Community and the Church

In the past weeks, a common theme that God's been placing on my heart and in my path has been this intrinsic need for Christians to be in community with one another. It all started with the college retreat that we went on two weekends ago up at Prescott Pines. The speaker, Andrew Faris, had an awesome foundation at Biola and Talbot from which he was able to speak in the context of our group's temperament. The Book he was referencing and borrowing material from (of course, outside the Bible) was called When the Church was a Family by Joseph Hellerman. Basically, the main message was that you can't grasp the fullness and entirety of that all Christ has given us through Himself outside of the church.

I guess what I've been wrestling through and thinking about with all of this is how much I never saw and thought about in regards to community. Honestly, my thoughts have always been very me-centered. With that train of thought, God has presented so many people and obstacles in my life that have simply been hammering this notion that life is better lived together. The book that I have been reading on my own the past week or so is actually called Life Together, written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and it's been pretty much a punch in the stomach to several of the things that I thought, keyword thought I had going well. In the 4th chapter, he talks about meekness and he says this, "Only he who lives by the forgiveness of sin in Jesus Christ will rightly think little of himself." My Response: I want to experience life in community and allow those relationships to be shaped by the Gospel.