Building Community

I remember the story of Keith Green. He was a highly influential American singer and songwriter from the 1970�s. Before he gave his life to Jesus, though, he was heavily involved in drugs and eastern philosophies. But one night he was invited to a Bible study at a friend�s house.

The true fellowship in the group impressed Keith. He saw people full of joy and love as they studied the Word of God together. And that�s where the Lord really began to tug at Keith�s heart. Later he paraphrased Matthew 18 like this: “It�s time to quit playing church and start being the Church.”

Keith was “burdened with reaching the lost, and broken with the true message of the Gospel.” And he had witnessed himself the power of community in reaching lives with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Living out the Gospel message in Christian unity is a powerful way to make an impact on our world. Psalm 133, you remember what it says… It says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!”

When you and I live together in the joy and peace that only comes from Jesus Christ, the world, like Keith, will sit up and take notice and our neighborhood will notice too. The world will pay attention when there�s unity. Jesus said that in John 17 and I�ve seen it to be true all over the world.