Affinity Groups                        Overview

 The Christian faith faces a "new" old world. As Christians wrap themselves in the cocoon of modernity, born from the Age of Reason as an outgrowth of the Enlightenment, they are blinded to the coming age now identified as "post-Christian" or "postmodern."  "Old" in the sense that, when one studies the book of Acts and the New Testament epistles, a sense of deja vu surfaces. Conventional wisdom states that there is nothing new under the sun, just a repackaging of the old. For Christians to be effective in this day, the need is to extrapolate New Testament principles for reaching a pre-Christian culture, and apply them in the context of a postmodern world.

What are neo-tribes and affinity groups, and what do they have to do with the church? New tribal identities provide a sense of self-identity for individuals:

Between the time one might leave one's family in the morning and the time they return, each person enters into a series of group situations.  Each situation has some degree of self-consciousness and stability. While the passengers of a commuter bus are hardly a group, the "regulars" know and salute each other.  Sports clubs, friends at the office, association of hobbyists, the crowd of fans at a sports match, the local level political party, "Neighbourhood Watch" community policing, and single-issue pressure groups are all examples of neo-tribes.

Affinity groups, developed out of common bond in relationships, can be any size. Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines affinity in this manner: "sympathy marked by community of interest; kinship", or "likeness based on relationships or casual connection."  By gaining a clearer understanding of affinity groups, the church planter and partnering church are positioned to know how to effectively reach these groups with the gospel, as well as strengthen the church by ministering to specific people groups.

The Western World, especially North America, has entered a time similar to a past era -- when the Israelites faced an Egyptian king who did not know Joseph. Mike Regele in his book Death Of The Church states that:

"The institutional church in America finds itself in a similar place. The combined impact of the Information Age, postmodern thought, globalization, and racial-ethnic pluralism that has seen the demise of the grand American story, also has displaced the historic role the church has played in that story. As a result, we are seeing the marginalization ofthe institutional church." What does this mean?

In this Age of Aquarius, the church has the opportunity to grapple with the reality that the postmodern mind is seeking truth -- albeit absolute truth is not recognized. Many postmoderns, who turned to Christianity seeking truth and meaning, left confused and empty-handed by the apparent inability of Christians to implement the principles they professed. Eddie Gibbs in Church Next states: "Postmodernists have abandoned the illusive search for truth, or more accurately, they have redefined truth in terms of consensus and 'whatever works for you.'" This confusion has been exacerbated by many churches that failed to address the nagging anxieties and deep-seated fears of people.  They have focused instead upon outdated or secondary issues, and proposed tired or trite solutions that is not communicated well.  Cultural pluralism affords the Christian church the opportunity to go back to its biblical roots to discover how the early church, under the Holy Spirit's guidance, impacted a world in which it had none of the trappings of power or strength. The North American church enjoys a position of strength, even in its declining influence. Is God bringing His Church back to Himself so that once again it can be a transformation agent in its mission to reach a lost world? If the Christian church recognizes the natural affinity groups and networks, God can use those relationships to reach people.  

The Christian witness finds confidence in Christ alone. "In other words, authority is not invested by virtue of the office bestowed, but by the trust and respect that is earned." The relationship of believers with Jesus Christ impacts their individual lives, as well as their interactions with other believers. The other significant relationship is that of the believer to the unbeliever. Through this relationship, the believer has an open door to share the gospel because of earned trust and respect.  For the Christian witness to be able to share the gospel with many of the affinity groups and neo-tribes, they must learn how to exegete the culture in which they live in order to be effective in responding to those who seek spiritual truth.

The following charts describe affinity groups based on generational characteristics. Affinity groups are not exclusively limited to one generation, culture, language, or ethnic people group.

The first factor in neo-tribal identity is the fact that neo-tribalism cuts across the four generations that co-habit our world. While it is true that most people involved in neo-tribes are younger than the senior population, neo-tribalism is not specifically a generation phenomenon. Neo-tribes are comprised of people with similar mindsets, rather than similar demographic characteristics.

Affinity groups, like the fragmentation of society in this postmodern world, represent a cross section from multiple types of people who have come together because of a common bond. These affinity groups are often based upon lifestyle issues.

Changes in lifestyle and lifecycle needs propel people into new relationships based upon mutual activities, interests, and opinions. Maffesoli refers to this dynamic in his description of "unicity," as a form of community from mass to tribe.

As stated in Scott and Watke's book, Ministry Context Exploration: Understanding North American Cultures:

"Whatever it may be called - - neighborhoods, varied interest groups, networks - - we are witnessing the return of an affective, passional investment whose structurally ambiguous and ambivalent aspects are well known . …According to the interests of the moment, the tastes and instances, the passional investment will lead to such and such a group, such and such activity. I call this the 'unicity' of the community, or the outline of a union, naturally inducing adherence and distance, attraction and repulsion."

Affinity groups and neo-tribes require the church to be sensitive to societal distinctives, which affect the groups' behavior and response to Christianity. As the church responds, it mutates to reflect the influence of these groups. When the gospel is accepted into a particular culture, it impacts the culture's pattern of human relationships, forming the basis of indigenous congregations. These churches reflect the natural networking of relationships defined by that culture's social structures.

GENERATIONAL CONTRASTS

GENERATIONAL VIEWS ABOUT CHURCH