demo

uilding
community
in your life:
• Get involved in
a church. We’re
not talking about
getting your name
on the membership
list. We’re talking
about serving,
getting to know
people, and
getting involved
in ministry. You
cannot read the
New Testament and
come away with
the idea that being
an active part of a
church body is not
important. It is!
(continued on page 29.)
God’s Design
for Us:
Community
Nineteenth-century
poet John Donne
famously wrote, “No
man is an island.”
He went on to
describe people as
parts of a continent,
all interconnected.
Just as Europe
becomes smaller
when a mere clod of
its land washes out
to sea, so each of us
is diminished, he
said, by the death of
any individual. We
are part of the whole
and belong to each
other. 2
This analogy
accurately portrays
God’s intent for
His people. From
the moment God
created the first
man, He declared,
“It is not good
for the man to be
alone” (Gen. 2:18).
Even God
Himself is one in
three. The three Persons of the Trinity—
God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy
Spirit—exist in relationship with one another.
Made in His image, we too are meant to live
in relationship with others. Before His death,
Jesus prayed for His followers that they might
be one as He and the Father are one (John
17:11).
The Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes
echoes the idea that people need each other.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 says: “Two are better than
one because they have a good reward for their
efforts. For if either falls, his companion can
lift him up; but pity the one who falls without
another to lift him up. Also, if two lie down
together, they can keep warm; but how can
one person alone keep warm?”
This concept of living in community with
others, particularly with other believers, is
fleshed out in New Testament teachings about
how Christians make up the body of Christ.
Like the various parts of our physical bodies,
we are interdependent; we need each other
(1 Cor. 12:12-26). We are to be concerned for
each other. When one of us suffers, that suffering
should bring pain to the rest. When
one of us receives some honor, everyone in the
body should be glad about it.
Within the body, we all have different spiritual
gifts, like teaching, preaching, or serving,
to name a few. These are given by God so His
people can work together to build up the body
of Christ (Eph. 4:11-13). As members of Christ’s
body, we are instructed to love one another
deeply and to serve one another (1 Pet. 1:22;
4:8-10), to carry each others’ burdens and to
help those caught in sin (Gal. 6:1-2). God’s
design for the community of believers is that
we be a support network, an accountability
system, a team, and a family. His intention is
that we do life together, not alone.
What Community Looks Like:
Sharing
During the 1960s, a phenomenon of
American culture was the commune. In communes,
people (your grandparents call them
hippies) lived together in groups, sharing all
their resources. Their way of life was aimed
at rejecting materialism and getting back to
nature. 3
But communes neither originated nor
ended with hippies. They have been present
throughout history in different cultures, and
there was an element of communal life in the
early church. Acts 2:42-47 describes the early
church life as one in which members held
their possessions in common, sharing with
one another and selling what they owned to
help those among them in need. They met
together daily for meals, fellowship, teaching,
and prayer.
Living in community with other believers
today doesn’t necessarily mean sharing all
property. But it certainly does demand a
willingness to share with those among us in
need. It also involves hospitality—opening
not just our homes but our hearts and lives to
one another. That means being transparent,
or real, with others, sharing and caring about
what’s going on in our lives.
Living in community also means being
inclusive. Galatians 3:27-28 says, “For as many
of you as have been baptized into Christ have
put on Christ. There is no Jew or Greek, slave
or free, male or female; for you are all one in
Christ Jesus.” God welcomes all who receive
Christ into His family. No one is excluded,
and no one is inferior. The community of
God’s family is not a private club, and it is not
designed to be divided into cliques.
In an article for Brio magazine, Christian
singer/songwriter Brandon Heath talked,
among other things, about his own experience
of living in community with other Christians.
When seven guys moved next door to him,
Brandon and his new neighbors started a
community of sorts on their block by holding
a Wednesday night group. They started
working together to serve their neighborhood.
What began as a small group attracted others
and grew to the point that it became difficult
to find a parking spot on Brandon’s street.
Asked to describe what true community
is, Brandon replied: “True community is
being broken in front of each other and realizing
how equally we need Jesus. Hearing
what Jesus is doing in each other’s lives is
so encouraging. Real community is serving
together, being humble together, serving each
other, and being available. I think it’s providing
for the needs of others, period.” 4
Where Community Begins:
You
If you are a believer, you’re part of God’s
family and a member of the Christian community.
There’s more to doing life together
than just putting your name on the roll at your
local church. Meeting regularly with other
believers for worship and fellowship is part
of living in community. Hebrews 10:25 urges
Christians not to give up meeting together
but rather to encourage one another more and
more as the day of Jesus’ return approaches.
Living in community also means working
to build relationships with other Christians
outside of regular meeting times. Connecting
with others this way doesn’t just happen
by itself. You can’t always wait for others to
approach you to initiate relationships. The
person who lives out his or her faith in community
is one who reaches out to others. That
could mean asking someone new at church
to hang out with you or it could mean sharing
what’s hurting you with your Sunday School
class instead of trying to carry that burden
alone.
Living in community means you recognize
that you belong to a body that includes
all believers—those of different cultures,
races, denominations, and so forth. Your
community reaches across the globe to
believers in Africa and India and China;
Living in community
means you recognize that
you belong to a body that
includes all believers.
so should your concern. It means you
understand your connection to believers
of all ages in your own church and live in
relationship to them, treating all with respect
and compassion. That might mean you take
time to stop and speak to an elderly gentleman
sitting alone at church or volunteer to
help care for the kids in the nursery. Living
in community means you keep your circle of
friends open, rejecting cliques and inviting in
newcomers.
It’s been said that this life is just a dress rehearsal
for the main event, which is spending
eternity with God in heaven. Our time here on
earth is miniscule compared to the never-ending
existence we will enjoy after this life.
But consider this: heaven will not be a
lonely, isolated place. The Bible describes it
as a home where throngs of believers from
the whole world throughout human history
will live together united by our love for and
worship of God. It only makes sense then, if
we are going to spend all of eternity together
with other Christians, that we learn to live in
community with them here on earth. Once we
learn to give and receive encouragement, work
together for a common purpose, and share
our joys and sorrows by living in community,
we may feel that we’ve found a little bit of
heaven . . . right here on earth. ec
Sources:
1. “Saint Simeon Stylites,” Encyclopedia Britannica
[online], cited 6 February 2009. Available from the
Internet: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/
topic/545077/Saint-Simeon-Stylites.
2. John Donne, “XVII. Meditation,” The Literature
Network [online], cited 6 February 2009. Available
from the Internet: http://www.online-literature.com/
donne/409/.
3. Judy Keen, “Thriving communes no haven for
‘deadbeats,’” USA Today [online], 29 August 2007
[cited 6 February 2009]. Available from the Internet:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-28-
communes_N.htm.
4. Gina Rossing, “From Songwriter to Singer,” Brio
Magazine [online], 2006 [cited 6 February 2009].
Available from the Internet: http://www.briomag.
com/briomagazine/entertainment/a0007123.html.
• Find a community
group at church.
It may be your
Sunday School
class or a small
group sponsored
by the church. It
may be people who
speak God’s truth
into your life. Share
life together and
make an effort.
• Community
isn’t just a church
thing. God has left
us in the world
for a reason, and
often, the best
way for people to
come to faith in
Christ is through
relationships with
those of us who
profess Him as
Lord and Savior
and actually live
out our faith. Your
whole life, not just
one little part of
it, should be about
serving God and
bringing glory to
Him.
30 | jul 2009 ec magazine ec magazine jul 2009 | 31