The worship service had just finished and Mike, Frank and Dan (not their real names) gathered at the back of the sanctuary visiting with each other. The topic was their desire to win their friends and relatives to Christ and his Church. A few minutes into the conversation, their pastor joined them. The congregation had struggled for years with the challenges of cultivating a sense of unity and oneness, and at one point the pastor raised the inevitable question, “If we were to bring someone to our church, would that person see Christ in us and be drawn to him?” Immediately, everyone’s mind turned to some long-standing issues that needed addressing. If they were to become a loving, welcoming Christian community, they all would need to do some hard, honest reflecting and seek the Lord’s direction through dwelling in God’s Word together.

The Church in mission is not merely a collection of individuals; it is a community that God calls and sets apart to demonstrate his transforming work and reign on earth, and to point toward the glorious future that awaits all who love him. Every congregation does this imperfectly, of course, and yet it is precisely through this motley assembly of sinners saved by grace that people get a glimpse of who God is, what he has done in Jesus Christ, and what he is still doing. Amazing!

Community is at the heart of God’s intent for his Church – Jesus comes to people through God’s holy Word and the sacraments, and also through the tangible loving acts of God’s people. Luther said it like this: “We now want to return to the gospel, which gives guidance and help against sin in more than one way, because God is extravagantly rich in his grace: first, through the spoken word, in which the forgiveness of sins is preached to the whole world (which is the proper function of the gospel); second, through baptism; third, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar; fourth, through the power of the keys and also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters. Matthew 18[:20]: ‘where two or three are gathered…’” (Robert Kolb & Timothy J. Wengert, eds., “Smalcald Articles, Part III, Article 4,” The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Mpls: Fortress Press, 2000).

While the preaching and teaching of God’s Word along with the sacraments are of primary importance in defining how God’s grace comes to us, let’s focus for a bit on the last phrase in the above quote from Dr. Luther, “through the power of the keys and also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters.” This too, said Luther, is how God is “extravagantly rich in his grace” among us. The examples included in this phrase reflect the grace-filled life of a truly Christian community. We seldom mention the “power of the keys” these days, but this refers to how the Church deals with matters of sin, generally through the preaching of law and gospel and the administration of the sacraments. What is of special interest for us here is Luther’s phrase, “the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters.”

This goes beyond the kind of chitchat that typically takes place in the foyer or at the church potluck, which we fondly think of as “fellowship.” However, let’s not underestimate the power of food! Right away in the Book of Acts we see the early church worshipping together and eating together. Our goal, however, is the fostering of genuine Christian community that centers on Christ and in turn prepares and leads us to participate more fully in the mission of the Triune God. Christian community goes beyond simply attending a worship service for one hour a week, or providing good food and coffee in the “fellowship” hall. For example, worship needs to provide an opportunity to meet with and interact with God in an active way. We need to hear what is true and good and live it out. Similarly, we need to go beyond just supplying good food and coffee and see these times as opportunities for meaningful conversation that results in mutually caring for one another.

In one church that I served, we encouraged worshippers to stay afterward and visit. We provided snacks and beverages, and clusters of people formed where brothers and sisters in Christ shared what was going on their lives. It became customary to see a group form around someone who had a special need, praying for that brother or sister with the laying on of hands. Deep spiritual bonds formed in that setting. The next week there would be follow-up, and another time of prayer might follow: “…mutual conversation and consolation…”

Elsewhere I’ve seen community expressed in the form of helping a busy mother get her house ready for all the relatives coming to visit at Christmas; the guys getting together to tear a roof off of a house and frame in a second story while the ladies prepared lunch; and financially supporting a brother going across country to visit his terminally ill father. We call these “ministries of mercy” – mutually consoling one another in tangible ways that encourage faith. What happens in the church is then more easily extended out to our neighbors. “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Since we still carry with us our fallen natures, our Christian communities suffer attacks and division creeps in. Oftentimes the source will be wrong assumptions about what others have said or done. We frequently fall into “thinking other people’s thoughts for them.” A community that values one another will encourage open communication. A believer might go to the perceived offender and say something like this, “I value my relationship with you and don’t want anything to come between us, so I wonder if I could share something with you and hear your perspective on it.” To give the other a chance to respond to our perception is to exercise mercy toward that one, and it also makes it much more difficult for the enemy of our souls to sow seeds of division. Frequently, when members have done this, they’ve reported back to me that “it was all a misunderstanding.” And when it hasn’t been a misunderstanding, there’s been an opportunity for repentance, forgiveness and healing. Through reconciliation a stronger community emerges, and the church better resembles our God who reconciled us all to himself through his Son.

Going back to Mike, Frank and Dan – their church began to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit according to God’s Word; and as they acted on that guidance a sense of community and unity grew. As their lives backed their words, neighbors and relatives also came to faith. “God is extravagantly rich in grace…through the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters…‘where two or three are gathered…’”

Dr. Gaylan Mathiesen, Ph.D., is Professor of Missions at Lutheran Brethren Seminary, Fergus Falls, MN.