Power of Shared Lives

Humans need community.  No matter where mankind has gone, he immediately forms or seeks to join community.  This is so powerful that an enduring disturbing image in our culture is that of the "loner".  The one who has no connections in society and therefore has no support network or healthy interaction.   This doesn't of course mean that all communities are healthy.  Street gangs, criminal syndicates, extremist groups are communities but not usually beneficial to the larger population.

The point is that we seek out connection and that the connections that we seek out, the quality of those connections,  can bring us great strength.  This is the idea behind the greek word Koinonia.  It means "communion" or "community" and it connotates ideas of sharing and intimacy.  That is why we have Koinonia nights at Bean's Corner.   It is important to study the Word.  It is important to meet for prayer.  But a VITAL component of our walk together with God is community.  The early church was not merely a weekly service meeting for an hour or two to sing and listen to a speaker.  They got together regularly, shared each others lives and often times shared their possesions as different people needed things.  This is the idea of Koinonia and the modern American church often times does a poor job of it.  There may be some surface socialization.  But the church often does not take the time to really hang out, talk, get to know one another, and share lives as intimate friends.

This is why I am so excited about last Sunday night as we say close to 80 people come out just to spend time with one another and have fun.  While we didn't do any big Bible study and only had one short community prayer, our evening was profoundly spiritual because we shared our lives with one another and grew closer to one another.  You cannot remove the importance of Word study or prayer, but there is more than just that to a healthy spiritual walk.  We need community with believers.

Plus, its really fun!