Small, Close Knit Christian Communities
Almost 250 times in the New Testament Christians are called “brother,” “sister,” or “brethren.” These Christians were from different cultures, backgrounds, and races. In a single church fellowship there would be men and women; poor and rich; slaves and masters; Jews, Greeks, and Romans. Yet they were “brothers,” “sisters,” and “brethren.” It didn’t matter what their status was in this world because they were related to each other in Jesus Christ: “you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28).
Christians are committed to each other simply because they are Christians! That’s what Christians do because that’s who they are—a body and a family.
“…therefore, I command you, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in this land.” Deuteronomy 15:11
The popular idea of a "personal faith" is not what Christianity is about at all. Certainly, you are individually and personally accountable to God. However, when it comes to thinking about being "one in Christ" you shouldn't be thinking of the "one" as you, but as "one body" of which you are a member in particular (1Co 12:27). That's where the emphasis lies —not on one person, but on one body.
“God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it” (1 Corinthians 12:24-26)
If you read how Christians cared for one another in the New Testament, you’d find how they cared for each others physical needs (Acts 9:36, 39), financial needs (Acts 4:32-35), emotional needs (Romans 12:15), and spiritual needs (Ephesians 4:12).
All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. (Acts 2:44-45)
Our responsibility is to help our brothers and sisters help themselves so they can meet their own needs and become productive members of society.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? (James 2:14-16)
2 Thess. 3:6 But we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who lives an undisciplined life and not according to the tradition you received from us. 3:7 For you know yourselves how you must imitate us, because we did not behave without discipline among you, 3:8 and we did not eat anyone’s food without paying. Instead in toil and drudgery we worked night and day in order not to burden any of you. 3:9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give ourselves as an example for you to imitate.3:10 For even when we were with you we used to give you this command: “If anyone is not willing to work, neither should he eat.” 3:11 For we hear that some among you are living an undisciplined life, not doing their own work but meddling in the work of others.3:12 Now such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and so provide their own food to eat.3:13 But you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing what is right. 3:14 But if anyone does not obey our message through this epistle, take note of him and do not associate closely with him, to put him to shame. 3:15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
It is wonderful how the Amish people help each other. If there is a fire or if a new couple marries, all the other Amish in the community help to build a barn which is for their animals. Everyone works together, and they often build the barn in only a single day. The children help with little jobs and the women prepare a big lunch. They pray and eat and then go back to work. Everyone in the Amish community takes part in the barn raising.
Amish believe, like the early Christians, that the community is at the heart of their life and faith, and live as a close knit loving community made up of friends and family. Members of the community help each other, and the whole community (and sometimes several near by communities) will work together to help a member in trouble. They do not accept state benefits or use insurance, but rely strictly on community support instead, and even join together to pay cash for outside medical treatment for any member of their community when needed.
The Amish do not have retirement homes. The elderly normally live in an apartment in a home of one of their children or in a Grossdawdy Haus, a small adjacent house. In this way, the elderly find meaning and dignity as they assist their adult children. Surrounded by droves of grandchildren, they pass on their knowledge of the wisdom, joys, and benefits of Amish life to the rising generation.
They watch what they spend, learn to save at an early age, and have a network of friends and family to help in emergencies.
When is the last time you saw a homeless Amish person? Never. Why? Because they have a social network in their church that helps provide for members who are having a tough time.
But, in most Christian congregations today, we are quick to raise money to improve housing in other parts of the world but will not do anything to help one of own members whose house is about to be foreclosed on or that is falling apart because they can't afford to fix it. We'll send boxes and boxes of food to feed hungry children in non-Christian countries but turn our heads away when we learn there is a child in our own congregation that often has to go hungry. We'll support a food pantry that feeds homeless people addicted to drugs and/or alcohol and who personally choose not to work, but we won't pick up a phone to check on an elderly brother or sister in our own congregation whom we know to be living on a low-fixed income to see if there is anything they need.
There's nothing wrong with helping others elsewhere, but our first priority should be to members of our own congregation --- our brothers and sisters. "But if anyone doesn’t provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever." 1 Timothy 5:8
Amish values
- Putting God and community ahead of the individual;
- A life of 'goodness' toward their community, rather than a life of personal self-interest;
- Life is a spiritual activity which everyone in the community should share;
- Community welfare, rather than competition;
- Non-resistance - seeking peaceful resolution to conflicts, especially within their own community
There are around 200,000 Amish, who live in more than 20 US states and Ontario, with the largest communities in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana. These Amish are divided into dozens of separate fellowships, broken down into communities or congregations. Each community is fully independent and lives by its own set of unwritten rules.
From the first group of disciples, Christians have been bonding together in small communities made up of family and friends. Jesus, as a Jewish person, found identity in his own personal close knit family and in the spiritual communities of Nazareth and Jerusalem. Then came the 12 disciples. And when Jesus was no longer physically present, his friends immediately formed small communities that eventually spread across the earth.
Edify One Another
"So then let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which we may edify one another" (Rom 14:19). There are many ways we can edify (build each other up):
- FAITH: "Encouraged by one another 's faith --yours and mine" (Rom 1:12).
- ACCEPTANCE: "Be likeminded toward one another ...Accept one another just as Christ accepted you" (Rom 15:5,7).
- ADMONITION: "Full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, that you may be able to admonish one another " (Rom 15:14).
- TARRYING: "When you come together to eat [the Lord's Supper] tarry for one another " (1Co 11:33). The underlying principle here is that its not right to run ahead impatiently, and leave behind those who are lagging.
- SHARING BURDENS: "Bear one another 's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2, 1Co 12:25).
- SINGING: "Teaching and exhorting one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs..." (Eph 5:19, Col 3:16).
- SUBMISSION: "Submit yourselves to one another in the fear of God" (Eph 5:21).
- ESTEEM: "Let each of you esteem one another as more important than himself... Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus" (Php 2:3-5).
- ENCOURAGEMENT: "Comfort [encourage] one another with these words" (1Th 4:18, 1Th 5:11)
- SUPPORT: "Seek what is good for one another and for all men" (1Th 5:15).
- STIMULATING: "Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works" (Heb 10:24).
- PRAYER: "Confess your faults to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed" (Jas 5:16).
- HOSPITALITY: "Use hospitality toward one another without grumbling" (1Pe 4:9)
- GIFTS: "As each one has received a special gift, use it in serving one another " (1Pe 4:10)
Everyone in a Christian community needs encouragement in some way. The elderly may be concerned at changes made by the next generation of Christians. Young people may find difficulty in relating basic gospel teaching to the humanism they encounter in higher education, the ethics of the business world they enter, and the "New Age" beliefs of their friends. And, of course, the poor, the weak, the lonely, the sick, the abandoned, are always with us. They need to be visited with encouragement day after day. It takes everyone to engage in a sufficiency of encouragement in the body of Christ. The term "one another" implies everyone encouraging everyone else.
Relating to Each Other
1. Appreciate those who labor among you "Esteem them very highly in love because of their work" (1Th 5:12-13). Dedication to God's work is a form of holiness.
2. Help the weak "Admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all" (1Th 5:14).
3. Seek one another's good "See that no one repays evil with evil, but always seek everyone's good" (1Th 5:15).
4. Rejoice "Rejoice always"(1Th 5:16). Earthly life is not always joyful, but eternal life is always thus, so even in troubled times we can have inner happiness.
5. Pray "Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Brethren pray for us" (1Th 5:17-18,25). "Without ceasing" means not losing heart, not giving up (Lke 18:1).
6. Respect God's word "Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances... I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brethren" (1Th 5:19-20).
7. Discern good from evil "But examine everything carefully; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil" (1Th 5:21-22). Not all things evil appear evil at first sight. Sometimes evil takes the form or appearance of good, and tries to deceive (2Co 11:14-15).
8. Greet one another "Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss" (1Th 5:26). The emphasis is not on the mode of greeting (a kiss), but the spirit and nature of it. This would apply whether the greeting be a kiss, hug, handshake, or smile.
. Hebrews 10:24 says, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says to, "…encourage one another and build each other up…"
It’s completely contrary to the Word of God for believers in Jesus Christ to delegate the work of ministry to full-time “clergy.” Every single Christian is to do the work of the ministry. Every single member. The pastor’s role isn’t to do the work of the ministry. It’s to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Doubt this? Read Ephesians 4. And, while you’re at it, check out Acts, I and II Timothy, Titus, and I Peter too. Should a pastor do ministry? Of course! But he does so to be an example and as a means of teaching others to do so.
Unfortunately, church leaders often have to pull teeth to get members to step up and be involved. Ten percent of the average church congregation does ninety percent of the work. It shouldn’t be that way.
Some ministries preach and teach about our Savior's charity toward others,.. but its the drive for money and popularity that really moves them. Some people ask for money, for schooling, food, or illness, but yet wont ask Jesus first. Some people ask,, but wont wait on His answer, so they try to step in front of God, and take the matter into their own hands. Some people beg for money, won't work even though their able bodied, instead they prefer to live on welfare. Some people won't lift a finger to help another because they worry that person will use the money in the wrong way.
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"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be open-handed toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." Deuteronomy 15:11 (NIV)
Who cares about the poor? God, for one. And he's pretty serious about it.
The passage from Deuteronomy is just one of many bold declarations of God's concern for the poor found throughout both the Old and New Testaments. John Stapleford, in his book Bulls, Bear and Golden Calves (2009, Intervarsity Press), goes so far as to say, "Other than warnings about idolatry, no other theme receives as much clear attention in Scripture as the obligation of believers to address issues of poverty."
And when God is that serious about something, then those of us who claim to follow him need to take it pretty seriously too. So, for Christians, helping the poor isn't optional, it's who we are.
"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" 1 John 3:17 (NIV)
But it turns out wanting to help the poor is the easy part. The bigger challenge is actually helping the poor.
Helping isn't the same thing as doing "compassionate" stuff that feels good to us. Helping isn't putting in phony fixes that trap people in hopeless situations. And helping certainly isn't hurting the very people we're trying to serve.
So how do we make sure the "help" we give doesn't end up amounting to nothing more than an empty gesture?
History is full of horrific examples of help for the poor gone bad. Chairman Mao's "Great Leap Forward" was supposed to help the Chinese poor attain prosperity, but instead triggered the starvation and deaths of tens of millions. President Johnson's "Great Society" was supposed to help the American poor attain the American Dream, but instead condemned them to generational dependency and despondency. Decades of generous international aid was supposed to help the global poor attain decent living conditions, but instead left many of them helpless and vulnerable, like the people of Haiti and so many Third World neighbors.
When it comes to helping the poor, good intentions are not enough. The poor have paid a hideous price for the misguided efforts of the wealthy and powerful to help them. Too many plans to help the poor have proven to be no better than snake-oil remedies. It's time for Christians to step back from shallow feel-good responses and ask the honest question about helping the poor, "What works and what doesn't?"
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We, the undersigned administrative authority of this community/congregation, have voted to join with _________________ organization to help the needy. We have selected the following persons to serve as our representatives to _______________________.
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We agree to cooperate with _____________________ by promoting its purposes and programs within our own community/congregation and to encourage persons and groups within the community/congregation to support the organization with donations of food, volunteers, and supporting special programs. We understand that this agreement may be cancelled by us at any time upon written notice to the Board of Directors of the organization.
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