Biblical Community

Words

If theology is the backbone of the church, community is the flesh. Jesus died to make a people for himself. A people unlike the world had ever known. Only after Jesus are the people of God filled with the Holy Spirit and thus in a very real way are the body of Christ on earth. (, )

Joel 2:28–32 ESV

28 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Gospel Theology is proclaimed on a Sunday morning but it is applied Monday through Saturday.

Joel

Heb 10:

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

This means both gathering corporately and gathering regularly in little ‘c’ churches called groups.

Why this is so important

Jesus Christ didn’t just proclaim truths from heaven, but he came and dwelt with us, walked amongst us, taught us, and in the end died for us. This is what is known as incarnational ministry. We too then, following his example, are called to dwell with each other. There are three ways people grow:

God’s Word

God’s People

God’s Spirit

Proverbs 18:1 ESV

1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.

Proverbs 18:1 CSB

1 One who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound wisdom.

Where are these three in your life?

To help implement these into the daily life we have adopted 7 values that capture the heart of biblical community.

DEVOTE DAILY.

This is your personal daily relationship with Jesus. This is implementing God’s Word and God’s Spirit into your life.

God speaks to us through his Word, we speak to him through Prayer and Holy Spirit is the conduit. He helps us to understand scripture and apply it to our lives.

LIVE AUTHENTICALLY

This is a posture of openness to the community of God’s people. It means I will not hide from others but will commit to sharing openly and honestly about what is going on inside my heart.

PURSUE RELATIONALLY

This is a commitment to have the hard conversations if necessary. It means to not settle for surface level or shallow level relationships but rather a pressing in and inviting to share more of one’s heart and struggles.

COUNSEL BIBLICALLY

This means when we speak into each other’s lives we are not first going to personal opinion, or cultural commentary, but rather to the highest authority, God’s Word.

We ask what does God’s Word say about this particular issue?

ADMONISH AND ENCOURAGE FAITHFULLY

This means applying God’s word to our lives in community. The Bible has a lot to say about how we are called to live as recipients of grace. This means always walking in a manner worthy of the gospel (, ) and in step with the gospel.

We both need to be admonished (steered away from negative or harmful behaviors or beliefs) and encouraged (steered towards positive or beneficial behaviors and beliefs). We find our compass in scripture itself.

ENGAGE MISSIONALLY

This means that we do not exist for ourselves but the heart of the mission of the church are for those who are outside of the church. As a community we recognize the mission of the Kingdom and have conversations and hold each other accountable to always having a missional mindset.

MULTIPLY REGULARLY

This means as a church and as little ‘c’ churches we pray for and expect that God will grow his gospel work. When he does we are ready to multiply ourselves, leaders, groups and disciples so that the reach of the gospel can continue to spread in our church and culture.

Practically for One Hope Church

We are running 14 groups right now for a church of about 125 regular attenders, perhaps 150 total people and 30 kids. The ideal group size for healthy community is 6-10 members. Above that size it gets hard to have the kind of intimate discussion and community that we are aiming at. Once a group begins to regularly hit 8 people weekly it is time to begin discussion on future group growth and multiplication.

The greatest need in the church is qualified committed leaders.

In order to grow in breadth we have to grow in depth. This means that we need systems for discipleship and leadership development. Community Groups are a natural place for this to take place.

But in order for our Group Leaders to be qualified committed leaders we need to disciple and develop them into these kids of leaders. Therefore we have implemented a system of Group Leader Coaches that serve to disciple, develop, and care for the group leaders. This is in a word, shepherding them.

In order for our Group Leader Coaches to be equipped for this shepherding work, they must be discipled, developed and cared for, in a word shepherded. This task falls upon the Elder body of the Church.

The Elder Body of the church is presumably healthy and mature disciples of Jesus who primarily find their shepherding through the Great Shepherd and the Elder Body themselves. The Elders are first and foremost those who have and are growing by God’s Word, God’s Spirit and God’s People.

Thus the shepherding structure looks like this:

Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit

Elder Body

Group Leader Coaches

Group Leaders

Group members

Church attenders

Church non-attenders

The Case for Open Groups

There is a tension that exists for the Church at large and for Groups in particular. The balance between depth and breadth. I read in that the church builds itself up in love. I take this to mean both depth and breadth here.

Ephesians 4:14–16 ESV

14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The question becomes are we going to be a deeply connected group or a more socially inviting group? I see no such distinction within the Bible. When looking at the book of Acts we simply just see the church being (). What is most attractive about the church is how they love one another (). We are simply called to ‘be’ the church before a watching world.

I might argue it is the precise nature of our deeply connected and loving relationships that the world most needs to see.

However, understandably there is such a thing as group dynamics that change based on attenders and trust that is built. (but i might challenge this even). The tendency will be for groups to close in on themselves and forget the mission of God. But it is this mission of God that breathes life into the church with purpose and supernatural power.

Furthermore people need to be shown the kind of community that is available to them.