This Strange Thing We Call Christian Community

Just yesterday I was trying to explain to someone the importance of Christian community.

This person is not a Christian and not involved in church.  They were honestly bewildered by what I was talking about.

Over the last couple of years I have really come to understand that AUTHENTIC BIBLICAL COMMUNITY is at the core of what Christ died for and why Christ established HIS CHURCH.

Community is not merely utilitarian.  It is not a means to and end — but very much an end unto itself.

We are CREATED FOR COMMUNITY.

Genesis 2:18 makes this clear.  “It is not good for mankind to be alone.”

Community is not INSTRUMENTAL, but ESSENTIAL to what it means to be FULLY HUMAN.

In community: 

• We know and are known
• We love and are loved
• We serve and are served
• We celebrate and are celebrated

These are core needs for every human being.

But I think until you have gotten a taste of what authentic, real, Biblical community is and can be, you simply don’t get.  I have had that taste (really more than a taste) over the past five years… and I can tell you it is core to what it means to be FULLY HUMAN and a FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST.