We are a world of communities. Churches talk about community all the time. There is the open source community made up of other communities. Every day there are new communities popping up and some others that are dying. The question is, how do you build a community?

After spending some time being part of the drupal community, the now defunct Project 311 community, my local church community, and my fraternity I have learned a lot about community. But I am not sure I know how to build a community. I don't think it's a simple task. But, here is what I have learned.

A Central Purpose

There has to be a central purpose for this community. With drupal it's the project. With my fraternity there were a few including parties (can't deny them), friendship, social action and philanthropy (Yes, fraternities do this), and sports competition. While there were several they were all purposes.

With the church I think it's about a relationship with God and carrying our His mission. He set it in Matthew 28 when Jesus said, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

Love For The Purpose

Love, passion, devotion, and joy are the next most important things. I'm not talking about the cheesy kind of thing where people do something lame because the feel they should. For some reason I picture cheesy Christian t-shirts that are a size to big and say something lame. Again, I go back to the drupal community. For drupals 6th birthday as a project Dries, the founder, made cookies with his wife in celebration. He didn't do this to be lame or because he felt he had to. That just doesn't make sense in this case.

Looking more at drupal and you can see people who put their nights and weekends into the project with passion. They assemble ad hoc conferences, have local meet ups, the make t-shirts, and so much more. Why? Because they love it.

I guess I am still wondering how you cultivate that passion?

Caring For Others

Caring for others is a big part. If we are rude to each other or don't treat others with love and respect they will just walk away and do so with a bad taste in their mouths. People who have been burned tend to share that with others. So, I think this is very important. Oh, and if your a Christian didn't Christ call us to treat people with love and respect?

This was something I received a direct education with in my fraternity. Guys looked out for each other and cared for each other. Even when guys disagreed on something respect and love was rarely lost. When it was you could see a hit to the community. When it wasn't lost and when there was a group of guys united, caring for each other, and respecting each other we were capable of some great things. Reminds me of the saying "United we stand, divided we fall."

Have To Accomplish Something

One of the things I have noticed with successful communities is that they accomplish something. Having worked on projects that seem to spin their wheels and not go anywhere I have learned how much people don't like that. We were built to work and yearn to accomplish tasks. So, if a project spins it's wheels people leave for a place where accomplishments happen. Personally, I think this is the way God made us to be.

Look at the open source comminities. Places where there is a lot going on seem to bring more people in. In the working world the projects that are moving and shaking are the ones people want to be in on. In the church people are looking for relationships, biblical community, social action, and genuine church. All four of these are action based.

These are some of the things I have seen in successful communities. I would love to read what anyone else thinks and why. And if there is some way to cultivate any of this in others or bring all of this together please share.