The Church as Community Bul 44

Abe Miller, Senior Minister
Thu Nov 13 12:27:18 MST 2008

  God’s design for His church was that it be a community. Community is the ingredient that is most lacking in the modern day church. By community I do not mean living in a commune where we live together and eat our meals together on an on-going basis. I do mean that we are to be a dependent group that is knitted together by the blood of Jesus. We need one another to encourage one another to live the life God has called us to. This means that we are ready to help each other spiritually as well as physically. In short, we should be depending on each other as a God community.

               John Wesley is quoted as saying, “the Bible knows nothing of solitary religion,” not referring to the post-modern tendency towards pluralism, but instead speaking of the importance of community as a church.

               The following is taken from Phil Travis, a brother from the Elwood church in Lafayette, Indiana, as he writes on community. “The American protestant tradition emphasized the personal relationship between God and the believer, which is not necessarily bad, but carried to extreme, can be detrimental to the community aspect of Christianity. In every letter that Paul writes he addressed the community, its strengths and weaknesses, its victories and its failures. Even in the letters, or sections of the letters, in which he addresses specific people, he applies the principles to the whole community of believers.

               When addressing Philemon about his runaway slave Onesimus, the letter, read to the entire congregation, shows clear examples of how to live in relation to one another in light of the new life.

               While we do all have a relationship to God as individuals, we live out our relationship with God within community. It is within community that we learn about God, both theologically and experientially, through the actions of others. In serving others we learn the heart of God, and in being served, we learn a proper response to the grace we have received from God. It is within our difficult relationships that we are given the opportunity to grow in patience and love.

               Without community, we wander aimlessly without direction. Adrift from relationships within the church, we are unable too grow closer to God. We are blessed to be a part of our wonderful community.

               Let each and everyone of us so live, love, and attend to assembly regularly so that we can all experience community as God would have it.