I believe very strongly that we were created for community. We see it throughout Scripture - Adam was incomplete without Eve, families became the center of community, Israel was not simply a nation but a community - within that community there were smaller communities and tribes. They were God's PEOPLE, plural. Salvation is not individualistic, though it involves individuals - it is much more than that. The New Testament images of the church show us that the same is true of us as individuals - or as a community. When we come to place our faith and trust in Christ we are brought into the family of God, we are formed into the temple of God, we are many parts who make up one body of Christ.
We were created for community. It is one of those longings that we all share. It is a need that exists and that God has indeed provided for in the family of believers. I was reminded of that last night when someone told me that they learned that a number of people from New City had gone to the Off Broadway deli for lunch after church. They expressed in all kindness that they wished they had known, because they would love to have joined us. It was one of those things after church that just happened - it wasn't planned - I had no idea who was going to be there. We joined some of my out of town family there. Still, the words pierced my heart - not because I had done something wrong, but because I had not done something right! I had not encouraged our people to ask a stranger to join them for lunch - to open their sphere of friends and relationships and be conscious of who was around them. It is the desire of my heart that New City Church be a community of believers - that will take intentional effort. Effort on my part to teach it, to model it, to teach it some more and some more and to model it again and again. It will take an intentional effort on everyone's part - but that is what living the gospel in community means! It means being intentional. It means opening our hearts, and our eyes, and our friendships, just like Jesus did.
So, my promise is that I will seek to lead in the area of community. My plea, join me in being a community. Invite someone you don't know to join you for lunch - or maybe someone you do know, but haven't spent much time with.
