Core Values: Worshipping Community

Aim

To explore the importance of “community’ which is integral to all the other studies.

You will need...

A Bible & a pen.

Starter

When people talk about Core Values for Christians they assume that one of our primary callings in

following Jesus is to be a Community. Is this a fair assumption? Where does it come from?

Prayer

Offering ourselves to God, pray that we will be open to new ideas and new possibilities and that we

will learn much in the studies that will be of value in God’s Kingdom

Community in the Bible

Think about the following passages.

What do you think they teach about God’s desire for community.  You may want to write down

some key words.

1. In the Old Testament God largely speaks to individuals for the sake of ‘the People’ . eg.

• Exodus 3. 1-10. & Exodus 6. 2-8  Moses called to rescue God’s people, and God’s covenant to

be Israel’s God.

• Deuteronomy 5. 6-21. Look at the 10 commandments- 4 are to do with the priority that God must

take in life, the other 6 are to do with life in the community.

• Isaiah 58. 1-12. A passage about the qualities God desires amongst his people.

2. In the New Testament Jesus calls 12 disciples, and sends them & the 72 out in groups

• Matthew 10. 1-6 & Luke 10. 1-4..

• Mark 1. 29-35 They eat together and share homes

• Acts 1. 4-5 & 12-14 He tells them to wait together until the Spirit comes

• Matthew 21. vv. 14-17, 31-32, 43-46 It is the inclusiveness of Jesus’ understanding of the

Kingdom of God, the new community, which offends the religious leaders, and leads to Jesus’

arrest and death.

Our Christian Community

Often in Baptist Churches we stress the importance of individual faith; for example of coming to

know Jesus as your personal saviour. (you might like to think of other examples) What are the

implications of laying too much stress on the individual? The next few week’s studies will be

looking at various qualities of our life together as a Christian community: prophetic, inclusive,

sacrificial, missionary and worshipping. Hopefully these studies will strengthen our sense of

community and stretch our understanding of what church is all about

Do you think that you have the balance right in our church? How would you score the sense of

community in our church on a scale of 1-10? Mark your score on the scale below

Weak 1            2          3          4          5          6          7          8          9          10 Strong

• Is there something unique about Christian community?

• Does a stronger sense of community make it more possible to follow Jesus?

Closing

Write down 3 aspects of community you want to thank God for.

Write down 3 ideas about how community could be made better

Let your notes above direct your prayers:

Offer to God your hopes and dreams for the Christian community we have been called into at

Datchet Baptist.

Make a commitment to staying with the studies over the next few weeks and discovering together

something more of God’s desire for us.