The journey with Jesus is often initiated with a personal invitation. But that invitation to follow is historically, theologically, and practically understood in the context of community. Community in Jesus has never been easy. Even much of the New Testament letters are spiritual leaders addressing the challenges and complexities of living in relationship with others and finding harmony in our diversity of cultures, spiritual maturity and theological liberties.
Within the history of The Foundry: a Christian Church, and the stream of like-minded churches, we have often cited the mantra attributed to the 4th-century church leader Augustine, "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity."
So the question, we must then ask is what are the essentials, and how do we define our non-essentials?
In Acts, chapter 2, verses 42-47, we are given an early summary of the norms and behaviors of the first Christian church in Jerusalem. This summary is not an attempt to suggest that they church was at peak utopia perfection. In fact, we see in the very next chapter some of the challenges and difficulties that began to arise in church.
This Acts 2 church summary shares with us that the church valued and practiced a communal commitment to worship, service, discipleship, fellowship, and evangelism.
We should talk about this.