Quotes About Community

So that the body of Christ may be built up

My panic was about more than being overwhelmed in my responsibilities; it revealed a lack of trust in God. We can't move toward community with one another until we have been drawn into community with God.

This is the ground on which we build all relationships. Every time you are tempted to shun another believer, remember that the Father, Son, and Spirit were torn asunder so that you might be united.

Our personal transformation must be worked out within the family of God. The gospel is not only more clearly perceived and experienced within community; it is the basis for the community!

What you are about to read is a book on relationship that was written in relationship.

Who is God using in your life this way?

What resulted from our collaboration is not just an examination, but an actual example of broken people in broken community experiencing the reconciling grace of God.

God is the only properly functioning community in the universe

True human community only arises out of communion with God

And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

but God wants to bring us to the end of ourselves so that we would see our need for a relationship with him as well as with others.

Genesis 2 is not speaking primarily to Adam's experience of being lonely as much as it is revealing his nature as the person God created him to be. Because God created a communal being—someone designed for relationships—creation is incomplete without a suitable companion.

Though we are to be wise, we are not to fear the world in which God has placed us. Yes, things will get messy. But if you are humbled by the messiness of sin in your own life, yet confident in God's grace to change you, you will not be afraid to get close to other sinners who need that same grace. God will use the messiness you encounter in others to spur your own growth in the gospel.

So God is not addressing Adam's workload, but rather the fact that he is a social being who lacks a suitable companion.

Jesus was willing to be the forsaken brother so that we could have godly relationships. Jesus was willing to be the crucified King so that our communities would experience peace.

Why bother with other people?

Yet something keeps dragging us back to other people. We know we are less than human when we are all alone.

We live with this tension between self-protective isolation and the dream for meaningful relationships.

You might one day be offered the opportunity to display symbols of loyalty. Make sure that such symbols include your fellow citizens rather than exclude them.

In the most dangerous of times, those who escape and survive generally know people whom they can trust. Having old friends is the politics of lost resort. And making new ones is the first step toward change.

Whether the recollection is of fascist Italy in the 1920s, of Nazi Germany of the 1930s, of the Soviet Union during the Great Terror of 1937–38, or of the purges in communist eastern Europe in the 1940s and '50s, people who were living in fear of repression remembered how their neighbors treated them. A smile, a handshake, or a word of greeting—banal gestures in a normal situation—took on great significance.

Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is part of being a citizen and a responsible member of society. It is also a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down social barriers, and understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.

Having old friends is the politics of last resort. And making new ones is the first step toward change.

Like all immorality, eternity politics begins by making an exception for itself. All else in creation might be evil, but I and my group are good, because I am myself and my group is mine.