By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

“We believe the world was made by a God who is a community of persons who have loved each other for all eternity. You were made for mutually self-giving, other directed love. Self-centeredness destroys the fabric of what God has made.” – Timothy Keller

You are a part of a community. While Christianity requires a personal decision of dedication to God and an invitation of Christ into your life, it was never meant to be an individual endeavor. God has always expected His followers to be a part of a greater community.

Living in community allows believers to encourage one another while they walk through life together. It forces Christians to practice selflessness and humility. Inside God’s community, love and service prosper, testimonies are shared, and God’s faithfulness is praised.

The community of believers is a one-of-a-kind entity that promotes Christlikeness. Listen to Paul describing how Christians should relate to each other:

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:1-5).

Just as Christ values others above Himself, so must each member of the Christian community do as well. Just as Christ never acted out of selfishness, believers are to give of themselves for one another. Just as Jesus was one of mind and Spirit with His Father, so must Christians be with our Heavenly Father and with each other.

The community of believers, if manifested as it was intended, is a unique and uncontainable catalyst for the deliverance of the Kingdom of God.  Unfortunately, God’s people haven’t been able to embody who they were meant to be. Since the times of the Israelites and into the present day, this community has been plagued with selfishness and idolatry of many different kinds.

But what if we could find their way back again?

What if the community of believers was truly able to take its place as the light of the nations, with Jesus at their head?

Parents: Explain to your children what it means to be a part of a community of believers.