WHAT IT TAKES FOR A LOCAL CHURCH TO BE A COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS

OUR COMMUNITY

And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
Acts 2:44

The local church is called by Christ and His Word to be a community. A community of believers is where people are known, needs are shared, prayers are offered, victories are celebrated and losses are comforted. This takes time, trust, humility, and commitment, to develop. Many experts, such as Phil Cooke and Jonathan Bock, are deeply concerned that the community within local churches has disintegrated so low that it is now in jeopardy! Their new book, The Way Back, makes a strong case that churches have lost their sense of community which has led to a loss of attraction to those in the world looking for soul healing. They state that when the average American church goer now only attends their local church less than 3 Sundays in every 8, the church’s ability to foster its community is rendered near impossible – and worse still, its collective witness is undermined. Rod Dreher makes a similar point in his book, The Benedict Option. But it’s not too late for us here to maintain and build our church’s sense of community. Here’s why.

A PLACE OF LOVE      

¶ Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
Acts 4:32

None of us go to church on Sunday because we are the church. The former is a consumer mentality, the latter is a Biblical mentality. Each Sunday our church comes together. To maintain and build our sense of community as a church requires work, sacrifice, and commitment. This is why parents have a duty to model to their children what being a member of a church community is all about. Children should see the times when their parents are sacrificing in order to come together as the church with their church community. We live in such an individualistic culture that is built around ‘my’ happiness and what ‘I’ want. But God’s design for people is for them to become a part of a church which is an ‘us’ culture where our focus is beyond ourselves rather than on ourselves. 

In the world love is thought of as what brings me pleasure, but in the Kingdom of God love is what brings others their highest good. The kind of community we are called by God to be and become is a community where we learn to love each other. 

SUNDAY IS FAMILY DAY!

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Galatians 6:10

Your church community is your family. Parents bring their children to church each Sunday to demonstrate to their children that their family is much bigger than just their nuclear family. Thus, when their children one day move out of home and possibly even relocate to another city, they will have a Biblical truth planted deep in their soul: that the local church is also my family wherever I am!

Because Sunday is family day as a church, we intentionally do those things which strengthen our community bonds. We worship together. We pray together. We give our attention to God’s Word together. We share conversation together. We share our burdens together. We listen to one another. We confess to one another.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
James 5:16

NOT JUST A SUNDAY COMMUNITY

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
Acts 2:46

A church community is just maintained and built on our Sunday gatherings. We are an Acts 2 church. This doesn’t mean that we are trying to be either nostalgic (dwelling on the past) or romantic (idealising the past), rather, we observe that from the outset of the Church’s establishment by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost that there were principles upon which the Church was founded and then built upon. These are most obvious in Acts 2. It is here that we see the Church met in the Temple precinct and in homes. The larger attractional gathering plus the more intimate home meetings were the key environments for fostering the church’s community. This is why our small group meetings held in homes around our Valley are so pivotal to us developing our bonds of community. This too requires work, sacrifice, and commitment. The Home Group that I lead is comprised of busy (and often tired) people. We share together, occasionally cry together, laugh together, eat and drink together, pray together, confess to each other, and ponder God’s Word together.

I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
John 17:23

We are being very intentional about developing our church community. This is why each of our Home Groups have been undertaking a study of Romans 12:9-21. It’s why each of the Home Group leaders meet together every month for breakfast. It’s why we roster each of our Home Groups on a particular Sunday to work together to show hospitality to the broader church family. It’s why we need everyone on board with this mission to be a covenant community of believers. 

Pastor Andrew

Leaders Are Like Windows

Kim and I rarely fight over anything. The only possible exception to this delightful fact is how we feel about windows. Kim loves to look out through them and see what’s happening outside. Everyone knows that she is very much an outdoors girl. I, on the other hand, like how curtains and blinds give a certain degree of privacy from outside peering eyes. Kim loves how the sun-light radiates warmth and lights up the room she’s in. Whereas I find the glare of direct sunlight difficult. It’s not that I don’t like natural light or even the warmth which comes from the sun’s radiance, it’s that I like how curtains and blinds allow me to control it and protect my privacy. This dilemma between unimpeded windows and curtained windows is like the dilemma that leaders have to navigate. There are times when a leader must either be fully transparent, or partly transparent, or very discreet. How we use windows teaches us some important truths about leadership.

Transparency in leadership is being open and honest. Leaders know that this is necessary for authentic leadership and connecting meaningfully with those who lend them their trust. There are times when it is necessary for a leader to have their curtains wide open, so that people can see in. Wisdom is needed to know when. Wisdom is also needed to know with who to do this. 

And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.
Psalm 78:72

Conversely, there are times when a leader must draw the curtains a little. A husband and father understands this kind of leadership at those times when their wife and children need reassurance during times of uncertainly and near overwhelming challenges. Then there are times when it is appropriate to close the curtains and either speak privately or not at all.

¶ Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.
Matthew 14:13

But a leader loses their connection with those called to trust them when their windows are forever curtained. But this is frightening process for many leaders (parents, teachers, employers, captains, home-group leaders, pastors, politicians). It means becoming vulnerable as well as transparent. This always tests levels of insecurity. But without doing it a leader loses their authenticity. Good leaders are able to move those who trust them by their words. Great leaders are able to move those who trust them by who they are known to be by those who trust them. King David was certainly a great leader. He knew who to be transparent and vulnerable with his key trusters. But as Nathan the Prophet could have told you, when David didn’t do this, great damage was done (Second Samuel 12).

Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
Second Samuel 12:9

There are leaders, good leaders, and great leaders. Leaders tend to open their curtains too wide too soon to too many. Great leaders on the other hand open their curtains wide often to One. There is One, the Sovereign Omnipotent Shepherd who is veiled in mystery with Whom we can be totally transparent and open. Many of the Psalms are glimpses into the transparency which leaders gave to their Sovereign Heavenly King of Kings.

Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
Psalm 5:2

Have you opened the curtains to your soul to the One Who sees through them anyway? No matter what challenges, obstacles, difficulties or problems you are facing now, the One Who Sees All sees you and longs for you to open up to Him. In doing so you may discover what I have found that there is great strength imparted simply by being transparent with the Omnipotent Shepherd.

Amen.

Invisibility Versus Transparency

If you are a Nurse, then according to a recent poll, you are most trusted person in Australia!* I get concerned about someone when I hear them say, "Don't you trust me?!" But I get deeply troubled when I hear a Christian say it! I assume that in every Christian's discipleship pathway they were taught about The Fall and its damage upon every human being since then. I assume that those who have been a Christian for a while understand that everyone is subject to a fallen nature which causes us to involuntarily prefer sin and rebellion over righteousness and submission to God, His Word or His delegates. Our universal perspicacity (tendency to shrewdly distort things in our favour) causes us to use passwords on websites and locks on our doors.

"Trust no man", the Psalmist wrote (Psalm 146:3). In fact, no where in Scripture does it require, recommend, or encouragement us to trust another person.

¶ Thus says the LORD:
"Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
Jer. 17:5

This is why accountability and transparency is not an unreasonable requirement of those you interact with.

My understanding of what the Bible says about the universal human condition causes me to willingly submit to the appropriate scrutiny of others about the use of my time, my productivity levels, my key relationships, my use of money, my reliability. "Don't you trust me?" is not something I can honestly remember saying since I came to understand what the Bible states about the human condition (over 30 years ago now). This is not meant to be a boast. It is, in fact, an admission.

Because we are all flawed humans, we can only truly interact with each other on the basis of there being some accountability and appropriate transparency. Those who are closest to me see more of who I truly am - that is, I am more transparent with them. "But doesn't this require trust?" you ask. Yes it does. But I have learned that the Bible requires not that I trust others - but that I be trustworthy.

You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.
Second Timothy 2:2

Trustworthiness is at the heart of the Bible's command to followers of Christ to be 'faithful'. By being faithful we become dependable, reliable, and somewhat predictable - that is: worthy of trust. By being faithful to Christ we become known for being truthful, honest, and God-fearing. This also means that we are happy to be accountable and reasonably transparent, because we have nothing to fear from such scrutiny. This might be why I become a little suspicious when someone asks ('demands') "Don't you trust me?!", because this sounds too much like - I am not accountable to anyone.

There is a craving, though, in every human heart, to trust someone. When we do this with someone who has not earned our trust, we get hurt. But despite our hurts, we still want someone to trust.

¶ Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5

When someone holds you to account, they are doing what is absolutely necessary for you to become trustworthy. If you resent someone checking on your work, you can never become trustworthy. If you are uncomfortable with someone asking where you have been, why you are late, how you managed to lose it, what have you been doing all day, or who you were meeting with today, you are possibly preventing yourself from becoming trustworthy.

In writing to his protegé, the apostle Paul told Timothy to pastor the church at Ephesus by preaching the Word of God (2Tim. 4:2). And what was the main value that preaching the Word of God could deliver to those he was pastoring?

and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 
Second Timothy 3:15-17

God has given the Scriptures to (i) make us wise to receive salvation through Christ; (ii) teach us; (iii) reprove us (reprimand); (iii) correct us; and (iv) train us. Which of these Scriptural functions doesn't involve accountability? And to which of these Scriptural functions can we submit to without becoming increasingly transparent? The follower of Christ who therefore tells everyone to 'mind their business' and 'that is none of your business!' has failed to recognise that following Christ inevitably requires increasing accountability and transparency. But the believer who welcomes the effect of the Word of God in their lives is on a journey toward "completeness" and being "equipped for every good work" (2Tim. 3:17). If you want to be 'complete' and 'equipped', be accountable to the right people.

INVISIBILITY, THE OPPOSITE OF TRANSPARENCY

In the full story of Jack (most often associated with beans and a giant) he comes across an enchanted coat which has the power to make him invisible. F.W.Boreham asks, "How could Jack have conquered the giant; how could he have slain the dragon; how could he have escaped from the ogre's bone-littered dungeon; how could he have rescued the charming princess whom he afterwards married, but for that enchanted garment?" (The Other Side of The HIll, 1930, page 67) Boreham reminds us that Plato first wrote about the use of invisible powers in his book, Republic, where Gyges discovers 'a ring of invisibility' which when placed upon the finger and turned in a certain direction "rendered the wearer totally invisible" (p. 68). H.G. Wells wrote the book, The Invisible Man, who discovered the chemical secret to becoming invisible. If you had the power of invisibility what would you do with it? What if half the world had the power of invisibility - would the world be a better place? F.W. Boreham argues that it would lead to rampant crime and chaos. Invisiblity, it appears, is the opposite to transparency! Yet today there are followers of Christ who are more invisible than they are transparent.

Rom. 3:19 ¶ Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Rom. 14:12 ¶ So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

If you want to enjoy the riches of knowing and following Christ, your journey will be one of increased scrutiny and transparency. Our flesh (our sinful nature) will recoil at such a notion. But our God-given new spirit will rejoice at the opportunity to know Christ better and serve Him more effectively. And as you come up this mountain of intimacy with the Lord (refer to Psalm 15) you will be delighted to find that you will be accompanied by other trustworthy pilgrims who also submit to the accountability that the Scriptures necessarily bring. Thus, rather than having fewer and fewer people to trust, you will discover more and more people that you can trust because they have become trustworthy. As a result, you will become more trustworthy and more Christ-like and therefore a more attractive and persuasive witness for Jesus and His Gospel. The next time you crave invisibility, choose transparency instead.

Ps. Andrew