Community

For many, religious rules are comforting. But the gospel invites us into a radically healthy but utterly paradigm-shifting freedom from old rules and regulations. The church is meant to be the beating heart, the epicenter, of that message of freedom.

It’s understandable that today many have jaded views of the church. As we imagine the future of our church, what can we learn from the earliest days of the church? It was refreshingly dynamic, characterized by personal transformation, vital community, authentic spirituality, radical generosity, and contagious hospitality.

There are many ways to feel lonely—sometimes by ourselves and sometimes with others. The story of scripture honors both the dignity of solitude and the powerful purpose found in community.

Our “character,” meaning our integrity and personhood, exists because we are created in the image of God; through His redeeming work on our behalf, our characters can be transformed to reflect His.

Paul’s only strictly personal letter, Philemon, tells us about not only his heart for justice, but also the gospel’s heart for justice. Our faith must arc, like the Bible itself, ever toward a more radical ethic of freedom and love for the other.

Faith is found at an intersection where we learn to set aside our sometimes hypocritical performances of self and embrace our true selves—more broken than we like to admit but more loved than we could ever imagine.