{"id":5065,"date":"2019-06-20T09:40:17","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T14:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/?p=5065"},"modified":"2019-06-20T09:40:17","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T14:40:17","slug":"community-is-intentional-not-accidental","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/2019\/06\/20\/community-is-intentional-not-accidental\/","title":{"rendered":"Community is Intentional, Not Accidental"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What is community? As believers, why should we cultivate it? What should it look like? What are the benefits of living in community?<\/p>\n

When I think about biblical community, I automatically turn to Acts 2:42-47. This passage is a beautiful description of the ideal community for followers of Jesus. I believe we can learn a few things from what the early church modeled. Let\u2019s look at the scripture together:<\/p>\n

\u201cThey devoted themselves to the apostles\u2019 teaching\u00a0and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread\u00a0and to prayer.\u00a0<\/strong>43\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>44\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>All the believers were together and had everything in common.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>45\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>46\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.\u00a0They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>47\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.\u00a0And the Lord added to their number\u00a0daily those who were being saved.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

First and foremost, community takes commitment\u2014it doesn\u2019t happen accidentally. While the raw desire for nearness with others may develop organically as we come to know the Father, real community requires more than just gathering together twice a week or pulling off impressive church programs. Sure, those things can be good, and they often help us get the \u201cteaching and prayer\u201d part right. But real community is more than this. If we are in community with other people, we should know<\/em> them, and they should know<\/em> us. Often, that kind of \u201cknowing\u201d comes from simply doing life together, sharing and enjoying the presence of our brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tExcessive seclusion turns our whole concept of community inward on itself, and community becomes \u201cme-focused.\u201d The mindset tends to be on how will I leverage community this month to fit my schedule, my needs, my wishes, and my growth? This is a selfish and backwards way of thinking. \t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Authentic community happens when we allow people into our lives and our homes. Unfortunately, I believe our cultural addiction to busyness and excess has taught us a self-defeating model of communal seclusion<\/em>, rather than inclusion<\/em>. We value our comfort, our privacy, and our resources so much that our preoccupation with these things prevents us from developing authentic connections with others. Excessive seclusion turns our whole concept of community inward on itself, and community becomes \u201cme-focused.\u201d The mindset tends to be on how will I leverage community this month to fit my schedule, my needs, my wishes, and my growth? This is a selfish and backwards way of thinking.<\/p>\n

The Acts 2 passage reminds us that community isn\u2019t only about us. It\u2019s about at least two other things: first, other people; and second, the movement of the gospel. As disciples, we ought to pursue community wholeheartedly. We have to train ourselves to resist a culture of excessive seclusion for the sake of gospel-centered inclusion<\/em>. We need to be people who cultivate safe places for others as much as we do for ourselves. And as we align our hearts to fit this vision, I think we\u2019ll find that our communities will more naturally foster an environment for making disciples.<\/p>\n

My husband and I have been married four years. Our first and only home has been on the campus of Emmanuel College. We live in a dorm with 90+ guys over our apartment and 500 or so other students live near us in neighboring dorms. We don\u2019t always do it right, but we\u2019re thankful we\u2019ve gotten to truly experience what it\u2019s like to live in community with lots of other people very close by. And while there are definitely moments when we desire more privacy than we have, we do our absolute best to embrace these days, love our students, and provide safe places for them.\u00a0 This season has been so valuable and has taught us about the benefits (and challenges!) of what community can offer. Transparency, accountability, generosity, conflict-resolution, encouragement\u2014these and more come by doing life with others.<\/p>\n

While I understand that not everyone can physically live in a community, we can all be intentional to create space in our lives so authentic community can happen. I think we start by asking ourselves this question: are we willing to let our lives be interrupted? Can we be transparent with those in our community? Or held accountable? Can we be generous with our personal space, time, and our resources? So, I encourage us all to choose community, and not just wait for it to come our way. Let us be a people that allow the interruptions in order to create authentic community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":5066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1,37],"tags":[940,866,16,374,1116,1057,1045],"class_list":{"0":"post-5065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-discipleship-ministries","8":"category-general","9":"category-womens-ministries","10":"tag-940","11":"tag-community","12":"tag-discipleship","13":"tag-erica-campbell","14":"tag-intentional","15":"tag-iphc-womens-ministries","16":"tag-strong-in-fellowship","17":"entry"},"title_es":"Clon del art\u00edculo con inserci\u00f3n de texto","content_es":"

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