Community:
a group of people connected by something in common
What the Bible Teaches About the Church as a Community
The cause for community:
- The Work of Christ on the Cross (Eph. 2:13-22)
- God’s Design for the Church – Interdependency among Body members (Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12)
The culture for community:
- A Body that values one another, understanding of how we need each other (1 Cor. 12:15-24)
- A Body that relates to one another with a deep caring, concern resulting in connectedness rather than letting differences divide (1 Cor. 12:25-26)
The criteria for community:
- Unity of heart based on who we are in Christ, not other criteria (Eph. 4:1-6)
- Seeking after the common good, not looking out for our own interests (Phil. 2:1-4)
The challenge for community:
- To not allow the ways of the world to creep into our churches (comparing, competing, entitlement) but to constantly submit to the transforming work of God by presenting ourselves to Him …. “as living sacrifices” denotes an ongoing work (Rom. 12:1-2)
- To not become satisfied with status quo but to realize we are constantly in process … always seeking God’s help to love more and more (Eph. 4:3; Phil. 1:9; Heb. 10:24-25)
- To not relegate this responsibility to ministry leaders … everyone must work at guarding, maintaining, and propelling community (Eph. 4:13-16)
For example:
Teachers either block or promote community in their classes by the way they structure the teaching-learning process.
As individual members of the Body, we must bring ourselves into accountability not only to leadership but to one another.
Yes, what you say is true. We need to love one another and through the Holy Spirit be enabled to do the right thing. We are to go to Church not to just listen to the sermon but understand what it is telling us we need to do as a Community. Each of us has a gift we need to share with others. Be humble and supportive to one another as we serve God and each other. Leonard
I am working on a project on what is the community from a biblical standpoint. I am interested in knowing how the Word of God builds the community.
Hello, Raymond. Let me give you some of my initial thoughts about the role of the Word in community. Hopefully you can build on these:
… The remainder of this reply is now at: God’s Word Essential to Christian Community