Dr. Richard Kannwischer on Christian Community in a Digital Age: Koinonia and the Ethics of Belonging

Dr. Richard Kannwischer is Senior Pastor of Peachtree Presbyterian Church and has served more than 25 years in pastoral ministry. He earned a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary. A gifted communicator, he is passionate about helping people see how the story of God speaks with clarity, depth, and relevance to everyday life. His preaching and writing blend theological rigor with storytelling, making complex truths accessible and engaging. Whether in the pulpit, on the page, or in conversation, he invites audiences into practical, life-giving Christian faith for seekers and believers.

In this interview, Scott Douglas Jacobsen speaks with Dr. Richard Kannwischer, Senior Pastor of Peachtree Presbyterian Church, about “community” as koinonia—togetherness for a shared purpose rather than mere socializing. Dr. Kannwischer argues that a “friendship recession” is intensified by radical individualism and digitally curated selfhood, making humility and willingness to be formed essential to belonging. He warns churches against culture-war “candy” that unites through outrage but cannot last. He distinguishes forgiveness (a commanded, internal release) from reconciliation (mutual), frames discipline as mercy, and calls digital church an augmentation, not a substitute for embodied life together.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: In your tradition, what is "community" theologically?

Dr. Richard Kannwischer: We’re in the midst of a friendship recession, in the midst of a community deficit. We find ourselves more insulated and isolated than ever before. The biblical notion of community is not just fellowship for the sake of hanging out. The biblical notion of community is the word “Koinonia”, and it is togetherness for a common purpose. It’s working together. God has called us as a church, as a community to be together, to be working with one another in partnering with him for his kingdom. Community at church is not just having a coffee shop, it is not just that you know some people, it is actually that you are in a fellowship to serve a higher purpose.

Jacobsen: What are the ethics of belonging in a Christian community?

Kannwischer: Belonging in a community requires living in a particular kind of way. One of the reasons we find ourselves in a friendship recession, a community deficit is the fact that people don’t live for anything more than themselves. There is a thinker by the name of Yuval Levin who says that we used to go to our organizations like a church, like a community and we see them as formative. Now we just see them as performative, using these organizations in order for us to have our own form of self-expression. So, the ethics of community to me are, it starts with the humility of I’m willing to be formed by this community. The community doesn’t exist for me as much as I exist in order to be part of the larger movement and in that larger community. It’s that adage” if you want to have a friend, you have to be a friend, and so, if ethics says, “what does it take for me to be a friend so that I might earn the right to have a friend” that’s probably where it starts.

Jacobsen: What pastoral realities threaten genuine community?

Kannwischer: The technology of today is 100% the greatest threat. Not the tech itself but the way the tech is organized in trying to be able to have us experience a curated reality that is all built on self. One of the things I say in my book Cultivate: you can’t grow the fruit of the spirit in the soil of selfishness. It’s just not possible to be able to do that. For us to be able to push back against the radical individualism where we think that all of reality is catered toward us.

Jacobsen: How should a church practice community without collapsing into culture-war captivity?

Kannwischer: The fastest way to get a church together is to become an echo chamber for the political right or the political left. It gets to the question of what “unites you?” Is it collective outrage on a particular policy or against a particular politician? Is it anger? The danger with that is, it’s like candy. It’s doesn’t nourish you, but it tastes really good in the short run. I think it was T.S. Eliot that says, “those who marry the spirit of the age will find themselves a widow in the next.” So, if you tie your community to a particular candidate, a particular ideology, issue or party your community will only exist for a short period of time because it’s not built on anything that lasts.

Jacobsen: When does belonging become coercive?

Kannwischer: I grew up in Waco, Texas which was famous before Chip and Joanna for the Branch Davidians cult. The buildings of my high school were actually built by the Branch Davidians before they moved further down the road. So, I grew up each and every day going to a school with a physical reminder of manipulative or kind of toxic belonging. I would say that manipulative, coercive, toxic belonging is based on a lie. I love how Max Lucado says that an untruth, leads to a false narrative, that leads to an overreaction. That’s what we see constantly, not just in a cult movement like the Branch Davidians but we see it in all kinds of different arenas of life where belonging has become to a point where its manipulative and coercive.

Jacobsen: What is the purpose of church discipline in a healthy community?

Kannwischer: I’m sure there are churches that would be different but my experience in church, the churches I’ve been a part of there is way too much artificial harmony. We just don’t put up with anything. One of the liabilities of American Christianity is anybody who gets pushed too hard on their preferences or their lifestyle or the way they see things. They just move to another church. I would say functionally in a lot of ways in American Christianity church discipline is impossible because of the consumerism and the way that people bring that lens to it. I’m all for productive conflict, the right type of connection however kindness leads to repentance. It can’t be the kind of thing where its combative and confrontational. Our constitution in the Presbyterian church reminds me in the opening on discipline says this: it is a dispensation of God’s mercy, not his wrath. That is what discipline needs to be. It’s not punishment, it’s mercy.

Jacobsen: How do you distinguish forgiveness from reconciliation in communal life?

Kannwischer: I can forgive someone without reconciling with them because forgiveness is in the heart, soul and in the mind. It’s between me and God. Forgiveness is being willing to forego your right to get back at someone and you genuinely have to let it go where you’re no longer hanging it about their head. Reconciliation is always a two-way street. Forgiveness is always commanded. It is always for your benefit, not just for theirs. Jesus commands that we forgive, there’s just no wiggle room to live the life in the kingdom and live with resentment. It doesn’t belong. There is no place for revenge in God’s kingdom. Reconciliation might not always be possible, it’s something that would be beneficial if it’s a two-way street, but it takes both parties to be willing to reconcile. I have to push people beyond their comfort zone, beyond their preferences to say hey you might not want this, but you really need to work towards being a reconciled people. In the end God is in the reconciling business and enemies become friends because of what Christ has done.

Jacobsen: What does digital church do poorly?

Kannwischer: Digital church is really good augmentation; it is a very poor substitution. It does not say for God so loved the world that he tweeted or for God so loved the world that he sent a video. The nature of ministry is incarnation, and we have to follow the embodiment of God choosing to be nearby. The reason people like digital churches are because it’s convenient and demands less of us. If you’re on vacation or sick, it’s great to be able to stay connected to your church. Or if you’re in a remote area and don’t have a choice. There are limitations and exceptions but for a lot of us digital church is a crutch, and we need the inconvenience and messiness of seeing one another, loving one another. I have a friend who got really estranged from church for a period of time and she said she didn’t want to go to church anymore. She just wanted to watch church until she realized that what God convicted her of was, I need to go to church with the lens of God, show me someone that I can love today. That’s a huge shift from what am I going to get out of it, how much effort is this going to take? I’m going to church because there might be somebody there for me to love.

Jacobsen: Thank you very much for the opportunity and the time, Richard.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-0692343) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369-6885). He writes for The Good Men Project, International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416), The Humanist (Print: ISSN 0018-7399; Online: ISSN 2163-3576), Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066), A Further Inquiry, and other media. He is a member in good standing of numerous media organizations.