thought about calling it “proxineity” but I think that might bring confusion. Spontaneity and proximity are two basic and core realities for people to do life together. They go hand in hand, one relies on the other. Proximity leads to spontaneity.

As we work toward planting Renovatus’ daughter church plant in downtown Vancouver, the more we talk about doing life together, about being a community, and about being the church the more we are finding spontaneity and proximity to be necessities. Doing life together in a way that both allows for the planned occasions and encourages the spontaneous gatherings cultivates a more authentic sense of community. Are we really doing life together when I always wash my face, get the lint of my sweaters, and vacuum my floors before we gather? Or is a new sense of authenticity developed when a fellow worshiper sees my home in its disheveled state, when a neighbor sleeps on my couch, or when a friend sees my wife and I argue. This reality of spontaneity and proximity allows community to enter

into a place of vulnerability and openness. It becomes messy and dangerous, it requires more of you, and causes you to ask yourself if you are willing to follow through with your commitment to follow Jesus down the path of dying to yourself. Dying to self is easy when I am able to get ready first. But dying to self on my neighbors timing—on God’s timing is much more difficult!

While creating and maintaining boundaries is an essential aspect of healthy community, these boundaries can only be created and enforced when a communal context allows sufficient space for boundary intrusion. There is no place for healthy boundaries if there is no proximity to others or if there is no spontaneity in your life because essentially your boundaries have already kept others away!

As we look for partners to work with us in downtown Vancouver one of the first questions we ask is whether or not you are willing to live downtown. This is because we believe that proximity leads to spontaneity, and spontaneity fosters a deeper experience of community that is harder, more transformational, and a more powerful testimony of gospel in our community—a testimony that is desperately needed.

* This article was originally written for my June 2010 newsletter. You can access my newsletters here.