Community is where we grow in Christ, care for and serve one another, beyond what we could do on our own. This is because life change requires 3 crucial ingredients:
- Information: You have to know the truth. Some people stop here. These are people who assume knowledge equals change.
- Application: You have to apply the truth. This falls short as you are trying and failing on your own. With whom do you apply the truth?
- Interaction: You have to do the truth with other people. People who will encourage you. Who will correct you. Who will share their wisdom and experience with you. Who will pray for you. Who will be there for you.
This is why we focus on community, because we believe in loving people more, because life change happens best in small groups. That is why the model of Jesus for community was a small group. And He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach. (Mark 3:14)
Jesus spoke to crowds, but when he was trying to produce dedicated disciples, He gathered a small group to grow people in God’s grace.
That is why the model of the early church for community was a small group, "And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." Acts 5:42
In the New Testament, the church met in small communities to minister to one another, use their gifts, and learn how to be dedicated disciples. That is why the model for us at Grace for community is the small group, where we can actually do the New Testament with each other. The cost of not doing community — of isolating ourselves and becoming Christian consumers and spiritual sideliners — is too high.
