Why community
is not an institution
Worship is not an appointment at the weekend, but a relationship with God and with people that shapes the whole week.
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.”
— Galatians 6:2
The most important commandment, Jesus says, is to love God with all your heart – and your neighbour as yourself. Anyone who embarks on a life with God will therefore sooner or later face the question of community and commitment. We are not only made for fellowship with God, but also for one another.
Reading the New Testament, you see how naturally the first Christians shared their lives with one another: time, possessions, joy and burdens. Faith was not limited to an event, but became visible in relationships.
We have been trying to live this living process since the beginnings of Friends of Jesus. There have always been challenges, different seasons of life and things that need to be learned again. Nevertheless, to this day we experience how much strength there is when people do not only attend services together, but are truly there for one another.
Especially in a Western world where individualism is highly valued, this challenges us. In other cultures we often see how naturally family, friendship and mutual responsibility are part of life. This keeps confronting us with an honest question: how committed do we want to be in our relationships with others – especially within the church?
The church first becomes visible not where people sit next to each other, but where they are there for one another.
Not a commune – but closeness that has grown
We are not a commune, that is, not a residential community with a shared household. But over the years, living close to each other has helped us to live church quite naturally in everyday life.
Today around 40 people who belong to our church – children included – live within walking distance of each other. Some others live only five to ten minutes away by car.
What matters to us is this: nobody has to live close by in order to be a committed part of our church. Everyone fully belongs. Living nearby is not a spiritual standard – it simply makes some things easier.
Relationship rather than performance
Community itself can become an ideal that creates pressure. We have experienced this too over the past decades.
That is why this matters to us: community does not first come about by working together a lot or attending as many meetings as possible. It begins with the free decision to invest in relationships, to spend time together, to be honest and sometimes vulnerable, and to let friendships grow.
When community does not come from pressure but is allowed to grow, it does not become a burden, but a source of joy and strength.
Nobody should lose their personality or independence in the process. The New Testament describes the church as a house of living stones: each stone has its own place and its own significance – and at the same time the house only comes into being as the stones are joined together and with Jesus as the cornerstone (1 Peter 2:4–7).
In relationships like these, people are seen. We learn from one another, rub up against one another, carry one another, are challenged and share joy together. In this way the separation between “spiritual church life” and normal everyday life can increasingly disappear.
What this means
in practice
For us, community usually shows itself not in big programmes but in quite ordinary things.
We spend time together during the week too: we eat together, play, talk and pray. The children of the church often simply meet up to play. When someone goes shopping, they bring something back for someone else. Things are lent or shared – just like cars, tools or whatever else is needed at the moment.
When practical help is needed, we try to be there for one another: lending a hand somewhere, giving someone a lift, repairing something, looking after children or simply giving time. And we do not want to keep our doors open only for one another. People who do not know anyone here yet, or who need help right now, should also be easily welcome.
Of course this does not always work equally well. Depending on personality, season of life and background, community costs some more than others. And we are still learning to this day.
But it is precisely in the small, unspectacular things that we experience again and again:
We are not only made for God – we are also made for one another.
In this way church becomes less a place you go to, and more a life you share with one another.
If you would like to know what this looks like or how you can get connected, just talk to us.
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