This video is at once weird and beautiful at the same time. No doubt the music pulls you in emotionally, but there’s something deeper going on here. Could it be that we’re made for human companionship and this kind of unabashed joyful community is what we all long for?
(HT: Randy Alcorn)
Check out Jonathan Dodson’s chapter “Gospel-Centered Accountability” in the new eBook from Covenant Eyes, Internet Pornography: A Leaders Handbook.
Zach Nielsen helps us examine our pride and willingness to live in community by asking how often we say these words, “I’m sorry, will you please forgive me?” This is a good gospel check-up!
When we picture community in the church we usually think about sitting in a safe, comfortable home with our small group laughing and hanging out together. And that’s a good thing. We need that! But I often wonder if real community can only happen when we get off the couch and get into the lives of people and risk something for the gospel.
Alan Hirsch calls this communitas–the next level of community where individuals come together in a common mission that may include suffering and opposition. His thoughts are compelling:
What do you think? Do you agree with Hirsch? Can real community (communitas) happen without moving into the lives of people outside the church?
Dr. Mike Emlet explains how Christian accountability is more than just helping each other refrain from sin, but in a much broader, and more biblical sense, living the one-another’s of Scripture together and thereby pointing one another to Jesus.
Tim Chester provides an excellent tool to assess your church or “gospel community” under these 5 headings: God, Love, Word, Grace, and Mission.
James K.A. Smith:
…in the past couple years I’ve become convinced that perhaps nothing is so important for your walk with the Lord as good friends. I think God gives us good friends as sacraments—means of grace given to us as indices of God’s presence and conduits for our sanctification. While “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Prov. 18:24), that same Friend send us friends to help make his presence tangible and concrete. Nothing continues the incarnation like Christian friendship.
(HT: JT)
Tim Chester, from his excellent book, You Can Change:
Every Sunday in our church we give people the opportunity to talk about what God has been doing in their lives during the past week: answers to prayer, comfort from God’s Word, opportunities for evangelism, help in temptation. In so doing, we reinforce our belief in a God who is alive and active among us.
I think Chester has hit on something huge here. We need to take time to hear each others’ stories so we can grow in grace together. As Scripture says, we grasp the love of Christ “together with all the saints” (Eph. 3:18).
Guest post by: Eric Schumacher
At Reformed Praise, David Ward is half-way through a series of posts on “What the Bible Has to Say About Singing” from Colossians 3:16.
In his third post, David highlights the fact that “Singing is a COMMUNITY Activity.” He writes:
As we sing to one another, encouraging our brothers and sisters in Christ with the precious truths of God’s works and ways, we bring glory to God. He has designed singing as a wonderful way for those who are strong in the gospel to encourage those who are weak as they give witness with their lips and body to the reality and power of what they are singing about. Even as a song leader, I have had many mornings where I was inwardly struggling to believe and appropriate the gospel. God often uses the sound and the posture of the congregation to help get my attention off of myself and my individual spiritual walk and be encouraged at His work amongst our entire congregation.
Read the rest here.
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