Living in a society that greatly promotes individualism, it is easy to feel isolated and alone. However, we were not created to do life or ministry alone. After all, God is a community in himself. Existing for all of eternity past, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have enjoyed the love and fellowship of their perfect triune community. Community was God’s plan to change the world. In fact, one of the first acts in Jesus’ ministry was to establish a community of believers, the disciples. These 13 men, including Jesus, transformed the world with the Good News of the kingdom of God. Jesus was completely capable of preaching, teaching, and healing by Himself. It’s not as if He needed anyone to help Him! But God designed us to need each other, and Jesus lived this out by taking along 12 friends. This serves as an example to us of the importance of living in community. After all, we were created with the need for companionship.
If community is so beneficial, why do we tend to avoid it? In my experience, it all boils down to vulnerability. Many of us have been taught to downplay or hide our deepest joys and sorrows. We don’t want to appear too needy or even happy. We train ourselves to live in a “happy-medium” state where our true feelings and thoughts are not exposed. It is a lie from the enemy that we are better off by keeping things to ourselves. The deceiver is fully aware of the power and freedom that is found when we are open and honest in a community of believers.
I think that it can also be confusing when discussing prayer in relation to community. Even though prayer is extremely personal, it is meant to be shared with others. An individual's prayer life will grow and flourish with the constant support and protection of a community. In the community of faith, we can listen to the longings of others and hold space with them in that place, giving us the opportunity to help discern God’s presence in their midst. There we can affirm each other in our waiting and also come to a realization that in the center of our waiting, intimacy with God is found.
Christian community is the place where we keep the flame of our faith alive among us so that it can grow and become stronger in us. In this way we can live with courage, trusting that there is a spiritual power in us that allows us to live in this world without being constantly threatened by despair, lostness, and darkness. Waiting together, nurturing what has already begun, and expecting its fulfillment - that is the meaning of community and the Christian life.
But let’s be honest, true community is hard. True community is messy. True community takes commitment. True community is a discipline, and true community takes practice. We do not form community according to similar experiences, knowledge, problems, color, or gender, but because we have been called together by the same Lord. We have to learn to embrace different age groups, opinions, lifestyles, races, classes, languages, and educations. Only God enables us to cross the many bridges that separate us and only God allows us to recognize each other as members of the same human family. By leaning into this work of God, we open ourselves up to one of the most formative experiences in the Kingdom, allowing community to mold us, humble us, challenge us, and grow us.
The truth is, we need each other. We need to trust, rely on, and depend upon other believers. God gave us each other to walk alongside, encourage, and spur one another on in the faith. The writer to the Hebrews says, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" Hebrews 10:24-25. James 5:16 says, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." We are to carry each other's burdens (Galatians 6:2), care for each other's practical needs (Romans 12:13), (Hebrews 13;16), warn each other of sin (1 Thessalonians 5:14), and rejoice and mourn with each other (Romans 12:15). We are called to community because it is a direct reflection of the true nature of Christ. The fellowship of people together makes God visible to the world.
