The Discipline of Community
Let he who cannot be alone fear community; let he who cannot be in community fear being alone – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
In my last post, I wrote about the role of silence and solitude in the life of the believer. The last point made was the need to come back to the community. Here, I’d like to unpack that a little more based on the beautiful (though far from perfect) description of the early church in Acts 2:42-47. Herein we find eight qualities that reveal the value of being connected with a community that loves Jesus.
- Devotion to the Scriptures: The Bible is not just for personal revelation but for communal revelation. Being in community provides a check to make sure you understand the Scriptures correctly. On more than one occasion I have found myself corrected by the community in terms of my theology and I am (I hope) better for it.
- Devotion to Fellowship: Jesus gathered to himself twelve disciples that they might be with him as well as to do ministry. Jesus calls us individually to be sure, but he calls us into a community to serve and bless one another.
- Devotion to Communion: The name itself implies community. The act of communion itself is a public acknowledgement of sin and a declaration that we, both individually and corporately need the grace found only in the death of Jesus and resurrection of Jesus.
- Devotion to Prayer: Prayer is not just about me, myself, and I. In the community I learn about the needs, concerns, and joys of others and have the privilege of bringing those to God on behalf of that person. Thus we function as a priest to that person, bringing them before the Father in prayer, trusting that he can work where perhaps I can’t.
- Signs and Wonders: This may prove contentious for some, but the fact is that signs and wonders followed the early church as the church they followed Christ, and should also follow the church today as she follows Christ. Understand that the church is not called to chase miracles. Jesus himself declares this to be at best, immature; at worst, evil! But miracles do happen occasionally, and when they do it is often (though not always) in the context of community where the joy of that miracle may be shared and much might be made of Jesus in worship. That is to say, the miracle should point to Jesus above all else. If I isolate myself from people in solitude, the chances are that I will miss the miracles of grace that happen among God’s people as they follow him.
- Devotion to Generosity: Put simply, it is hard to give and receive generously if I am not in a community of God’s people.
- Devotion to Sharing Life: Sharing life implies that I am open to knowing and being known by people. We can only be fully loved if we are fully known. It requires vulnerability and an openness to community.
- Devotion to Worship: I can worship by myself; I can offer my body as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1-2) and sing lots of spiritual songs that make me feel good. Yet if I keep reading through Romans 12, I find that much of my worship is not just singing songs, but living a life of service and blessing to others through the use of my spiritual gifts (12:3-21).
By all means, seek solitude. We need all need that time to take a step back and see what God is saying to us. But then come back to the community: listen to God’s word with God’s people, pray for each other, worship together, do life together, live generously. Why? Because the church body serves to remind each of us that life is not just about the individual, it’s about us, and most importantly, it’s about Jesus; his glory and his fame, in both our individual lives and corporate life.
