What Does it Mean to be a Community Church?
They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47.

Many of us look at the above scripture and wonder if it could be a reality today. All we seem to hear about is the disintegration of society, of families, of churches. Yet, this scripture was set in one of the most tumultuous times for the Christian church, and instead of turning people off it attracted more and more to leave the safety of Judaism and join the fledgling Christian church.

In contrast to the Jewish world falling apart (due largely to Roman occupation) the early Christians were ‘together’ and had everything in ‘common’. They were devoted to the study of scripture, shared the Eucharist, ate together in their homes and met daily for worship. God honoured them through gladness, many wonders and miracles. Is it any wonder that many outsiders became Christians and joined them?

Christian Community does not come naturally in today’s western world where the over riding message is one of individualism and competition. A big step of faith and an adjustment to our thinking is needed to forsake our individual rights, share our resources (time, money, possessions), and sometimes lay down our reputation. To overcome these hurdles we need the Holy Spirit to help us.

On the other side of the equation, community offers us a security of knowing that we are enveloped in God's love and purpose for our lives. We share our lives with those who genuinely care about our well-being, whom we can trust; who are not there to judge us but encourage us; and have a greater range of resources (physical, emotional and spiritual) available to us. We really are better together!

Community is attractive to those outside the church because people see the love of God being demonstrated by the church community. Even the hardest non-believers are won over by love.

What stops us taking those first steps into community? Most often it is our reserved nature. We are too reserved or simply not willing to give up our individualism. Community also means commitment: commitment to be obedient to God's voice; commitment to other people; commitment to extend ourselves out of a comfort zone. When we do all of these things we find that the Holy Spirit has already gone ahead of us. He is there to meet and support us as we step out. We are rewarded with blessing other people in ways that only we can do. This is true ministry as Jesus meant it to be.

Community cannot be gained from studying – it needs to be practised. Once the initial commitments are made it becomes a natural way of life and we will look back and marvel at the emptiness of lives lived outside of Christian community.

Bryson Dyke

Article used with permission from Batholo News 2008 Issue 13