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What Makes Christian Community Special?

Community Built on the Messiah

Few concepts are as important to discipleship as the church and church community. Unfortunately, western societies tend to promote a more isolated approach to following Jesus. It’s easy to adopt a “just me and Jesus” attitude toward discipleship.

When church is thought of as something we “do”—an event we show up for or a place we go—it’s difficult to remember that disciples of Jesus were never intended to live without close, intimate connections with others while seeking Jesus’ abundant life and purpose.

So what is the church or church community in the Bible, and why does this matter for a disciple of Jesus?

A Community Built on the Messiah

Before being used by Jesus’ followers, the word church (Greek, ekklesia) simply meant an assembly or gathering of people called out from their homes to come together, usually for a specific purpose.1 It was not used to designate a place, time, or organization but a specific group of people who gathered together.

Jesus first described all those who would eventually follow him as ekklesia immediately after Simon Peter, one of Jesus’ closest followers, declared him to be “the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church [ekklesia], and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:17–18)

Jesus centers the community around himself, using the possessive pronoun my. This future assembly of followers—a community that will eventually spread across the entire earth—will unite around the person of Jesus and embrace the same belief as Simon, that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God.

In response to Simon’s declaration, Jesus gives him the name Peter, meaning rock, comparing his belief with the bedrock foundation of a building. A structure built on rock is not easily shaken or destroyed, and neither will the community of disciples be overcome when built on the belief that Jesus is the Messiah.

King and Suffering Servant

The Messiah described a long-promised king sent by God to rescue his people, freeing them to flourish and live with purpose. Most Jewish teaching held that God would lift up a political king that, through military force, would bring freedom from Roman occupation and oppression.

Jesus instead came as a servant who would suffer and die. This was not what anyone expected. With a mission far bigger than could be imagined, Jesus rose from the grave, overcoming sin and the death that flows from it. His church centers around belief in this kind of Messiah—one who saves the world through radical love and sacrifice.

This belief fundamentally unites the church community across the world and throughout history. We are an assembly of people united around the person of Jesus—a community of disciples trusting in and following the true Messiah, the Son of God.

PAUSE AND REFLECT:

Jesus, how is my community united around you as our Messiah? In what ways might we need to recenter ourselves?

A Community and a Family

The Bible repeatedly refers to the community of disciples as a group of brothers and sisters. Jesus first introduces this family language in Mark 3:31–35.

Family bonds in the first century were more emphasized than today, and they represented the deepest connection and affection that two or more people could have.2 Jesus calling his disciples “my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:35) reflected the highest level of intimacy and love.

Later, when talking about the religious hierarchy of the time, Jesus doubles down on this image.

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah.” (Matthew 23:8–10)

A Community of Real Connections

Jesus doesn’t organize this group of people around strict structures of power and control. He doesn’t rally them to next follow his most intelligent and charismatic disciple. He doesn’t set up a weekly religious event and a slew of programs, all centered around a building.

Jesus calls them to something more fluid and messy. He gives them a new identity as a family.

This isn’t just a nice thing to say—a general “we are all brothers and sisters” sentiment. Jesus intends this to be a lived reality for his disciples, he desires them to have real connections of love, affection, forgiveness, and support for one another.

However, this kind of relationship means leaving room for conflict, disagreement, and hurt. We strive for greater health as a family, and so we walk through difficulty together, forgive each other, and work towards reconciliation. We listen, admit wrong, humble ourselves, serve each other, and make sacrifices.

A Community of Sacrificial Love

Jesus says we are to be marked by the same sacrificial love that he modeled.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34–35)

Taken by itself, this passage seems to hold a simple directive. But considering Jesus said this less than 24 hours before the greatest act of love in human history—God in human form surrendering himself to death on a cross—this command is anything but simple.

How then do disciples become the type of people who reflect Jesus’ radical, self-giving love?

PAUSE AND REFLECT:

Take a few minutes to write a list of all the traits you can think of that real-world, healthy families possess. What would a church community look like operating with those traits?

Abiding with God

John 13:34–35 comes toward the beginning of one of Jesus’ longest blocks of teaching, John 13–17. In this section of Scripture, Jesus describes life for his disciples after he has returned to heaven. He uses a spiral teaching pattern, circling back again and again to several interwoven ideas to ingrain them in the hearts of his disciples.

Using family language, Jesus explains that the Son and the Father are united in an intimate, loving relationship as one God (John 14:9–11). And through the third member of this relationship, the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ followers are also drawn into God’s loving family (John 14:16–26).

Circling back to the theme of his disciples’ love for one another, Jesus uses the plural form of you, saying,

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing . . .

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:4–5, 9–13)

How to Remain

Jesus unpacks not just what to do—“Love each other as I have loved you”—but how to do it—“Remain in me, as I also remain in you.”

The word remain can be in reference to a place, as if to stay, dwell, abide, or make your home somewhere. Or, it can be used in reference to time, as in to endure, continue, last, or stay present to the moment.3

Remaining means making our home in the presence of Jesus and the loving relationship shared between the Father, Son, and Spirit. It means enduring as a community in our attention and openness to Jesus’ love, understanding that only the vine will sustain us.

Imagine being adopted out of a situation of abandonment and chaos into a healthy family full of incredible love. Just being around that family, being loved and valued as a child and sibling, would start to change not only how you act but also who you believe yourself to be. The more we remain present to the loving family of God and our new identity with them, the more we will be changed by their love—and the more open we will be to sharing that blossoming love with others.

Abiding Love

Jesus invites us to live in and experience the love of the Trinity—three persons in endless, loving relationship as one God. The transformative power of that love is beyond what we can imagine, and it forms our innermost selves to look more and more like Jesus.

What’s more, remaining in Jesus requires real relationships with our siblings, being genuinely known, cared for, and reminded of the loving family we belong to and the loving-action (the fruit) we are to bear.

Thankfully, Jesus modeled this life of remaining, and still calls us, his disciples, to imitate him today. He calls us to follow the ways of our Rabbi.

PAUSE AND REFLECT:

Jesus, where might I be trying to force the fruit of your love? How might I instead remain in you as a way of bearing fruit in this area? How might I lean on your community to support me?

Gathering Around the Ways of Jesus

Credit: Aldomurrilo via Getty Images

Though remaining reflects an internal openness and awareness to Jesus, there are many external spiritual practices that help us more regularly and presently dwell in the love of God.

Jesus’ disciples not only learned from his words and teaching, but they apprenticed under him—watching and imitating him so that his ways became their ways.

These ways involved some individual spiritual practices:

But Jesus also modeled communal spiritual practices:

These are just a few examples of the rhythms of life that open us to the transformative love of Jesus. Both those practiced individually and those practiced in community are external practices intended to support our internal remaining in Jesus. Though they can retrain our habits, they are not transformative in and of themselves. Instead, they serve as tools to help open our awareness to Jesus’ Spirit and our identities as loved children of God.

As we remain in Jesus, we are transformed more and more into a community who reflects Jesus’ radical service and self-giving love. And we start to become a force of his love and hope in the world around us.

PAUSE AND REFLECT:

What individual practices might Jesus be asking you to incorporate into your regular rhythm of life? What practices might he want you to invite your community to join in?

Joining Jesus’ Mission

After Jesus’ return to heaven, the community of disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4), took seriously their kingdom mission—often called Jesus’ Great Commission.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20)

The Church grew and spread, a single gathering of disciples becoming a network of gatherings across the Mediterranean world and beyond. These local communities (ekklesia) represented Jesus in specific cities and regions, sharing the good news about God’s kingdom and living out Jesus’ mission of love and hope among their neighbors.

Salt of the Earth

Jesus continues to call local churches to this mission today.

Together, this network is to be “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13)—a force of preservation and enhancement for the world through radical acts of love, justice, and right living. A local church is intended to make life better for everyone around them.

Being transformed equips and draws these local communities to join Jesus in his mission of love and restoration for their cities, towns, or regions. This means tangibly serving those in need, caring for the forgotten and neglected, and advocating for justice for their neighbors.

Light of the World

Similarly, we are called to be “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14), acting as a signal light of hope and truth to those around us. By the power of Jesus’ Spirit, local churches embody his “upside down” ways—his sacrificial love and radical peacemaking—causing them to stand out like a bright city set above a dark and chaotic wilderness.

When the world responds with hate, Jesus’ church responds with love and prayer (Matthew 5:44). When the world seeks to advance the kingdom of self and wealth, Jesus’ church seeks the kingdom of God and the good and just living that flows from that kingdom (Matthew 6:33). When the world seeks power and recognition, Jesus’ church responds with radical humility and service (Matthew 20:25–28).

In this way, we join Jesus as he overcomes the cycles of evil and death in our local communities, bringing healing and hope to our world.

Pursuing Transformation

Of course, this is much easier said than done. We are broken people living in broken church communities. Transformation happens slowly, especially as we embrace the messiness of family. Like his spiral teaching in John 13–17, Jesus circles us back again and again to the same areas of growth, ingraining these truths in our hearts more deeply each time.

Like healthy families, churches must embrace postures and practices of honesty and humility, vulnerability and grace, confession and repentance.

We must open ourselves to the leading of Jesus’ Spirit in real time, allowing him to encourage and correct us, as we are “transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18)—joining him in bringing God’s kingdom to “earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

PAUSE AND REFLECT:

What areas of pain, need, or injustice might Jesus be calling your community to respond to? How might your community take a step towards joining him there?

More Resources to Explore:

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1954. Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian in Community. Translated by John W. Doberstein. New York: Harper & Row.

Cleveland, Christena. 2013. Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces that Keep Us Apart. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

Imes, Carmen Joy. 2025. Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

McKnight, Scot. 2015. A Fellowship of Differents: Showing the World God’s Design for Life Together. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Pohl, Christine D. 2012. Living Into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Smith, James Bryan. 2010. The Good and Beautiful Community: Following the Spirit, Extending Grace, Demonstrating Love. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

Wilhoit, James C. 2022. Spiritual Formation as if the Church Mattered: Growing in Christ Through Community. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker.

  1. “Ekklesia Meaning – Greek Lexicon: New Testament (KJV),” Bible Study Tools, accessed November 10, 2025, https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/ekklesia.html. ↩︎
  2. Craig S. Keener, Matthew, IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1997), s.v. “Jesus’ True Family (12:46–50).” ↩︎
  3. “Meno Meaning – Greek Lexicon: New Testament (KJV),” Bible Study Tools, accessed November 10, 2025, https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/meno.html. ↩︎

  • Drew Robinson-Tilton (Andrew Tilton) is a writer, editor, and former pastor based in Southern California. He has a BA in Theology and Ministry, an MA in Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, and is in the final phase of a DMin focused on “Discipleship for the 21st Century.” He and his family love to laugh, play, and read, trying their best to join Jesus in his love each day.
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