Community

Contributor: Andrew Adames

·         Growing up in the city was a real cool thing. I remember the sights, the sounds, and most importantly the people. We had a lot of pride for who we were. We were a community who loved one another. We lived on what was called “blocks”. Blocks were the street that your apartment or house was located on: it was your hood, it was your home. Our block had all kinds of people on it from all over the world. We would share our food, our clothes and our homes with everyone from our block. If someone from our block had visitors that came into town, they become one of us. We were a very tight community.

I remember one day when I was in 3rd grade and I came home from school and I couldn’t find my house key anywhere on me. I knocked and no one was coming to the door. I got real nervous and started to cry. At the same time my neighbor from around the corner was walking by and saw me and took me to his house and I called my dad from his phone and was able to get a hold of my dad. He swung by and picked me up and took me home. We didn’t have to worry about anything crazy happening because we always took care of each other.

Now this community that I was a part of, that was my family all occurred before I came to know Christ.

Now I am not trying to knock the Church or any believers with what I am about to say but the reality is that since I have been in Christ, I haven’t experienced the same type of love and community from the people of the Church.

Sadly I have seen a lot more separation than unity within the Church. Now if that is what I see as a pastor, I cringe when I think of what outsiders who don’t know Christ must see when they see us. In today’s culture I have seen more division and harshness between believers than anything else. With the inventions of social media platforms I have seen these avenues used more for division and gossip than I have for the glory of God.

I can’t even begin to tell you how important it is that we stay united as the body. In 1 Cor 12 Paul calls us the body of Christ. All of us who are in Christ are the body of Christ no matter what denominational background. I have seen us fight and tear one another apart over non-essential matters rather than love one another through our differences. It is vital for us to learn how to love each other through our differences. In the next chapter 1 Cor 13 Paul talks about love and how important love is and how without love we are nothing. I don’t think it's a coincidence that Paul wrote about unity in one chapter and love in the very next. Without unity it is impossible for us to know what love is and vice-versa.
Most recently I witnessed believers bashing one another over political views. Believers bashing each other… It hurts me to even type out that statement. We can’t let small things like our political differences separate us from loving each other. If we truly love Jesus and truly want to follow Him then we must be submissive to one another out of love and be united not only to Christ but also to each other. We can’t claim to be in Christ and not love one another. That’s nonsense right there. In a world with so much pain and suffering that has an end date, it is huge for us as the body of Christ to set the pace for those around us.

I believe in the phrase “speed of the leader, speed of the team.” We are called to be the lights in this dark world and to set the pace of our schools, jobs, churches and communities. The only way that we can win others for Christ is by showing our love for one another and being united.

One of the biggest things that we can do its to stop posting garbage on social media. I use social media to keep in touch with friends and to share some news and fun stuff. I don’t ever post anything that is going to bring someone down I don’t care how anonymous it sounds. If you have a problem with someone go right to them. Don’t be a punk and blow them up online. Be real with them in love. We have to pave the way towards unity by taking off the stuff that ties us up to ourselves and promotes our own agenda.

To this day I will never forget the unity of my block when I was growing up and how much I long to have those relationships within the Church. Imagine communities of believers who have the same mindset that my block did growing up: People who love each other, who open their homes up no matter what, who clothe, feed, and take care of one another. I believe that this is possible for us. Acts shows us in Chapters 2-4 what this image looks like. It’s time for the church to return to this example. Some churches have them and I give them props for that. We need more churches to exemplify that type of unity and love amongst everyone.

Grace and Peace