Why Ohio Pastors Must Create the Community Our Culture Is Missing
Creating What Is Missing
A Monthly Publication of the Church Ambassador Network
Pastors are uniquely tasked with diagnosing the spiritual ailments of our time. We look at the landscape of modern Ohio—from the bustling urban centers of Columbus and Cleveland to the quiet rural towns across our state—and we see a profound, aching void. It is a void left by a secular culture that has spent decades deconstructing traditional institutions but has fundamentally failed to build anything meaningful in their place.
Just recently, on June 17, US Senator Chris Murphy introduced the National Strategy for Social Connection Act, a sweeping piece of legislation aiming to establish a White House "Office of Social Connection Policy" to combat what experts are calling an epidemic of mass loneliness and extreme polarization. When the federal government decides it needs to legislate a "ministry of loneliness," we must recognize that secular society has hit a wall. They are turning to federal bureaucracy to heal a spiritual wound that can only be mended by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
But as the Church, how should we respond? It is easy to critique the government’s overreach or lament the breakdown of secular society. However, critique alone will not heal our neighbors. We cannot simply condemn what the world is doing wrong; we must courageously create what is missing.
The Mandate of Creation
From the very beginning, God placed a creative mandate on humanity. In Genesis 2:18, before sin ever entered the world, God observed the only thing in Paradise that was "not good":
“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
We were designed for deep, localized connection, yet our current culture operates as a mass isolation machine. Between the severe adolescent mental health crisis driven by social media and the "friendship recession" plaguing young adults, our people are more digitally connected yet more relationally unknown than ever before.
In his landmark book Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, Christian thinker Andy Crouch challenges the Church to shift its posture away from passive consumption or angry condemnation toward active, intentional creation:
""It is not enough to condemn culture. Nor is it sufficient merely to critique culture or to copy culture. Most of the time, we just consume culture. But the only way to change culture is to create culture."— Andy Crouch
If our neighbors are starving for authentic belonging, we cannot expect a broken world to build it for them. We must be the culture makers. We must create spaces where vulnerability is safe, where truth is spoken in love, and where the lonely find a genuine home.
Moving from Idealism to Incarnational Love
Creating true community sounds beautiful on a Sunday morning, but every pastor knows that real-life flock management is incredibly messy. It involves dealing with broken people, political disagreements, and personal offenses. The temptation is to hold onto an idealized version of what the church should be, rather than loving the flesh-and-blood people God has actually placed in our pews.
The great German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who understood the cost of Christian fellowship under the weight of an incredibly hostile cultural regime, warned against this exact trap in his classic work Life Together:
"He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial."— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
Bonhoeffer reminds us that Christian community is not a human ideal we must manufacture through perfect corporate programming; it is a spiritual reality created by Christ that we must simply step into with humility.
When we stop trying to force an artificial perfection and instead choose to love our real, flawed neighbors, we create a cultural alternative that the world cannot ignore. As Jesus promised in John 13:35, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Practical Steps for the Ohio Pastor
To move our congregations from culture critics to culture creators, we must lead the way with practical, intentional shifts in our local ministries:
Audit Your Programming for Presence Over Performance: Evaluate your church calendar. Are we creating more events where people sit in rows and passively consume content, or are we creating spaces where they sit in circles and practice real communion? Consider launching smaller, localized neighborhood initiatives that prioritize shared tables and radical hospitality.
Equip Parents to Restrict Digital Isolation: The latest data from health authorities continues to show that heavy, unmonitored social media use drastically doubles the risk of adolescent depression (HHS Youth Mental Health Advisory). Actively preach on digital discipleship. Give your families practical frameworks—like tech-free family dinners or digital Sabbaths—to help them create a counter-cultural home environment.
Model Vulnerability from the Pulpit: True community cannot take root where performance is praised. When pastors appropriately share their own struggles, weaknesses, and need for grace, it gives the congregation permission to drop their masks. We must create a church culture where it is okay to not be okay, but too good to stay that way.
Join the Movement
We cannot do this work in isolation. As a network of Ohio pastors, we have a unique opportunity to lock arms and collectively build a healthier social and spiritual fabric across our state. Engage with Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) today through these vital initiatives:
Apply for the Minnery Fellowship: Dive deep into the practical issues facing Christians in our culture. This continuing cultural education program brings pastors together in regional cohorts to explore today's toughest topics and develop biblical strategies to lead their churches with clarity and conviction. Learn more and apply at MinneryFellowship.org.
Bring a Group to the Essential Summit: Mark your calendar for Friday, October 23, in Columbus for the Essential Summit. If you bring a group from your church, the standard ticket price of $150 is reduced to just $100 for the day. Best of all, for church leaders, that group ticket rate includes both lunch and dinner! Secure your team's spots today at EssentialSummit.org.
Advocate for Families and Kids: Stay informed on critical legislative efforts that protect the mental health of our children and empower parents to guide their kids safely through modern cultural minefields. Take action today on the CCV Advocacy Center.
The Church Ambassador Network is a ministry of Center for Christian Virtue. They exist to serve and resource the Church in Ohio to understand the times and know how to respond. Read more about their mission at CCV.org/CAN
