Quotes about Community

Yet weakness—or neediness—is a valuable asset in God's community. Jesus introduced a new era in which weakness is the new strength. Anything that reminds us that we are dependent on God and other people is a good thing. Otherwise, we trick ourselves into thinking that we are self-sufficient, and arrogance is sure to follow. We need help, and God has given us his Spirit and each other to provide it.

What is most important is that you look away from yourself to the true God. No matter who you are or where you are from, you will be able to know him and worship him. And when you worship him, it means you are accepted into his presence.

What is shame? God identifies it. God experienced it. You are not alone.

Here is a community goal: to be able to identify one pattern of sin in our lives.

The visitor (what Scripture calls the "foreigner" or "alien") comes first. The visitor who returns comes next. The less popular, the introverts, the marginalized, or those sitting alone come next. Then come the children. Jesus singles them out as examples of the marginalized. "Hi, _______" is offered to as many people as possible, which doesn't have to be accompanied by a hug or a handshake.

Knowing and being known—by design we enjoy human connections, and those connections are forged over time through normal interactions and questions that gradually ask for more. Such connections are the foundations for mutual help, and they are helpful in themselves since they are expressions of love.

You can probably identify your friends' gifts rather quickly

When we recount with our community God's answers to our prayers, we are laying spiritual monuments that we hope will have more endurance than mere stones.

Need theories can thrive only in a context where the emphasis is on the individual rather than the community and where consumption is a way of life.

Need theories can thrive only in a context where the emphasis is on the individual rather than the community and where consumption is a way of life.

Worship often takes our attention off ourselves completely. It isn't necessary to relate our worship of God to what he has done for us. God is great and worthy of our worship regardless of what he has done for us! Yet, having blessed the name of the Lord together, it strengthens our faith to remember what God has done for us, and also to hear what God is doing in other people.

Imagine how aloneness could gradually be banished.