Yesterday I talked about the individual verses the community.
I want to think about that a little bit more today. How did we get here? At least how did we get here in the church?
It also came out in that conversation that perhaps we are to blame, The Church (Big C - the Church Universal). In recent years, the church has been emphasizing personal relationships with Christ. If our relationship with Christ is that personal, than what does the church have to say to it? Why do even need church? Perhaps we don’t! More and more people confessing to be Christians don’t have a home church. They live out their faith on their own. They don’t have a church community or a church family.
I think there are plenty of passages in Scripture that talk about the community of believers, the need to be a part of the local church. We grow in our faith in community with others who are trying to grow in their faith. Sometimes we feed them, sometimes we are fed by them, we are always encouraged and comforted by them, as we encourage and comfort them.
Our personal relationship with Christ needs to be balanced with that need for community. The responsibility for our relationship with Christ is our own; I can’t do it for you, no one else can do it for you. But neither can you do it without the Body of Christ, which is the church.
To grow as believers, to strengthen our faith, we must live out our faith in the community of other believers, all working together to strengthen our faith.
The church can only function properly and effectively when it functions as a community of believers. You are needed to be a participating part of that community!
1 comment:
Agreed - we need the community of believers and to be with them. There are so many things that we can gain from being with a community. Most importantly to me is the sense that we are in this together. Often times in life I have felt like I am going it alone. Being with fellow believers reminds us that there are others facing challenges as well and that our God is so powerful that He can be there for us. Another reason that community is so important is that it provides accountability. God does hold us accountable but when we see others and spend time with others that accountability becomes tangible.
Too often we are faced with choices or other opportunities in life that keep us from joining together in communion with fellow believers. I know that personally and have shared with some of my friends their "reasons" behind not currently attending. We must remember what God has called us to do. Not that we are condemned or lose any of our heavenly rewards if we don't gather together, but we are losing out.
Thanks for a great reminder that we are called to join together as a community of believers!!! See you in church on Sunday!!!
Michelle
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