Many people think that community is an optional extra to the faith and for most of us it was for a long time. Without Christian community there is no maturity of faith. It is in community that we learn from others, use our spiritual gifts and where we are sent out into the world to be Jesus' witnesses.
As image bearers of God (Genesis 1:26), we are made to be in community just as God is in community. Note the "us" in Genesis 1:26. Even in the perfect world Adam was created in, the one thing that was not good was for man to be alone. (Genesis 2:18)
Our sin had separated us from God and one another (Isaiah 59:1-2). But in Christ we are given a new identity individually and given a new identity communally. We are adopted into a new family: the Church. (John 1:12, Ephesians 4)
Conversation 5: walking in community
When we become Christians we get a new identity individually, as children of God, and we get a new identity corporately, as we are brought into God's family—the church. The Bible uses the illustration of a body where each part is interdependent on the others, this is what Jesus envisaged when he called us to follow him.
Task:
Read and discuss Acts 2:37-47.
Read and discuss 1 Corinthians 12:12-26. (There are no “lone ranger” Christians. We are all part of the body and when one part is missing the whole body suffers.)
Explain how our Home Groups seek to embody these texts.
Questions to ask:
- What does it look like for you to be in community?
- Can I help you get into a Home Group? (If they aren’t in one already.)
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