The Bible Scripture Speaks About How Important Community Is

What does Christian community really mean? Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community by Dietrich Bonhoeffer gives insight into what Christians relationships were designed to be like. The main theme Bonhoeffer explores is Christ in the Christian community under the Word of God. Bonhoeffer explains God’s gift of community by arguing the following: “It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren” (Bonhoeffer, 1978, p. 20). In addition the author adds, “Christian community is like the Christian’s sanctification. It is a gift of God, which we cannot claim. Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification” (p. 30). Overall Life Together is biblically

Theology of presence in the author's theology of proclamation is derived from Hebrew 10:25, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching." When the people love each other not only in words but deeds and embrace one another with encouraging lifting words the work, as a pastor, is less difficult. Being there for the members should never take the place of social media, texting, and or phone calls, because its' more valuable to be involved in a person life in the

What makes up a discourse community is the set of goals that the members share, which is obtaining happiness and faith and god. I observed the church community and saw that preaching, reading scriptures and prayer was a way that they communicated during services. Almost everyone at the church had on appropriate clothing which were either casual or formal wear, but those who did not have that type of attire had clothes that were still appropriate and respectful. The church is a very welcoming community. Every so often they get people

It is both an unarguable and undesirable fact that we live in a society completely remote from our fellow man. There is no longer a sense of community between friends and neighbors — no brotherhood in the presence of coworkers in the commercial workplace. Even the higher, spiritual presence that had once bound together all things in worship and praise has faltered in the face of this profound apathy. It is not that mankind has lost its ability to communicate — modern technology provides us with the ability to speak to one another over tremendous lengths and sustain friendships in staggering amounts. The reason for this chasm of communal indifference stems from man's lost desire to understand one another, as well as the divine presence around

Community can be an isolated form or in conjunction with religion and sensory pleasures. In terms of religion, from my own personal observations and experiences, modern escapes through religion is coupled with relationships you make within your religious community. Growing religious fervor and mysticism characterized the Middle Ages and the relationships with God. St. Francis of Assisi, a 13th century mystic, conformed his life in every act with that of God, abandoning a life of wealth and material satisfaction. As a mystic, his connection to God was direct and substantial compared to the common person. Societies used religion to justify world occurrences. However, as societies evolve, the way in which religion is used to give life meaning evolves as well. With the advancement of scientific knowledge and the evolution of religion, particularly after the Church was accused of corruption and religious hegemony waned – not entirely, but to some degree – many cultures enjoy the Church communities in addition to weekly liturgical practices. With the knowledge that some worldly occurrences are not the direct work of God, but by the doings of nature and science, can people rely less on God for prosperity and instead use religion as a tool to find meaning and solace. Moreover, while developing a relationship with God, one can find themselves forming relationships with those who are attempting to achieve the same objective. Sharing beliefs, in itself, also provides consolation and support amongst the terrors of history, suggesting that those in troubles are not the sole victims of these

Living in community will expose selfishness, ambition, jealousy, dissension and impurity in ourselves, allowing us to experience loss, despair, and stress. Even so, all of this is important to our spiritual formation because we mature as Christians,

One of the issues facing larger churches is the inability for the pastors and ministers to intimately connect and engage with each individual member on a regular basis. While

Although there are negatives about technology in a communal connection it means that people are able to bond with those people that are in front of them, and also around the country and even the world. Although the main aim of technology was to be able to communicate with others in the case of an emergency, it has now been able to evolve into a device where things other than communication can take place. They can be used for learning about spirituality, and also reading stories from about the world about spiritual

Lack of community – Happens when leaders allow a church to become one that does not invite fellow believers to speak truth and love into our lives.

Why does the Church matter? That is the question many of us ask. The author Joshua Harris through his book, “Why Church matters: Discovering your place in the Family of God” talks about the Church and its importance for us as Christians. He describes the Church as the community where we can find growth, encouragement, and closer relationship with God. In his book, Harris pictures this relationship as a marriage, where we are the spouse and the church is the wife. Before we decide to marry the Church, we need to commit to it, as a gloom commit to her bride and is willing to give his life and sacrifice everything for her. Further, the author explains how we (believers) are part of something bigger than us, which is the universal Church, but

Community is a common tool of the English language to categorize people and put unique individuals into a single group.  However, what is the real meaning of community?  Community can be used as a noun or an adjective and it has a plethora of meanings in the dictionary.

Churches appear to be in the midst of the communities for the expectation to engage in the people lives who live in the neighborhoods to make a difference in the hope of transformation through the Word of God. For example, when Jesus was passing through the community when the woman with the issue of blood heard he was passing by and she sought him for healing (Matthew 9:20). Also, when Jesus was leaving Jericho with the disciples and blind Bartimaeus was sitting on the roadside begging, he began to cry out to Jesus to heal his sight (Mark 10:46). The more God's word spread through the community, the more readily available He is to the people.

Jesus was born from a virgin Marry. Jennifer Bird elucidates the reasons why Jesus had to be born from a virgin, “according to the sacrificial system of the Jews, was if Jesus was pure and blameless and sinless” The culture at that time was very strict into women guarding their virginity, in other words for the female it was their pride to be virgin. To families as well it was an honor to keep a girl to the point of being married and still be virgin. The reaction of Jacob’s sons to the rape of their sister Dinah could explain the importance, Genesis 34.14 they replied, “...that would be a disgrace for us.” And in our cultures in Africa, virginity of a girl is valued. To parents it is an honor that can let them ask for

We affirm that local churches are spiritual households of faith, and that congregations of the visible church include individuals and family units that should be cared for and strengthened by the church to fulfill their God ordained roles, not only as individuals but also as families (Eph. 4:1-32; 5:22-33; 6:1-4; 1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Peter 3:1-7).

Dulles states, “It picks up the biblical theme that God has fashioned for himself a people feely communicating his spirit and his gifts” (50). The Body of Christ as stated in Dulles is, “the main point of mutual union, concern and dependence of the members of the local community upon one another,” (43). The body of Christ will only function is the whole community is willing to work together to reach a personal growth in their relationship with God. Now that we have an idea of what Church as mystical communion consists of I will discuss the strengths and weakness of this model. The strength of this model is that emphasizes a shared life with the community instead of shutting them off. This is a strength because when people come together as a whole everything holds so much more meaning and people can form a stronger bond with God, now that it is much more personal and voluntary. Another strength is that this model improves people spirituality and prayer life now that they feel that personal connection that they formed. A weakness of this model is that it creates unsure relationship between the visible and invisible, since Grace allows people to get closer to God through the invisible such as communion while the visible structure like institutionalism tries to emphasize their power over the whole people. I have discussed what the models mean, their strength and weakness of each so now I will note the difference and