Building
community 1
(Romans 15:7; 12:9-17)
Church ought to be a place of belonging as well as believing – this is Paul’s argument in the second half of Romans (12-16). Those who believe in Jesus belong to God’s new community. So what does that look like?
1) Hospitality
Open hearts lead to open homes. What does ‘welcome’ mean? (15:7): the context here points to an answer. In Rome there were a number of house churches with 30 or so in each, some composed mainly of Jews, others of Gentiles, some of mainly slaves but all having people of different classes and backgrounds in them (see Romans 16).
i) Attitudes: what it means to welcome all (15:7) is spelled out in 14:1, 3f, 9 (it’s particularly well rendered in the Message). We are all different: our temperaments, our needs, our understanding of the faith and its practice differ: so we need to accept, welcome, honour and even (maybe especially) learn from one another.
And notice here (this is so important) that church is about belonging to one another not the ministers and leaders! No mention of them in Romans 15:7. Ministers are part of the community with responsibilities to teach and lead. Everyone in the community is responsible for welcoming and caring for everyone else. This is what Baptists have always meant by the ‘priesthood of all believers’.
ii) Actions: all this vitally affects how we do church: we need to think about our involvement. There’ll be things we join in with and things we don’t: and that’s ok!!
For instance, our monthly café-style church – some do and some don’t. Families don’t do everything together but they are still families when they are dong different things.
It’s really important to recognise that there are limits to our sense of belonging: our relational space – that is the room we have to make and nurture friendships – is not inexhaustible; we can’t be buddies with everyone! So we need to read Paul’s words in the context they in which they were written – groups of 30 not 400! This is why small groups within the larger group of our church are so important.
2) Hearing each other’s story
Each week, it’s good to talk to someone you don’t know; ask
them something like: ‘tell me a bit about yourself’; This is Romans 15:7 in
action and as we do it, so we’ll grow to do what Paul spells out in Romans 12:10,
13, 16 with increasing numbers of people. And in this way, we’ll play our part
in building the community here at
3) Holding one another
Being a community is more than just sharing the same space with one another. It’s about watching over one another in love. God’s aim is for relationships among his people to develop and deepen over time. This happens as we:
i) Praise: (9-10): God is creating a people from all nations, relating to him and each other and our corporate spiritual life vital part of this – it makes 12:11 possible! So meeting to pray, worship and learn together is vital for building community
ii) Practical help: 12:12 flows out of singing together or our singing is a sham: community is 24/7 not just for an hour on Sunday morning.
So, we belong to one another: let’s rejoice and work with God to build up our community.
Possible areas
for discussion
Think about the word ‘belonging’ – what does it mean to belong? How does it feel? Where do I experience it? Share your thoughts; try to build up a picture of what the word means.
What is it about our church that gives you a sense of belonging?
What do we understand by the word ‘hospitality’? How have we experienced it lately? How have we offered it?
Do I find it easy to talk to new people? People who are like me? People who are different from me?
How do we feel about making space in the church’s programme for events or styles of service that we don’t like? [You could use café-style church as an example]
What do we think it means to honour people who are very different from us in the way they talk about and practice their Christian faith? Do we find it easy to learn from such people?
How important is what we do on Sundays for creating a sense of belonging to the church?
Read Romans 12:11-12 (it’s particularly good in the Message): how are we putting this into practice in church and in our home group?
Read Romans 14:1-9: what does this tell us about how we live and build community with people who are different from us?