Been Thinking about... Building Community Life

This past week, I received my quarterly PBU (Philadelphia Biblical University) publication. I have fond memories of my time there and give thanks for the impact that experience had upon my life over my four years there.

In this most recent issue, they took time to speak into how they have sought to build authentic community life amongst all the participants of the institution (students and staff alike). Although it is an institution of higher learning, the need for authentic Biblical community was also important especially as their on campus students grew. With that context set, here are just a few of the items I've been thinking about as it relates to church ministry...

How can we continue to develop and implement something along the lines of a Community Life Covenant? There is little doubt that the Bible states very clearly that we as Christ followers have certain Biblical obligations towards one another. So how do we make sure we have a discipleship process that moves people towards the commitments the Bible asks for? Membership must be more than just people receiving benefits. It must include people fulfilling Biblical obligations to one another and the Lord not out of compulsion but out of a genuine desire to fulfill God's call within His word to practice/live out the one another's of Scripture.

At PBU when they were putting together their calendar of events, they challenged the students to "BE A PART OF IT." I like that! Like it or not, those who are genuine followers of Christ belong to the Body of Christ. We are a part of it whether we like it or not, so we should be committed to doing our part as a part of the larger whole.

Here was a great quote that I think translates into the church. "Design community life that takes what is being taught and provide opportunities to live it out." It's one of the things I love about our Pastor of Connections here at Grace. He takes that call seriously and is seeking to equip small groups to live it out in genuine Biblical community. But it also speaks again to a leaderships need to equip/disciple Christ followers towards this ultimate goal which means great intentionality must be given to what is being taught.

That's what I've been thinking about...