COMMUNITY, NOT CONFRONTATION
What we need today is community and cooperation, not confrontation! These days, it is increasingly obvious in social and political discourse that the mood has shifted to confrontation rather than cooperation. Not only demonstrators and rioters, but also even politicians are using coarse, inflammatory, profane and abusive language. It is no longer "civil discourse," but quite uncivil.
When you do a simple Internet search on the phrase "wars, conflicts and disputes" you'll find page upon page of articles that describe the ways people don't get along with each other, but instead turn to harsh rhetoric, lawsuits, and even violence in their effort to win an argument. Social media programmming algorhythms are designed to amplify and reinforce negative emotions, making people react and be drawn into a cycle of anger, profanity, and hate. This is what the Evil One has designed.
How can we break free from this cycle of anger, profanity, and hate? Just as there is a real Evil One, Satan, there is an even greater Good One, Jesus Christ, Who can set us free from this bondage to anger, profanity, and hate. By His death, He conquered death and evil. Christ, the only begotten Son of God, liberates us and makes us adopted sons and daughters in God's family, the Bride of Christ, the Church. Scripture often uses the word "reconcile" which means to make peace, to resolve conflict. In Christ we are enabled to be peacemakers, not troublemakers. We are brought into real, heartfelt community with God and neighbor.
"Love your neighbor as yourself" is more than a warm-fuzzy secular slogan. In the Bible, it's preceded by "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength." That's the only way we can really love our neighbor from a pure heart, when we love God as our Lord with the totality of our being. This is what gives us the ability to genuinely love our neighbor as ourselves.
Being God's adopted children by becoming the Bride of Christ, we are part of God's "extended family" – the community of faith – the Church. Christ is the Rock, the Cornerstone, the foundation of our faith. Then the Church is built up on the Apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:20-22) – "One holy, catholic (universal) and Apostolic Church." So there's a definite structure that is described in the New Testament, and in fact was already in place long before the NT canon was officially approved. Thus, we must recognize the Apostolic nature of the Church. This is how Christ's headship and authority is to flow down, This is the foundation for genuine community.
The word "community" in the Greek NT is "koinonia." It's also often translated as "communion" and "fellowship." This is why "community," "communion," and "fellowship" are sometimes used in place of "Church." So "ABC Community Church" and having "fellowship hour after church" are really redundant, if you stop to think about it! If the Church is something different than community and fellowship, it ceases being the Church.
So genuine Christian community can only take place when we recognize Apostolic authority in the Church and partake of the Body and Blood of Christ in communion, thus becoming partakers of the Divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). From the early Church times, holy communion was part of a fellowhip meal, just like the Last Supper. What started my thinking about this was the article "Orthodoxy Without Community? That Isn’t Orthodoxy." The subtitle was "If We Don’t Eat Together, Are We Even the Church?" Let that sink in for a minute!
Community also means sharing each other's burdens, thus fulfilling the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). This includes praying for each other's spiritual and material needs, but must not be limited to just praying: do what you can about it! The early Church shared their possessions ("but not their wives" as one early saint wrote). This must not be under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7)... quite different than the forced collectivization under modern communism! It also must not be done for show, pretending to be generous but in reality holding back, as Ananias and Saphhira did (Acts 5:1-11).
Living in community was often expressed by Christians living close to each other: this is what "parish" means. In fact, in some southern states of the U.S. the smaller sections of land are called "parishes." At times, Christians built cooperative housing for several families, singles, elderly, and people with disabilities. They join together in a covenant or pledge to live in harmony, purity, and simplicity, having a "community room/chapel" where they can gather for worship / fellowship / community. It's all one!
This is what we have in mind with our ARC ("Agape Restoration Community") concept. Please take a look at our PDF "Building the ARC" – thanks!
You can read the rest of our newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2025-12-06.htm, and share it! Also, create your own website for less than $4 per month!
