What do you think of when you think of your community? Is it where you live, your school, a sports club or music group, or a group of colleagues? Are these communities different to our church community – or should they be?
Often in our society, we think about community in terms of what we can get out of it. Even if we love the idea of community, or have a collective goal, there might be too many things we’re not willing to sacrifice. Sometimes our ideas of what community should be like can make others feel pressure to conform and create ‘outsiders’ and ‘insiders.’ This can even happen in the church.
God has a different idea of community: it’s not something that we love, or a goal we want to achieve together, but a community based on God’s love for us.
