Conference focuses on enhancing oneness in a society of individuals
By Melissa Pratt

What comes to your mind when you hear the word community?” What comes to mind when you hear the words Christian community? What kinds of things do you think get in the way of genuine Christian community? These were the topics explored in a conference titled “Building Community in Worship,” led by Rev. Melissa Pratt on Tuesday during the North American Convention.

As the conference began, Pratt outlined a foundation for Christian community. “It is God that has created community. We don’t create community. We recognize it, commit to it, and celebrate it. Fundamentally, Christian community is a way that Christians relate to one another. The Scriptures regard a community relationship of love, commitment, and interdependence among Christians as normative, not optional.”

“Our need for connectedness goes back to the very beginning of the human race. In Genesis 2:18, God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ God himself is a relational being who lives in vulnerable community with the other relational persons in the Trinity. In Genesis 1:26, God said, ‘Let us make man in our image.’ Because we are created in God’s image, we also need to be in community and in relationship with others.”

Pratt defined and discussed three New Testament terms as they related to Christian community. They are brother, koinonia, and fellowship. She expressed the importance of nurturing Christian community, particularly at this time of individualism and isolationism in our culture.

“Do you know anyone who attends a big church just in order to hide or worship incognito? Having our lives in common also means sharing other personal aspects of our lives.” Pratt suggested that Christian community, by God’s design, is for our accountability and growth. “As brothers and sisters in Christian community, nothing in our lives is entirely our own. My life belongs to you and yours belongs to me.”

 “Community,” Pratt shared, “in the biblical sense is a deliberate act of a person’s will. It does not depend upon feelings of affection. In fact, sometimes God seems to put us in a community together with people whom we don’t like so that we learn the real meaning of agape—that intelligent, purposeful love directed toward another’s need that comes first from God and then flows through us to our neighbor. To develop a community that practices biblical principles is very difficult in this technologically efficient society. It takes a lot of work and time, sacrifice and commitment.”

At least three opportunities were created by Jesus to foster our christian Community in worship according to Pratt. They are Communion, baptism, and footwashing. Communion and community have the same root meaning. They mean fellowship, oneness. Pratt went on to share creative ideas for observing the ordinances of Communion, baptism, and footwashing in order to foster and nurture the communal and corporate aspect of these ordinances. She urged participants to make these ordinances a true celebration of family and Christian community as they were experienced in each church.

Finally, Pratt reflected that community in worship could be aided through the following: hospitality, music, intergenerational participation, the sharing of artistic worship gifts, corporate prayer opportunities, preaching, practical and meaningful physical touch, through authentic and vulnerable leadership, and even through the sharing of church announcements.

“We experience God often through the comfort, support, and thanks from our brothers and sisters in Christ. To come and to worship isn’t just vertical. It’s horizontal as well. As we work on our relationships with one another, we’ll be able to legitimately love and serve together, the way God intended for His family to work,” Pratt concluded.

A version of this article appears in the Thursday, July 2, 2009, edition of the NAC roundup/09 newsletter.  To view the newsletter in its entirety, click here (1.24 MB). The document is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat in order to read and/or print it. If you do not have Acrobat installed on your computer, you can download a free copy of Acrobat Reader here.