More people, according to a lot of research out there, claim to be spiritual rather than religious.  Being religious means that you observe all that your established religion requires of you. For example, you show up for worship services and all other Church activities.  All that isn’t bad! But, the struggle is whether you’re only doing what you do for your religion (Church) for the sake of doing it or not. And, more people are now moving away from that kind of religious life.  As a result, people choose to belong more to a community rather than just an established Church with lots of religious practices. Society today wants something simple, but which brings meaning to their daily living.   

Church Doesn’t Automatically Mean Community

  Church doesn’t always and automatically mean community. It’s something we, as a Church, have to be intentional about creating.  An example of Church as a community is like what we read about in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit has come down on the disciples. As a result, a community of believers was born.  People organically joined with each other for:

• • • Prayer.
    • Scripture searching.
    • Christian fellowship.
    • Support to help one another grow in their faith. 

When people establish a community, to start with, there is no hidden agenda for creating it. Something exceptional brings them together. And, it is because they have shared values or have similar needs. So, for us to have a thriving Church, we need first a community! But how do we establish a community?  That’s what I will be talking about for the next four articles, including this one.   

Prayer Is One Way We Can Build Community

Again, two things help us establish community: shared values, and similar needs. [bctt tweet=”Yes, prayer creates community!” username=””]

Why Pray? 

[bctt tweet=”Prayer helps us to handle life’s challenges!” username=””] Read Philippians 4: 6, 

Do not be anxious about anything, but make all your requests known to God. ESV. 

More importantly, Jesus wants us to pray for several reasons, which I summarize into three for the sake of this article. 

• • • Jesus wants us so that we don’t fall into temptations; read Matthew 26: 41. 
    • Jesus wants us to pray and to ask God to send more people to serve God and others; read Matthew 9: 38. 
    • Jesus wants us to pray for our spiritual freedom (and healing) and that of other people; read Mark 9: 14-29. 

 

How Does Prayer Build Community? 

[bctt tweet=”Prayer helps build community when we intentionally choose to practice it together as a people. It’s a choice we make to literally gather together. ” username=””] And, Jesus is always with us when we get together, two or more of us (Matthew 18: 20)!  We, however, have to agree and live in one accord. Doing so not only makes God’s presence so real among us, but Jesus shows up to do lots of stuff in our lives, individually as well as corporately. 

What does such a community look like? 

Three things characterize this community, which you find in 2 Chronicles 7: 14,  “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” ESV. 

• • • It’s a people who humble themselves under God. 
    • They pray and seek God’s face. 
    • Repentance from sinful ways is at the core of this community. 

Here’s what it all means:

• • • We, as a community, choose to do what God shows us through prayer. 
    • We, as a community, pray for each other daily. 

 

In Summary

The purpose of this article is to help you find or establish a community that you will claim as your family. In this community, you care for each other through prayer, which becomes a special bond that ties you with the entire group. More people now want to join this kind of community, whether it’s already an established Church or not.