What is community?

Todd asks: What is community? OK webster, now how does it relate to a local group of believers?

Thad says: I've been in this passage quite a bit lately.... While browsing through some different versions (no offense to the KJV only crowd), I came across the NLT which uses the word community right in the heading:

Act2:42-47

The Believers Form a Community

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

So can the church in todays society still accomplish that type of community? How or why not?

Pastor Mike writes: The Acts 2 passage is the quintessential passage about church community. It totally nails the issues that are important to the Biblical function of church.

a. teaching/education
b. prayer (I assume for each other)
c. caring for physical needs
d. fellowship
e. eating meals together
f. communion (?)
g. signs and wonders by the apostles
h. praising God in a sense of awe

This list is highly descriptive but is not exhaustive. There are some things, like structure of leadership, that emerge later, that are not a-Biblical. The dispersion of the church into all the world is not a bad thing. We probably could discuss (in another post) the issues of cessationalism here too, but I don't think that the sign gifts are the only way to be in a true community.

Certainly all of these activities, which describe community activity, CAN be accomplished today. However, the practice of selling all things and having them in common doesn't seem to be carried on in the later development of the church. Nor does the apostleship with its signs and wonders. Remember when trying to emulate a Biblical model to consider the transitional, descriptive (not prescriptive) quality of the book of Acts. For example, does the daily meeting in homes have to happen in order to be Biblical? I'm not sure that it does. I am also not sure that house churches are the better answer. So we can conclude that the church community today might look a little different than the Acts 2 community (if nothing else, we have Starbuck's and Timmy Ho's).

Check out those def's again on the hotlink. Many of them can be applied directly to what we are doing. We call it "church". We ought to be a group of people joined together around a common purpose or calling/vocation (professional, full-time testifiers). We may want to wander over to the book of 1 John to talk about "fellowship". I believe that fellowship is the bosom friend of community.