In Community

Written By Dapto Anglican

We’ve been stepping through five marks of a well-rounded church and revealing our new staff roles along the way. So far, we’ve said our church should be: 1. deep in God’s word, 2. loves God, 3. on mission, and 4. serves others. Today, we look at the last of these: 5. in community.

To be ‘in community’ together is all about three ‘C’s’:

  • a. Connection. We need to be an outward-focused community where new people are welcomed and integrated. This means noticing those around us on Sundays and being good hosts to them if they are new or newish. We can introduce ourselves and have a chat, introduce them to others, buy them a coffee and introduce them to a minister. We are keen to better resource our welcoming teams to enable this, but we can all play a role and be hospitable (Hebrews 13:2).

  • b. Community. We need good structures that help us fellowship together. Morning Tea, Supper, Coffee and events all play a role in enabling us to spend time chatting. Those who serve in those ministries bless us in many ways. We can use times of fellowship in a deliberate way to listen well to each other, discuss the sermon and encourage each other in love (Hebrews 13:1).

  • c. Care. In John 13 Jesus washes His disciple’s feet. This was an extraordinary act of servant love. And He calls us to follow His example and serve one another similarly. Again, we all should be doing this. Growth Groups are a key place for one another care. But, it is also helpful to have some structures and teams in our church that help facilitate care ministry in particularly tough situations.

Jesus summarised the importance of our community life beautifully: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

The staff especially helping develop our community life are,

  • Linda Thomson - Membership (Care) Minister. I’ll also take a keen interest in this area myself.

  • Matt Goodman - Membership (Connection and Community) Minister

As you’ve probably worked out each staff member will cover a number of roles! I’ll summarise their roles for you in a couple of weeks time.

Grace and Peace,
Mark

Dapto Anglican
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Serving Others