March 2005
The ideal community
Previous 5th Sparrows
WHAT A GREAT COMMUNITY IDEAL is set out in Joshua chapter one: the regard for God and his covenant, the willingness to serve each other under the leaders without selfishness.It's not that you do what you feel you've got to do and God and community promise to be there with you. It's about us promising to go where he wants us to go, to give assistance to our brothers and sisters, rather than doing what we feel we've got to do.
It's not about finding the word of the Lord that covers the kind of stuff that interests or excites us. It's about not letting the word of God depart from our lips, not letting ourselves think or speak about other things.
It's not about finding those bits of spirituality that are relevant to my life; it's about rearranging my life to make it relevant to God's word and truth. Maybe church doesn't need to work at being less boring. Maybe I need to work to keep myself involved and interested.
Dr Conrad Gempf is a lecturer in New Testament at London Bible College. He also writes for and edits the monthly webzine there.
© Conrad Gempf 2005