The Pastor's Pen

The Bible affirms that God has always designed His people to live not as isolated individuals, but as covenantal communities where His presence, power, and purposes are manifest. The Apostle Paul reminds us, “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor. 12:26-27). In this Pauline vision, community is more than a social arrangement, it is a theological reality, rooted in Christ and activated in believers by Holy Spirit. Growing up in a close-knit neighborhood where mothers mothered beyond their households and fathers protected beyond their own children reflected this divine pattern. In such spaces, neighbors rejoiced together in blessings mourned together in loss. Teachers assumed parental responsibility, workplaces became extended families, and churches lifted the sick in intercession-even beyond denominational or congregational boundaries. Though many did not recognize it, such practices bore witness to God’s healing Kingdom at work through ordinary lives.