mission: function

What is Community?

Community is not simply a group of people who get together to build relationships, but at its very heart it is a group of people who are developing relationships for the purpose of encouragement in the faith and for helping one another become mature followers of Christ. Relationships are highly intentional and are encouraged to deal with real issues in life.

Community was a very inherent understanding in the New Testament church. We don't read about the New Testament church being commanded to do most of the things that they did. We simply read that the believers were all together and had everything in common. They sold their stuff and gave to anyone that had need. They met every day in the temple courts, broke bread and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people (Acts 2).They were one in heart and mind and didn't claim anything for themselves, but shared everything they had and sometimes sold their houses or land to help those in need (Acts 4). Their community was very implicit to their faith. While we do not look at the early church of Acts and say that we need to do everything just like they did, we do recognize some fundamental values that we believe are keys to living a life of faith. They seemed to view their faith in the context of a community of believers. If there was a need, it was taken care of by the community. Their learning and worship took place in the context of community. The believers were one in heart and mind. Their relationship to the risen Savior had somehow connected them relationally through the shared belief and hope in the greatest cause. Their faith was not only lived out individually but it was lived out in dependence on the community of faith.

Unfortunately, we live in a culture that is structured around the autonomous self. Need for community is seen as a weakness. Faith in this culture is most often viewed as a private, individual thing between me and God that has nothing to do with other people. Church is no longer a body of people living out a faith journey together as part of the body of Christ, but is a place people attend to get their spiritual fix for the week. If the sermon was good and the music (worship) was good, then church was good. But church is not the building or the people on stage (Pastor, Musicians, etc...); it is the entire congregation of believers. Paul tells us that we (believers) are all members of the body of Christ and that each member belongs to all the others (Rom 12). This is very non-private and non-individualistic. Community is a tool that God uses for His people to grow in Him, and when we try to throw away that tool and say that we don't need it, we are telling God that we have a better way than His plan. That is the state of the majority of the western church today. Community is not a value that we have invented, it is an inherent understanding of New Testament Christianity that has largely been lost and that we are seeking to rediscover in a culture that preaches against it.

 

Why Home Communities?

Community is a value that has been central to Imago Dei from its birth. If you have been a part of Imago Dei for very long you have heard the term used quite often. While we talk about community all the time, we realize that for the most part, we have only truly entered into community as a church in a very small way. As we see the church growing larger and larger we also realize that it has become more difficult to really know people and build deep, spiritual-based relationships. It can be easy to get lost. Home Communities are a very intentional step towards deeper community in the body as a whole. They are a tool and a pathway for people to create and experience community on a greater level.