Christian Community: God's Great Gift of Mercy

WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD WHO SERVE AND CARE FOR EACH OTHER AS FAMILY

The Gospel shapes a new community as those who were formerly God’s enemies are reconciled to Him (Rom 5:10) and adopted into his family (Gal 4:4-7). When we repent and believe the gospel, God’s wrath is absorbed in Jesus and we become brothers and sisters in God’s family. The strength and depth of our relationships is a living picture of the power of the gospel.

As family, we prefer one another and sacrifice for one another. We enjoy being together. We disciple, nurture, and hold one another accountable. We live in ways that preserve the honor of our Father’s good name (Matt 6:9). And we feel love and kinship toward those alienated from God, longing for them to be reconciled to our Father who created them in his image and likeness (Genesis 1:27).

WHY COMMUNITY GROUPS

Simply said, as your pastors, we want to see Community Groups become what God intended them to be; namely, places of refuge, sharpening, encouragement, growth, and opportunity for Christ to transform his people and ready his bride for the day of his return. This kind of koinonia community in the life of the church, coupled with the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers, provides a Gospel-centered lifestyle that glorifies God and blesses his people.

Here is a short list of reasons why your pastors plead with you to become an active member of a Community Group:

• We desire to see lives transformed by the person and the work of Jesus Christ. 
• We desire to see people figure out and then live into their spiritual gifts.
• We desire to see the Gospel in motion in the life of every member of the RSBC body.
• We desire to see people choose to weep with one another and rejoice with one another.
• We desire to see God sharpen us as he presents us with opportunities to live selflessly in community with one another; as we are given tangible ways to take what we learn on Sunday mornings and apply it to the regular rhythm of our lives.
• We desire to see people placing the needs of others above their own, as they choose selflessness over selfishness.
• We desire to see leaders raised within the RSBC body and opportunities given to these leaders to sharpen their leadership skills within Community groups.
• We desire to see neighborhoods and cities transformed by the intentional efforts of Community Groups who see the needs around them and work together to use these opportunities as avenues to share the love and Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• We desire to see hurting families restored as the church chooses to offer help, support, encouragement, wisdom, and truth to one another; often times at our own expense.
• We desire to see spiritual warfare fought together, as we remind one another that the battle for holiness was never intended to be waged alone.
• We desire to see those who have been wounded by the world, who are afraid to ever open up or make themselves vulnerable to others again, set free by the love and grace and supernatural power found in the unity of the Holy Spirit!

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IS GOD'S GIFT TO THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD

This is the kind of community that we were created for. This is the kind of community that God, in his infinite mercy, has gifted to the Church. This is the kind of community that the world craves, even though they don’t know they crave it. This is the kind of community that will transform lives and offer hope to the hopeless. This is the kind of community that shouts JESUS! and points people (both inside and outside of the church) to the pleasure and joy that God has offered to us, in Christ.

Are we willing to live into this kind of Community? Are we willing to surrender and walk into intimacy with fellow believers, trusting that God is good and he is faithful? Are we willing to fight for Christian Community in our own hearts and in the choices that we have to make between loving self and loving others?

It is your pastor's prayer that you/your family will be willing to do whatever it takes to live into and preserve at all costs, true Christian Community.


For His Glory,

Pastor Jason