Communityنموونە

Day 1: God’s Design

“It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Genesis 2:18 NIV

I went through a season of commuting back and forth from Bentonville, AR to Tulsa, OK last Fall, and I loved to take the scenic back roads on my journey. Every time I made the trip, a particular sign captured my attention. “Springtown POP 87”. When we moved to Bentonville, and the population sign said 35,301, my wife thought we had moved to the sticks. Then, I saw this sign of a town in America with a population of 87 people. That was smaller than the capacity of the sanctuary of my small old church, which held 300. I imagined someone going out to the sign with a white marker every time a baby was born, or someone died. It said something very deep to my spirit about the importance of Community. The place where people live is particularly important to them, a source of pride and identity. Seeing this small town’s population sign reminded me that everyone counts.

God designed this. He produced the idea of community. First, He created marriage, then family, lineage, tribes, and cities. From the very beginning, God said, “Let us make man in our own image, in our likeness…” Genesis 1:26.When God used the plural noun, He was talking about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Just as God exists in community, He created us to live with others. Throughout the Old Testament, we see God calling people to Himself and to each other. Amid human strife and conflict, people banded together for common causes and drew strength from one another. At key points, God’s leaders like Moses, Isaiah, Nehemiah, Ezra, and Samuel would gather the people together for worship, for repentance, for encouragement, for purpose. Then, when God came to mankind as Jesus and began His ministry, he started a community of believers with 12 men.

After Jesus departed, the Church was birthed, and it was lived out in Community. I have always loved the description of the early Church in Acts 2:42-47:

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Community was written into our DNA by God. Just look at the social media phenomenon, and you will see a craving for community. We like to be connected to other people and be a part of their lives. Churches across this country and world recognize the importance of Community. That’s why “community groups” are promoted at nearly every church. God has something incredibly special for us within Christian community, much like the beautiful scene painted above. This week, we will explore the blessing of this thing called Community.