Workbox 02: Community
Achieving together what Christ has given us in the form of each other, his body.
This essay is the next installment in the Workbox Series, where I write about what I believe are the essential tools for the Christian faith. I would encourage you read the first essay about Devotions. If you have not read it yet, you can read it here. I pray that you find this essay encouraging and actionable.
I recently announced to my friends and workplace that I am moving. My wife and I are expecting our first child at the end of the year and we are planning on moving closer to family for this next stage in life. I have been thinking a lot about the concept of community because of this upcoming change. I have spent the past five years in southwest Missouri and I have become integrated into a strong Christian community. I love my friends and the place where I work, I firmly believe that there is no place like it. But what do I do if and when I leave here? Do I strive to recreate the same form of community? Do I leave it all behind and embrace everything about the new community to which I am joining? These questions have been rolling around in my mind. So I decided I would write out what I think a community is and what I believe it should be in an effort to work through this upcoming change.
First, I think I must define the term community. This will give me a working definition that I can study from all angles and also give some tangibility to this idea. According to the Oxford English Dictionary a community can be defined as:
a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.
For me, the first means that I will be leaving my current community and physically joining a new one. I will be moving closer to my wife’s family, which is our common characteristic. I think everyone experiences this throughout their lives, moving schools, moving towns, and joining a church are all examples of joining physical communities. Of course, one can join a physical community without being a part of the intrinsic community. This is what I could call the second definition. Just because I moved to a new town does not necessarily mean that I have a feeling of fellowship or common attitudes. This intrinsic community can reside within a physical community. Another example would be at the school I work at, we have Directors, Mentors, and Students. There are three distinct levels of communities within one large community. They interact with each other daily but each can identify within his own sphere or community.
Diving Deeper in Community
Having given examples of what a community is and how they may interact with each other, I now want to consider another level of community. It is a form of the intrinsic community but I believe it goes deeper than the above definition. The Christian community, or the community of believers is another community that I am a part of. Though I am localized to this one area, I share an identity with the global community past, present, and future. Christians share the commonality of being saved by Christ and now being in Christ. Our very identity has been changed from solely an earthly perspective to a now largely eternal, heavenly perspective. I may travel across the world to a land full of strangers but if I happen across a Christian, I will have found my community. Paul the Apostle is a good example of this, as he travels around he is met by strangers, but some are worshippers of God. (Think Lydia in Acts 16 or Priscilla and Aquila in Acts 18) These grow into churches and a community is formed. Another example that struck me was the story of Brother Andrew in God’s Smuggler. Though he was in a foreign, sometimes hostile, country, he could tell when total strangers were Christians. He felt this was a special connection that was made possible by the shared spirit of Christ in them. He states on page 156 “Our spirits recognized each other.”
This Christian community is extremely important to us as believers. Jesus emphasized its importance when he spoke of it in Matthew 12. Jesus says in verses 48-50,
“But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
He then broadens the community from physical family members to everyone who does the will of God. He erases so many boundaries here and creates in the place of the one a new dimension of community. Those who do the will of God. This community is another intrinsic layer that can be added no matter where we find ourselves. And as I plan to move away from this tight-knit Christian community, I am comforted to know that I am moving to another tight-knit Christian community
Further Thoughts on Community
The Christian community is made possible by the love of God in his saving grace with the sacrifice of his Son on the cross. In Christ, there is now no distinction, but we are all a part of one body, the body of Christ, and he is the head. This means that we are intrinsically connected to each other, just like the parts of a body. Communities only work well when they are wholly together. When communities are united, there is unity, without unity a community is fragmented, disjointed, and broken.
Thankfully, communities can be healed and repaired. They can come together and restore what is lost and collaborate together to solve problems. We see this in Acts when the Jerusalem church comes together sharing their goods so that there was no lack among them. (Acts 2.42-47) And again we see it in Romans when the churches of Macedonia and Achaia come together to donate to the church in Jerusalem in their time of need. (Romans 15.26) When the community of believers come together we display the reality of being unified under Christ, further displaying the awesome power of Jesus in how he can bring so many strangers and foreigners together for a common purpose.
How does this play on when we move towns, change schools, or travel overseas? We seek common ground, that is why when we are in school we join clubs and athletics, when we move towns we go to church and play in sports leagues. As Christians, we have the underlying commonality of Christ. No matter where we find ourselves we can seek and be a part of a larger community. We also can create a community. We are lights in the world, and I believe light will recognize light, just as Brother Andrew was able to recognize a fellow believer in a country that was behind the Iron Curtain. We too, can find, build, and establish Christian community wherever we are.
Finally, arriving at a new community can be challenging yet rewarding. Upon reaching a new fellowship of believers, we build new relationships which can further strengthen us in times of need and also encourage us to run hard after Christ. Being in a community that models Christ encourages us to reflect Christ to others and to ourselves. It offers a home base where we can rest and recharge and also sharpen one another. Communities that are focused on Christ create small cities on hills that display the glory of God even within existing communities.
Conclusion on Community
Venturing into a new community, whether it be a new country, a different club within school, or a new small group at church, is like entering into the city on the hill, but on a different hill. It brings new opportunities to form new relationships, be strengthened and challenged in new ways, and spread the light of Christ in new areas. Every community needs diverse members, just as the body of Christ needs all the different parts, so does the community. Only when all the parts of the body work together in healthy unison does the body have the most success in its mission. So as members of a community working together in unity under Christ display him as being most glorious.
I believe that one should invest himself in their new community. That is where God has placed us after all. We should begin working to make that local body the best it can be. When we reach and become a part of a new community we should strive to improve it. Bring with us the tools that we have been given and the wisdom that we have learned from other communities. With us, we also bring our own unique talents that God has blessed us with which allow the community that we are now a part of to accomplish a piece of its God-given mission. Paul had several companions in his missionary journeys. Titus, he sent to Crete to be a part of that community for a time, and Timothy he told to remain in Ephesus. Those men were sent to aid those communities in growing into a unified church which in turn grew into greater communities that created more churches, ultimately further spreading the light of Christ.
Let us venture forth into the community and work to grow the light of Christ. Whatever community you are in, a plumbing union, tax office, or ministry, let us invest ourselves today in where God has placed us. Deepen the intrinsic community, that divine connection of the Spirit of Christ that unites all believers with a common purpose, and exhort one another to love and good works. I am excited for this next chapter in life, whether God keeps me where I am or moves me on to the next city my aim is the same. My desire is to spread the light of Christ, the gospel, through joy, through love, and through truth. May you do the same!