Category: Church Life

4 Reasons Christian Community is Important

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Church Life, Practical5 Comments

People in Transit

Some see Christian community as optional.  They don’t see Christian community as a necessary part of their Christian life. It is a take it or leave it sort of thing. They go to church when they want, and they associate with other Christians on their terms.

I, however, believe Christian community is an important and necessary part of our Christian life. It is something all Christians should strive to cultivate.

4 Reasons Christian Community is Important

First, being apart of a Christian community is important because it’s vital for Christian growth.

We need other Christians to teach us, encouragement us, pray for and with us. We need other Christians to hold us accountable and provide us with godly counsel. All of which are vital for Christian growth. Without them, we might grow some, but we aren’t going to become fully mature disciples of Christ.

Second, being apart of a Christian community is important because it’s vital for our well being.

Being apart of a Christian community means that when we fall on hard times, we have somewhere to turn. We can count on the church for financial assistance and general care. All of which are vital to our well being.

Third, being apart of a Christian community is important because it’s vital for our mission.

As Christians we are called to make disciples. Making disciples includes winning people to Christ, baptizing them, and teaching them, so that they become fully mature followers of Jesus Christ. In order to be an effect witness, we need Christian community. In order to effectively teach others, we need Christian community.

Lastly, being apart of a Christian community is important because community is a Grace.

It is a gift God has given us. Sadly many in the American church don’t recognize it as a gift of God. I think that’s because we are free to worship as we please, where we please, and with whom we please. We have taken for granted what we have. Commenting on this one writer says,

“It is true, of course, that what is an unspeakable gift of God for the lonely individual is easily disregarded and trodden under foot by those who have the gift every day. It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us… Therefore, let him who until now has had the privilege of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of his heart. Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren.” [1]

Conclusion

Christian community is important and its something we should desire. All believers should want to be apart of a Christian community. To gather together with other believers. To fellowship with them. To do life together with them. To worship with them. By nature Christians are a communal people. God has set it up that way, and we should honor God’s design. We should be apart of a community of believers.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Do you believe Christian community is important?
  2. Would you add another point to my four above?

Resources

Want to learn more? You should check out:

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[1] Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 20

Christian Community Occurs In and Through Jesus

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Church Life, Practical5 Comments

Jesus Cross

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together, a book exploring Christian community, says,

“Christianity means community through Jesus and in Jesus.” 1

Bonhoeffer blends two concepts into one succinct sentence.

Bonhoeffer’s Two Concepts

(1) Only those who profess Jesus as their Lord and Savior experience Christian community. 

You can’t pay your way into Christian community. Only through Jesus’ payment on the cross and our subsequent salvation are we granted entrance.

In other words, only through a relationship with Jesus Christ are we able to experience Christian community.  That’s because Christian community isn’t a club or organization. It is a gathering of believers whose hearts have been changed by the gospel.

(2) Only those who are empowered by Jesus can live in Christian community.

We not only must experience the grace, love, mercy, peace and forgiveness of God before we can express it in community, but we must also be empowered by Jesus to live in Christian community in a way that honors Him.

Christian community is comprised of people from every walk of life, nationality, race, socioeconomic class, etc. It is a melting pot that is ignited and sustained by Jesus. Only through His empowering are we able to live together in a way that honors Him.

Conclusion

Bonhoeffer is right. Without Jesus there is no Christian community. We need Him to create it through His death on the cross. As well as we need Him to sustain it through His empowerment.

Christian community then, in Bonhoeffer’s words, does in fact occur “through Jesus and in Jesus.”

Questions for Reflection

  1. Do believe Christian community occurs in and through Jesus?
  2. How have you experienced Jesus bridging the gaps between you and others who are not like you?
  3. How have you experienced Jesus empowering you to live in Christian community?

Resources

Want to learn more? You should check out:

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  1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 21. ↩

Why Don’t People Participate in Christian Community?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Church Life, Practical7 Comments

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Robert Putnam in his book Bowling Alone says,

“Over the last three to four decades Americans have become about 10 percent less likely to claim church membership, while our actual attendance and involvement in religious activities has fallen by roughly 25 to 50 percent. Virtually all the postwar boom in religious participation – and perhaps more – has been erased.”

Why is involvement in Christian community decreasing? There are several reasons.

Reasons People Don’t Participate in the Church’s Community

(1) Individualism – A lot of church members are individualistic believing they can change by themselves.

(2) Compartmentalism – Most people tend to compartmentalize their lives. There is church life, work life, and family life.

(3) Busyness – Almost all Americans are busy. But we all know we make time for what is important. So when we say, “I am too busy”, what we really mean is that living in community with other Christians is not important to us.

(4) Consumerism – Most Americans are consumerists. They come to church in order to get, but are not willing to give. They are content sitting in the pew week after week because they have been conditioned by society to consume and shop around instead of plugging in and getting involved.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Do you resonate with any of these points?
  2. Are there others reason you would offer for why people don’t participate in the Christian community?

Resources

Want to learn more? You should check out:

Scriptural Metaphors for Community

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Church Life, Practical8 Comments

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I have been preaching on community lately. In my studies, I ran across several metaphors in Scripture characterizing the Christian life as a community. Here is what I found:

The Church is the Body of Christ

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” (Ro 12:4–5)

“Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” (1 Co 10:17)

The Church is the Household or Family of God

“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mt 12:50)

“So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.” (Ga 4:31)

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Eph 2:19–22)

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,” (1 Pe 1:14–15)

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” (1 Pe 4:17–18)

The Church is pictured as a flock

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Lk 12:32)

“And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (Jn 10:16)

“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.” (Ac 20:28–30)

Question for Reflection

  1. What are other biblical metaphors for community?

Resources

Want to learn more about community? Check out:

Christians are Born Again Into Community

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Church Life, Practical9 Comments

Gathered Community

Christians sometimes treat the church as if it were optional. They believe they don’t need the church, that they are fine on their own. But that simple isn’t true. Christians are designed for community.

When we believe in Jesus, we are born again. We are made anew. We become a new creation. Along with those things, I would argue we are born again into community.

Christians Are Born Again Into Community

Our God is a communal God. The Trinity has existed in community from eternities past. As God’s creation, we have been created in His image, an image we are supposed to reflect. Part of reflecting His image includes living in community. Community we are born again into.

Christians being born into community is exemplified in Acts 2. During Peter’s Pentecost sermon many were cut to the heart, so much so that they turned from their sins to follow Jesus.

Exemplified In Acts 2

After they turned to Jesus we read starting in Acts 2:42:

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

What did they do after they were saved?

They didn’t branch off on their own. They didn’t say thank you but no thank you to fellowship in the church. Instead, they immediately gathered together in community with one another.

As a gathered community, they learned together, supported one another, and did life together.

Not Just At Pentecost

Christians gathering into community at Pentecost is not an anomaly. It is a reoccurring theme. As you read through Acts, as well as Peter, Paul, and John’s letters you see Christians gathering in community.

Whenever a missionary shows up and people are saved, a community of believers form, who learn together, who support one another, who do life together. All because Christians are born again into community.

Conclusion

By nature Christians are a communal people. God set it up that way. As His people, we should honor God’s design. We should be apart of a community of believers.

We need others with whom we can learn. We need others to support us, to encourage us, to care for us. We need others with whom we can do life together. It’s imperative we are apart of and invested in a community of believers.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Do you believe Christians are born again into community?
  2. Are you apart of a Christian community?
  3. Do you see the benefits of being apart of a Christian community?

Resources

Post adapted from my sermon Living in Community – Part 1

On Christian Community

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Church Life, Devotionals, Discipleship, QuotesLeave a comment

How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?

To the Congregation

If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.

To Pastor’s and Zealous Members

This applies in a special way to the complaints often heard from pastors and zealous members about their congregations. A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men.

When a person becomes alienated from a Christian community in which he has been placed and begins to raise complaints about it, he had better examine himself first to see whether the trouble is not due to his wish dream that should be shattered by God; and if this be the case, let him thank God for leading him into this predicament.

But if not, let him nevertheless guard against ever becoming an accuser of the congregation before God. Let him rather accuse himself for his unbelief. Let him pray God for an understanding of his own failure and his particular sin, and pray that he may not wrong his brethren. Let him, in the consciousness of his own guilt, make intercession for his brethren. Let him do what he is committed to do, and thank God.

A Gift of God

Christian community is like the Christian’s sanctification. It is a gift of God which we cannot claim. Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification. What may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God. Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature. The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more surely and steadily will fellowship increase and grow from day to day as God pleases.

In Christ Alone

Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it.

Questions for Reflection

  1. How do you think of your own congregation (Christian Community)?
  2. Are you guilty of wishing your congregation (Christian Community) was different?
  3. Do you recognize God’s sovereign placement of you in your particular congregation (Christian Community)?
  4. Do you believe Christian Community is a Gift of God that can only be experienced through and in Jesus?

Resources

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 29-31. (Note: Text is Bonhoeffer’s, headings are mine.)

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