We often hear it being said, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Though you may not necessarily be a parent, you can see the truth in this even as you lead others to follow Jesus Christ. We can’t grow in being Christlike apart from church community.

When God gave Adam a mandate in Genesis 2:15—The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it—it referred to not just the nurturing and growing of the garden itself, but the community in it (Adam and his family). 

Even when Adam and Eve were banished from the garden, their natural tendency was to follow God’s design for community. Hence, different cultures were built around various communities. But because these communities were built apart from God, they are rife with conflict and relational dysfunctions that lead to injustice and oppression.

In order to redeem community as God ordained it, Jesus Christ came, died on the cross, and rose again not just to save us individually, but to allow us to live out and experience relationships as He originally intended. This is what the Church is for.

As we make disciples in the campuses, we bring them back to God’s original design for community as we establish them in the church. The best place for students to flourish is when they are in fellowship with God and with other believers.

Cultivating the Church Community

When we cultivate fellowship, it is like working the garden in order for it to flourish. Cultivating means preparing the land for sowing and helping the plant grow by pruning and watering. How do we know when the church community is flourishing?

1. Students get deeper in their relationship with God.

Are students hungry to know God more by spending time digging deeper into His word? Are they looking forward to commune with God in prayer and worship? 

Do they live a life submitted to God, trusting in faith that His will is good, pleasing, and perfect? Do they grow in following Jesus Christ and obeying Him even when it’s hard? Does our fellowship with each other encourage us to grow in all these? 

When we see our students being established in the faith within the community, we know we are doing something right in our fellowship.

2. Students strengthen their connections with fellow believers.

Is the church community a place for students not just to experience comfort and encouragement, but also gracious correction and loving discipline? Is there a high level of trust when it comes to opening up about the difficult and challenging moments of their lives? 

Do they seek godly counsel when making important decisions? Do they ask for prayer and for help from each other? Is the church community a place where they learn to ask for forgiveness, as well as extend it, in order to protect the relationship? 

Our relational ties get stronger in the good times, as well as the bad. When we see students learning to navigate the imperfections of relationships because they choose to honor God and to love each other, we know that the church community is flourishing.

3. The students’ love for the lost increases.

When a student experiences transformation within the church community and sees the difference of relationships within an authentic community from that in organizations or clubs, all the more they would want to preach the gospel to their friends and include them in the fellowship. We know that we have a healthy fellowship when they are not just focused on being authentic with each other or simply concerned with their own growth, but have a missional mindset as well.

So what steps can we take to make sure the community will continue to flourish? That’s what we will talk about next.

Look out for the next part of this series to know how to keep the church community flourishing!