It taught this last week at Incarnate Faith about community and wanted to share once of my main thoughts regarding the subject. We are all involved with different communities in our lives. Whether it it's work, family, golf, school or church. We all live in communities. At the heart of every community is a focus on whatever that communiity is formed for.
When we come to church community, our focus should be on Christ, but I believe that the American Christian church has gotten off track with the focus of the church community. When we look at the church, the main focus is fellowship. The word fellowship has killed the true meaning of community. Many churches act as if fellowship and community are one in the same, but they're couldn't be more wrong. Don't get me wrong, fellowship is a much needed part of community. Without fellowship, the community will die, but that's not it. Biblical community is focused on more than potlucks and get to know you events. True Biblical community is focused on Christ and what He did on the cross for us and what He continues to do in our lives day in and day out.
When we look at the first Christian community in Acts 2:42-47, their focus was on learning about Christ and being Christ to others. They took the command of Jesus in Acts 1:8 seriously and acted as witnesses of Christ to everyone they came into contact with. As a result, God blessed their community.
As we look at our own church communities, where's our focus? Is the focus on how many relationships I have in my community, or is our focus on what Christ did for us and what He's doing for us now? My prayer is that we are continually evaluating our communities in order to keep our focus on Christ.
When we come to church community, our focus should be on Christ, but I believe that the American Christian church has gotten off track with the focus of the church community. When we look at the church, the main focus is fellowship. The word fellowship has killed the true meaning of community. Many churches act as if fellowship and community are one in the same, but they're couldn't be more wrong. Don't get me wrong, fellowship is a much needed part of community. Without fellowship, the community will die, but that's not it. Biblical community is focused on more than potlucks and get to know you events. True Biblical community is focused on Christ and what He did on the cross for us and what He continues to do in our lives day in and day out.
When we look at the first Christian community in Acts 2:42-47, their focus was on learning about Christ and being Christ to others. They took the command of Jesus in Acts 1:8 seriously and acted as witnesses of Christ to everyone they came into contact with. As a result, God blessed their community.
As we look at our own church communities, where's our focus? Is the focus on how many relationships I have in my community, or is our focus on what Christ did for us and what He's doing for us now? My prayer is that we are continually evaluating our communities in order to keep our focus on Christ.
