A Christian Community

 A church is much more than a loose knit group of individuals who happen to share a worship service.  

As people of faith we cherish the community of believers - as well as the greater common good. 

This is reflected in a few pictures of our social time after worship.

                       A quote from Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Because Christian community is founded solely on Jesus Christ, it is a spiritual and not a ‘merely human’ reality. In this it differs absolutely from all other communities. . . . Christian brotherhood is not an ideal that we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it.

Henri Nouwen writes about "Christian Community" in A Spirituality of Waiting.

The whole meaning of the Christian community lies in offering a space in which we wait for what we have already seen.  Christian community is the place where we keep the flame alive among us and take it seriously so that it can grow and become stronger in us.  In this way we can live with courage, trusting that there is a spiritual power in us that allows us to live in this world without being seduced constantly by despair, lostness, and darkness .  .  .  Waiting together, nurturing what has already begun, expecting its fulfillment--that is the meaning of marriage, friendship, community, and the Christian life.

The word community has many connotations, some positive, some negative. Community can make us think of a safe togetherness, shared meals, common goals, and joyful celebrations. It also can call forth images of sectarian exclusivity, in-group language, self-satisfied isolation and romantic naiveté. However, community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another. Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own. (Philippians 2:4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.) The question, therefore is not "How can we make community?" but "How can we develop and nurture giving hearts."

From "Bread for the Journey" by Henri Nouwen

 
Click here for a few more christian community pictures.