BELONG in an Empowering Community
(Printable Version)
The images of family are sown throughout the entire Bible. God desires to gather people to Himself making them daughters and sons in His family. The core thrust of the redemptive story is not merely to offer us salvation, but to bring us back into the heavenly Father’s family.
Instead of saying we ‘attend’ church, the Bible says we ‘belong’ to God’s family and ‘belong’ to a body. This sense of connectedness and belonging is a steadfast element of how God describes His church and thus is a foundational piece for Empowering Communities.
Belonging communities always seek to create spaces where a follower of Jesus feels they can belong. Such a community always makes room for one more, just as our Father worked to turn orphans into sons and daughters.
Key Words: Unity, Acceptance & Adoption
Key Questions:
- Do I feel that I belong here?
- Am I inviting others to belong here?
Key Activities:
If we do all sorts of activity in God’s kingdom but don’t belong to a family anywhere, we have missed God’s first call in our lives! He calls us daughters and sons first. If we miss belonging to a family then we are missing the true meaning of being a son or daughter in God’s Family.
- Start with a Welcoming Check-In Question
- Keeping Jesus Central (we Belong to Him, and to each other)
- Make Much of Each Person Regularly, Especially the New People