Word Study: Koinonia 2

"There is nothing like the local church when the church is being the church." 
- Bill Hybels

Last week I attended the Willow Creek Leadership Summit at a satellite campus here is Grand Rapids.  As in my previous experiences, I came away energized and excited to implement my new learning.  One of the ideas that stuck out to me the most this most recent Summit was from the very first session by Bill Hybels.

Hybels referenced Acts 2.46, "Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts."  He spoke about an axiom of his called this is church. 

In his talk, he spoke of meeting with grieving fathers, watching special needs children being cared for, and celebrating a graduation with a teenage girl on one day while the next he performs a funeral for another teenage girl.  Through it all, what defines church is "interdependence, vulnerability, listening, giving of ourselves.  Can you hear the Spirit whisper to you now?  This is church."*

F.F. Bruce says about Acts 2.46, "The great features of the inner life of the church were joy in the Lord, the community of goods, fellowship, and meetings in the temple courts."  Hybels picks up on this idea of the community of goods and references 1 Timothy 6.18-19, which reads, "Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.  In this they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they will take hold of life that is truly life."

We can partake of this "life that is truly life" now by being generous with others and willing to share.  Imagine the lack of need there would be if every church and parishiner seriously took hold of this command and was determined that they would not have much so others could have little.  I am as guilty of this myself as anyone.  What are ways that you and/or your church is generously reaching the great need that is in the world today?

-Chris Fann
* Quote taken from Bill Hybels book, Axiom

Comments

[Pat]

Our church has been reaching out to the people living in a low- income apartment complex. We also have recently had one of our young men to start preaching at a church in this neighborhood. This church's congregation had greatly diminished and had need of work to be done on the building. People from our church joined the young man who recently started preaching there and pitched in to paint and do some other work. A member of that church was overwhelmed that someone would do this for them. Although, this is just the church being the church, it speaks volumes when another church is overwhelmed to the point of disbelief that another church would reach out to help them. Isn't this part of our commission?