christian community


"All too often Christian communities have rules at their center, not the gospel. If you read the Bible, don’t drink beer, and “go to church,” you’re accepted. If you do the opposite, you are not accepted. This is religion, not the gospel. As Tim Keller puts it, religion says “I obey a set of rules, therefore I am accepted,” but the gospel says “You are accepted by sheer grace in Jesus, therefore you obey.”

As dysfunctional people, we need something more than performance to bind us together. We need something that provides acceptance and forgiveness even when we fail one another. We also need something big enough to satisfy our infinite appetites for community—something divine. We need Jesus."

Jonathan Dodson, The Church: A gospel centered community (read the full thing here)