The Importance of Community

Did you know that Jesus prayed for you? In John 17, just before he was arrested, Jesus prayed for his disciples. Then directly after the prayer for the disciples, he prayed for all believers. He used the phrase, “those who will believe in me”. Speaking of everyone, from every generation, that will place faith in Him through the message of the Gospel. So that means, if you are a follower of Christ, this prayer is for you. 

So what is this prayer, exactly? Well, you can read it yourself in John 17:20-23, but the short version is this: “God, make all the believers united, as you and I are united, so the world will know that you sent me.” 

Jesus, on the night he was betrayed and arrested, took the time to pray for you and me. He prayed that there would be unity among the believers. He prayed that the unity among believers would show the world the truth of the Gospel. So my question is… how are we doing? 

Now you probably didn’t come to this blog for hot takes on the state of the Church in America, but here is mine: The church in America is struggling and it is not because of the culture but rather because the spirit of division is larger than the spirit of unity inside the church. This begs the question; how do we fix it? My thoughts? A deeper commitment to community inside the church. 

Community. What exactly is community? In its simplest form, it is a group of like-minded people working together to accomplish a common goal. As Christians, our goals should be to reflect God and His glory, become more like Him, and share the Gospel. So how can community help us accomplish those goals? I’m glad you asked. 

1. Community Encourages Kindness. Jesus tells us in Matthew 25:40 that whatever we did for the least of these, we did for Him. Meaning, as followers of Jesus we are to care for the people around us the same way that Jesus did. Okay cool, but how does community help us to care for those around us? Hebrews 10 tells us to “spur one another on the love and good works”. If your community is pursuing Christ, your community will be doing things to care for the least of these. 

2. Community Brings Healing. James tells us in James 5:16 that we should “confess your sins to one another and pray for each other so you may be. For the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” This is the part a lot of people don’t like. As humans, we are inclined to hide our sins and to continue trying to solve our problems on our own. This idea is counter-gospel. What God does when we confess sins is quite the opposite of what we believe will happen. Rather than people saying things like, “I can’t believe you struggle with that” or “I’ve never had that problem” people begin to say things like, “Man, me too!” or “I know what you're going through and I can help”. God takes the messes that we have made and He turns them into a message to help us connect and reach others with the Gospel. 

3. Community Promotes Sanctification. Sanctification, that old 10-cent seminary word. The process of becoming like Christ might be the most important part of the Christian life. While you can read, pray, and study the Bible on your own (and you should!) the largest amount of growth you will see in your life is when you have a group of people pouring into you while you pour into them. It is also important to note that sanctification is not always “up and to the right”. You will have moments when you feel like you're sprinting toward God, moments when you feel like you're standing still, and moments when you feel like you're moving backward. In each of those moments, having people who love you and love God will encourage you to continue chasing after God. 

The world that we live in is desperately searching for unity and I believe that the only group of people in the world that can actually be united is the church. Why? Simply put, the foot of the cross is level ground. Each of us recognizes our desperate need for a savior, the weight of our sin, and the beauty of God’s grace poured out for each of us.