One of the most significant things that the Holy Spirit does in regeneration is to unite sinners to Christ. This union is spiritual and internal – unlike the covenant bond that once existed between Adam and God, it can never be broken.
Authentic Christian community is rich and organic, capable of many forms of unity that honor the Lord. Such communities also support each other in the hard times.
The Power of a community for jesus
Christian community is a powerful witness to the world. It shows that God has a way to live life, free from separation and brokenness. It demonstrates that true power is found not in the exercise of force or wealth but in self-giving love and service to others. It illustrates that the kingdom of God is not a political or economic order but a spiritual one that is founded on peace and love.
In the Gospels, we see the value of Christian community modeled by Jesus himself. He surrounded himself with disciples, and he sent them out as his representatives to proclaim the good news of God’s Kingdom. He also taught them how to serve the needs of the people around them, and he commanded them to care for those who were sick or impoverished or hungry. He told them to be a blessing to the poor and the stranger in their land, as he himself had been.
As believers gather together in community, they help each other grow closer to Christ. They teach each other about the Bible, share life stories, and support each other through difficult times. They provide true friendship and challenge each other to be more like Jesus. Community groups often include the study and discussion of the Scriptures, but they often go beyond this to include prayer. Throughout the Bible, we see how the power of community-based prayer can bring about significant change.
For example, the early church in Acts 4:31 gathered together after Peter and John had been arrested and released to pray. They asked God to give them boldness to continue to preach the word, and He answered their prayers. This is just one of many examples that show how important community-based discipleship is.
If you are not part of a community for Jesus, then you should consider joining one. The Lord is calling us to recover the power of community in evangelism, so we can take hold of it and use it for his glory. Look around you – in your home, school, work, civic club, or even on the golf course – and find those who want to live by the words of Psalm 15. They need your help.
The Power of a Community of Faith
It is clear throughout Scripture that the Holy Spirit bestows shared life on individuals and communities. There are stories in the Old Testament of the ruach enlivening certain people, and in the New Testament we see Jesus’ disciples sharing a fellowship in which everything was shared and their community witnessing to the lordship of Christ through ethical action.
As a result, the Uniting Church is committed to visible – and structural as well as spiritual – unity. This is reflected in our commitment to ecumenical communion, recalling the ecumenical councils of the past.
A key element of this commitment is to oppose marginalization in church and society based on race, age, gender, class, forms of disability and sexual orientation. We are also committed to the development of a theologically sound doctrine that supports these values.
In order to do this we need to develop a theologically robust and genuinely biblical understanding of what it means to be a Christian community. We need to understand the nature of true Christian community, and we need to build it in our churches.
One way we do this is by forming Small Groups (often referred to as Lifegroups’). These groups meet regularly to share life together, support and encourage each other in their spiritual journey, and to pray for each other and our world. They also provide opportunities for social action – such as feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and homeless, caring for the earth.
Our Small Groups have a wide range of backgrounds and faith traditions. This allows us to draw on a range of learning styles, which helps create a diverse and vibrant community of believers. We believe that all members of our community are called to be a witness of God’s love and grace, even those with whom we have significant differences.
As a result, we welcome members from all traditions and denominations. Membership is open to anyone who professes a belief in Christ and has been baptized. Our Membership policy explains the process of joining our church and our expectations for Members.
The Power of a Community of Prayer
In the church, prayer is our most intimate form of communion with God. It is our way of entering into the throne room of grace and asking for the things that we need. It is our way of connecting with God’s power to heal, to cleanse, to bless, and to restore. It is our way of entering into the power that brought down the walls of the temple in Jerusalem, opened the Red Sea for Moses and his people, healed the sick, and cast out demons in Jesus’ name.
When we pray, we are entering into a relationship with God in which we are made more like him. That is why the Uniting Church has a strong commitment to prayer. We believe that prayer has the power to change our lives and the world.
We also believe that prayer has the power to bring us together and build community. There is so much division, conflict and violence, inequity and injustice that exists around the world. Too often it is motivated by religion, or perpetrated in the name of religion. The Uniting Church is committed to advocating for justice for all.
The church must always be willing to listen to and learn from others. This is particularly true when it comes to the faith of our sisters and brothers. This is why the Uniting Church has a long history of supporting and encouraging the work of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The WCC has nurtured our shared faith by providing a forum for discussion and debate and allowing space for different interpretations of Scripture to be presented and considered.
The WCC has also served as a reference point for our work towards visible -that is, structural as well as spiritual – unity. This was a particular priority of the United and Uniting Churches as they moved toward union. It is a commitment that has continued to this day. It is a commitment that the UCA has inherited from its predecessor churches. This is evident in its continued support for the WCC’s Faith and Order Commission.
The Power of a Community of Love
The community that Jesus calls us to is one of love. He identifies himself with ordinary people – fishermen and tax collectors, the widowed and the elderly, the sick and those on the margins of society. We are called to be a community of love that seeks to understand and share the pain of others and rejoices with those who celebrate life’s triumphs.
This community is based on the fact that we are all God’s children and that our baptism unites us to Christ, and to each other as members of his body. It is a community that recognizes the value of every human being and that the gifts and talents which each person has to offer belong to the whole church. It is a community that supports those who are suffering and those who have been made vulnerable by the effects of sin and death.
It is a community of people who, by living their faith together, become the light of the world (Matthew 5:16). The presence of Christians in the world should be a beacon of hope that gives comfort to the oppressed, that gives courage to those facing difficult decisions and gives strength to those who are in a period of trial.
Churches Uniting in Christ are committed to working together for the common good, and they strive for unity in the Lord’s Supper and in other sacred activities. Their work for unity is a continuous and urgent task. This unity is a supernatural bond that exists on two levels: at the level of being in that all participants have the gift of faith; and at the level of conviction in that they accept part, though not all, of the objective Christian revelation.
This organic unity can be rich and diverse and is capable of many different ways of being expressed in worship, leadership structures and the verbal expression of beliefs. In this way it is able to accommodate the particular values of different ages and cultures. But at the heart of this unity is a commitment to Jesus as the Word of God, the Son of God who has revealed and accepted God’s will for all creation and who is the source of our own response of trust, obedience and service.