Community: Why We Need Each Other

My college years were some of the most influential and formative in my life. I was challenged, stretched, and developed in ways that I have never experienced before.

Additionally, the community that I discovered there was a first for me. The fellowship and friendships I encountered in those years changed and grew me in all areas of my life, especially in my Christian walk.

After graduation, I found myself desperately trying to recreate the type of relationships and sense of belonging I felt during college.

​Initially, I became restless and frustrated that I could not replicate this experience in the “real world.” But as the years passed I came to understand not only what a true Biblical community is but how to cultivate it. ​

It doesn’t matter if you are an extrovert or introvert, a social butterfly or a wallflower — we all crave and need community. We were not made to live in isolation. We need each other. Before we can understand what the Biblical community is and how to create it in our lives, we need to dispel some misunderstandings and mistaken ideas about it. ​

What a Biblical Community Is Not:

1. Community is not one-sided
   Community is not about you being served or just your needs being met. An authentic, Bible-based community requires mutual, unconditional service. If we expect that we will be catered to, cared for, and served without thinking about how we can do the same for others, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. The people around us will undoubtedly fail us and we will rob ourselves of the blessing of a loving, mutual community.
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2. Community is not just friendship​
   It is easy to confuse community with friendship. Friendship is just one aspect of community, but the two are not one and the same. When we believe that community is the same as friendship, we often create cliques but we call it community. 

This may seem an unfair accusation, but allow me to explain. Generally, we form our closest friendships with those who are like us. We are similar in background, experiences, shared interests, personality, age, and stage of life, to name a few. There is nothing wrong with this. We are not going to be best friends with everyone. There are certain people we will just sync with in ways and on a level that we do not with others. However, we put ourselves in a dangerous place if we think that these friendships are the same as a community, especially a Biblical community. 

A clique has all the qualities I mentioned above — common interests, shared experiences, and other life similarities — but it adds one extra component. It is exclusive. When a clique encounters someone who doesn’t match up to the prerequisites of the group dynamic, it naturally will not allow entrance. This doesn’t always manifest itself in rudeness or outright shunning. I’ve known plenty of cliques and sadly, even been part of them, where the people are civil, polite, and courteous. But they will not let others in past a certain point. This is especially dangerous and damaging in the church.

My pastor challenged us with this idea years ago and it has stuck with me. He asked us to consider the following questions about ourselves when we go to church:

• Do you only or mostly talk to and fellowship with those who are your close friends?
• Do you actively look for visitors or those who need to be welcomed?
• Do you actively look to encourage those you know have needs who are outside your close circle of friends? 
• Are you purposeful about stepping out of your comfort zone and starting conversations with other members or attenders you don’t know well?
• Do you serve in areas at church with people outside your close circle of friends?
• Do you consistently look for ways to enlarge your circle through acts of hospitality?

While I cringe to admit it, there have been many occasions when my community has been more clique-ish than not. Because if we begin to equate community with friendship, we then run the risk of choosing comfortable exclusivity rather than an inclusive community.

So, What is a Biblical Community?

To understand what Biblical community is, we need to look at Acts 2. At the beginning of the chapter, the Holy Spirit comes, Peter preaches to the crowd, and thousands are added to the faith. Immediately after this, we are shown an example to follow as the church today about how to be an authentic community of God’s people.

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 2:42-47

A True Biblical Community Centers on Five Things:

1. Studying the Scriptures
   These believers were dedicated to knowing the Scriptures. They eagerly listened to the apostles. They discussed Christ’s teachings with each other. They worked together to apply it. The Scriptures were the foundation of their relationship with each other and the thing that brought them all together. They were all from various backgrounds, experiences, nationalities, and stages of life. But the Gospel united them!
   
   The Biblical community’s core is Christ and the Word. As believers, we ought to be striving together to know Him better and be changed by His truth. We encourage each other, learn from each other, and when necessary, we lovingly admonish each other. This kind of community is united in the Word to walk by faith together until Christ returns. 
   
   
2. Fellowship
   We cannot learn to love and care for someone if we don’t spend time together. The people of the early church, regardless of age, status, or background made fellowship together with a priority. This kind of fellowship is more than a one-time meal or get-together. This fellowship is focused on building unity and history with each other, and this takes both time and intentionality. They were committed to loving each other and doing life together.
   
   
3. Hospitality
   One of the ways the early church believers practiced fellowship was through hospitality. Luke tells us in Acts that they were daily breaking bread together in each other's homes. It requires effort and sacrifice to invite people into your home and provide for them. It is not always convenient. But these believers were doing it daily and with gladness!
   
   If this is an area you struggle with, I highly recommend reading Rosaria Butterfield’s The Gospel Comes with a House Key. Her book will challenge you not only in the area of hospitality toward fellow believers but also in using hospitality as a means to spread the Gospel to the lost. 
   
   
4. Prayer
   Pray regularly with and for the body of Christ. The early church knew each other's needs and hardships. They sought to carry each other's burdens through prayer and encouragement. This is more than just a weekly prayer gathering or a quick prayer made once on behalf of another. Sharing our trials and needs together ought to be a continual thing. Check-in with those who’ve asked for your encouragement and prayers. Give updates to your fellow believers to whom you’ve made your difficulties known. God is the One who hears and answers our prayers, but we can become more closely knitted together if we share our prayers with Him together. 
   
   
5. Generous Service
   The early church generously served each other. The Bible tells us they went as far as selling their possessions in order to meet the needs of other believers. They were conscientious about looking for needs and then doing what they could to meet those needs. 
   
   ​This is the love of Christ in action. We are emulating Him when we give in this way. Christ spent His earthly ministry meeting the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of people, none of whom could do anything in return to match His kindness. While we cannot heal the sick or raise the dead, we can follow His example and serve others in kindness, expecting nothing in return. We can share the Gospel, cook a meal, babysit for an overwhelmed mother, clean the house of an elderly couple, give to monetary needs, and the list goes on. 

How Do We Cultivate a Biblical Community?

The road to Biblical community begins with humility. We will love the Lord and His Word when we have a proper view of ourselves. Our relationships will go beyond mere friendships in the community when we are humble. We will be transparent about our weaknesses and ask for accountability because we recognize our need for the counsel of our fellow believers. We will be excited to include, serve, fellowship, and pray with and for each other when we understand how gracious God has been to us. We will not be able to ignore the desire to share the same grace, love, and generosity with others. Consider Philippians 2:3-8 which says,

“In humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Christ gave us the ultimate example of humility. He set aside what He was due as a member of the Trinity and wrapped Himself in human frailty. He died the cruelest of deaths for those who hated Him. When we as the body of Christ consider and live by this example, we are able to walk together in the Biblical community as the early church did. We learn together, share each other's burdens, meet each other's needs, and spur each other on to good works for Christ and His glory.

We need community — not just because we were not made to do life alone. We need a Biblical community because we need God’s grace, every day. God gives us the community of the church and His people as an agent of His grace. He gave you His grace on the day He justified you and made you His own, and He continues to pour His grace out on you each day through His people as agents of growth and sanctification. And those same people need you, too!

We need each other! Whether young or old, married or single, regardless of wealth, race, background, or any other category that could be used to separate us. The Gospel unites us! Christ makes us one! Let us walk together in humility, serving God and others like those who have come before us in a generous, loving, authentic community as we await His return.

How is your Biblical community doing today?