Where Community and Discipleship Collide

I’ve mentioned on here many times that I grew up in a minister’s home. My dad was a preacher, and we rarely had time in our lives when there weren’t other people around. We were a social family. We always had people over for dinner, and we spent a lot of evenings in the homes of people from the church. When the church doors were open, we were there. I truly grew up in community, and I am definitely not complaining about it. I learned at an early age that life is better when you have a tribe of people around you. Everything is easier. When hardships hit, you have people who come around you for support. When success and victories happen, you have people to celebrate with. When you need listening ears, they are readily available.

I’m of the belief that this is how God intended for our lives to be. He never wanted us to try to take on the world by ourselves. He never desired for us to deal with loneliness. His hope for us has always been “community”. When He created Adam, He realized that it wasn’t good for him to be alone, and He created Eve. Even from the beginning, God wasn’t alone. Reading in Genesis 1, we see where God uses the word “us” as he was creating man.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
Genesis 1:26

Even God Himself valued community. He created us to be with Him. Our ultimate goal as Christians is to be together with God and all our brothers and sisters in Christ for eternity. To try to live this life alone is practically madness, because it’s NOT what we were created for. We were meant to live, love, and learn together… not as a hermit in some cave in a remote area where no one will find us. When the Church was started, it didn’t grow because of personal Bible study and time spent in solitude. It was the exact opposite. It was people living in authentic community.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42–47

There is so much to glean from this passage. First off, we see what they were devoted to: the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, eating meals together, and prayer. None of these were done alone. They would gather to listen to these teachings from men who lived and traveled with Jesus. They spent intentional time together and joined in meals. They prayed with and for each other. When they saw the needs of others, they would sell their possessions in order to meet those needs. They attended Temple worship together. What was the result? The Church grew!

When we take a step back and think about it, it really makes sense. People are longing for belonging. When we isolate and hide from others, the outcome is rarely good. According to the CDC, social isolation and loneliness can increase a person’s risk for heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression and anxiety, suicide and self-harm, dementia, and potentially, an early death. Currently, about 52% of Americans feel lonely, and 47% say their relationships lack meaning. What’s startling is that over 80% of young people under 18 feel lonely. The false community that the internet provides is also a contributing factor to the overwhelming sense of loneliness that many feel. According to the AMA Journal of Ethics, studies have shown that greater internet use was associated with a decline in participants’ communication with family members, a decrease in their social circle, and an increase in depression and loneliness. This is not what we were created for.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 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.
Hebrews 10:24-25

We are supposed to lift each other up, encourage each other, and make sure that we meet together.  These things cannot be done in isolation. Simply messaging or “DMing” each other is not community as God designed it. He created us to live around and with each other. Physical presence is so important in the life of a disciple.

Jesus’ disciples didn’t look at Him from afar or hear of His amazing miracles from others. They were right there with Him. They walked with Him. They sat at His feet as He taught. They experienced, first-hand, His awesome power, compassion, and love for His Father. Just simply hearing about it wouldn’t have been the same. Physical presence was necessary. Jesus modeled this for us. This is the place where community and discipleship collide.

Throughout the early Church, we read about how they lifted each other up. We see the love that they had for one another. They shared, prayed, learned, and sacrificed of themselves together. Because of this, the Church of Jesus Christ became the fastest-growing faith in the world. The hope, only found in Christ, was made evident by the way Christians loved each other. Do you want to know one of the best ways to grow in your faith? Live life with other believers.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:5–7

To truly walk in the light of Jesus Christ and live as the kind of disciple that He longs for us to be, we MUST walk together.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:9–12

This week, make the effort to make the time to be with others. If you are struggling, the worst thing you can do is isolate. Instead of running FROM others, run TO them. Disciples of Christ need each other. It’s been His plan from the beginning, and the Church is always at its best when the Church lives in community. When the Church is at its best, we all benefit, and we make Heaven just a little more crowded.