Introduction
To understand true community, Bridges
starts with the Greek word “koinonia”, which usually translated as “fellowship”.
In his book, Bridges attempts to portrait three aspects of a Biblical community
using this word “koinonia” – a vertical “koinonia” (relationship) with God, a
horizontal “koinonia” (fellowship) with believers, and a strong “koinonia” (witness)
to the world.
What Is True Community?
The purpose of a true community
is to glorify God. Bridges points out that a true Christian fellowship
(koinonia) is not a Christian social activity, but a spiritual relationship with
God and with others, fulfilled only in a true community described in Acts 2:42.
Believers, through their relationships with God by faith in Jesus Christ, share
their lives together in an “abiding-in-Christ” way[1]
and in doing things together with the objective of glorifying God.
How Do We Get There?
A true community begins with a
vertical fellowship with God which is both objective (based on truth) and
experiential (devotional intimacy). Bridges claims that “without a strong relationship
with God, there can be no spiritual relationship with one another.”[2]
A strong relationship requires a full devotion to God with all our hears, minds
and souls, just as what Dallas Willard described - “it is like the needle of
the compass returns to the North Pole when removed from nearer magnetic
sources.”[3]
In a true spiritual community, believers share Biblical truth
fervently, pray together, and enjoy the partnership in giving and sharing of the
Gospel.
The Four Challenges
First challenge in a true
community is to discover our functions in the body of Christ. God first “assigns
to each of us a function in the body of Christ, and He equips each of us to
fulfill that function.”[4]
This equipping is called a “gift”. Each of us finds a function in a true
community and God will give us a gift to perform that function to help others. Second
challenge is to enjoy the sharing of possessions with those in need, including missionaries.
He encourages us to think of sharing, not as a financial donor, but as a business
partner in their sharing of the Gospel, which leads to the final two challenges:
the fellowship of suffering (suffering physically and spiritually with
missionaries) and the fellowship of serving (laboring with missionaries).
Summary
We cannot grow to spiritual maturity alone, we must exercise the spirit of sharing – sharing our knowledge of and experience with God, sharing our lives, sharing our meals, and sharing our prayers, so we can experience God’s works among us. A true community requires everyone to put his or her heart on God and on each other for the good of others, which brings glory to God and gives unbelievers a good testimony of what Kingdo
[1]
Bridges, Jerry, True Community: The
Biblical Practice of Koinonia (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2012), 29.
[2]
Bridges, Jerry, True Community: The
Biblical Practice of Koinonia (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2012), 19.
[3]
Bridges, Jerry, True Community: The
Biblical Practice of Koinonia (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2012), 37.
[4]
Bridges, Jerry, True Community: The
Biblical Practice of Koinonia (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2012), 86.