Authenticity

At the Lab, our Spring series up 'til Easter is going to be Authentic Community – idea being to explore what an open, real, genuine community of Jesus followers looks like. I've been thinking about authenticity though, and what makes something authentic. It seems to be a really trendy, attractive word in a culture where so much rubbish advertising and junk is thrown at us everyday – the average Newport student seems to pass so many flyers and posters and spam everyday (and unfortunately all our radio show posters seem to be adding to it :-( ).

When we're talking about objects it seems easy to make the distinction between real and fake – something either is or isn't – but when we talk about belief and community and church, what is it that sets them apart from anything else?

Maybe authentic community is about depth? So much in this world is shallow and materialistic and based on self – maybe authenticity is about something greater than ourselves? About being free from the confines of what affects me, what is in my interests?

In which case, authenticity is a real challenge.

It's easy to talk about it, but in practice what would a church, a community, look like that focused purely on others, purely on the outside? Our friendship circles, the people we get on with, the way we live our lives, is permeated by this sense of "where am I most comfortable?" and "who do I get on with the most?". Ouch.

Also, maybe authenticity is about longevity? About outlasting the competition? But then just because something has been around a long time does that make it true? Surely then, the way we've done church for centuries – the Orthodox faith – would be the most authentic? Unless maybe relationships matter more than practices and doctrine?

Spent a lot of time this week planning ahead for the next year and thinking about new events, schemes, projects – so it's good to stop and think for a moment: will they be authentic? Or just a craze that passes with the change of seasons.

I think the future of the Lab, like the state of the UK church, sits on a knife-edge. But do I feel comfortable here on the edge – at least each passing day we know who it is who's responsible for keeping us going one more day.

Or maybe I'm just being habitually overdramatic.