Why True Christian Community is Non-Negotiable | Pastor Brian Carrier

In our journey together as a church, we’ve spent time walking through the “Seven Rhythms” of spiritual life. These practices – prayer, worship, service, scripture, repentance, storytelling, and generosity – have been at the core of our series, and each week, many of you have shared how these rhythms are transforming your walk with God. But today, we’re introducing an “eighth rhythm,” one we knew was essential from the beginning: the rhythm of community.

Some of you may be asking, why does community need its own place in our rhythm? Isn’t it woven throughout the other seven? Yes, it is – but today, I want us to understand why it stands on its own and why, as Bonhoeffer once said, “Christianity means community through and in Jesus Christ” (Life Together). Community is not optional for followers of Jesus. It is central to our faith, our growth, and our mission in the world.

Community: The Heartbeat of Our Faith

The call to community starts in the Book of Acts, where we read about the birth of the early church. Right after Peter’s message on Pentecost, about three thousand people were baptized and became believers, joining the community in one day (Acts 2:41). Imagine that! They went from 120 members to 3,120 in a single day, practically overnight. It’s important to note that these early Christians didn’t only meet in the large temple courts for worship; they also gathered in smaller groups within their homes (Acts 2:46).

This structure is essential for us to understand. They met for worship, but they also shared meals, prayed together, and built deep, meaningful relationships. The Bible says they had “glad and sincere hearts” and that they were “praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people” (Acts 2:46-47). This rhythm of gathering in the temple courts and in each other’s homes was the heartbeat of the early church. It’s a rhythm that God calls us to live by as well – a rhythm of committed, God-centered community.

Why Community is Vital

Why did the early church invest so deeply in community? To answer that, let’s go back to our eighth rhythm: community. There are two primary reasons why this rhythm is foundational.

First, community is at the very essence of Christianity. Bonhoeffer said it best when he wrote, “Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ.” You can’t separate faith from community because we were designed to live in unity. The second reason is that our culture, especially here in D.C., actively fights against community. Whether it’s the busyness of our schedules, our individualistic mindset, or even cultural tendencies toward self-reliance, we’re constantly being pulled away from others.

I want to illustrate this with a metaphor: the “rip current.” If you’ve ever been to the beach, you know rip currents are dangerous flows of water that pull you away from shore and out to sea. The danger with rip currents is that they aren’t always visible; you can be swept away before you even realize you’re in one. To survive, you have to swim out of the current, rather than fighting against it head-on. Our culture is full of rip currents that subtly but powerfully pull us away from community. These currents are strong, and they include things like individualism, busyness, and secularism.

The Dangers of Individualism

One of the biggest rip currents is individualism. According to sociologists who wrote Habits of the Heart, individualism is “the first language in which Americans tend to think about their lives,” elevating independence and self-reliance above all else. Alexis de Tocqueville, who visited America in the 1830s, coined the term “individualism” after observing that Americans were so focused on their own lives that they were almost unaware of others’ struggles. This is still true in our culture today.

But here’s the thing: individualism is completely incompatible with a life of faith. Think about some of the commands in the New Testament: “Be kind to one another,” “Encourage each other,” “Show hospitality to one another,” “Forgive each other,” “Bear each other’s burdens” (Ephesians 4:32, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, 1 Peter 4:9, Colossians 3:13, Galatians 6:2). All of these commands require us to be in close, vulnerable community with others. If we aren’t intentionally living in community, we’re missing out on the fullness of the Christian life.

Secularism: A Threat to Transcendence

Another cultural current that threatens community is secularism. Secularism is a worldview that removes the divine and transcendent from life, reducing reality to only what we can see and touch. The New York pastor John Tyson has called this a “secular exorcism,” where secularism goes around casting out God’s presence from every area of life.

As believers, we know that God is always with us, and yet, in a secular society, we often forget to live like it. When Ananias and Sapphira lied about the amount of money they gave to the church, they weren’t just lying to Peter and the other believers; they were lying to God. They saw the church as just another human institution, not as a holy place filled with the presence of God (Acts 5:3-4). Their secular mindset prevented them from seeing that their actions in the community mattered to God.

Self-Centeredness and Performance in Community

When we think of community only as a place to serve us, we will keep part of ourselves back, not giving fully to others. Ananias and Sapphira held back some of their property proceeds, not wanting to fully commit to the church community. They wanted an “escape plan” in case things didn’t go their way, and they compartmentalized their lives, giving a little to God but keeping most of it for themselves.

This half-hearted commitment led to devastating consequences. Peter confronted them, saying, “You have not lied just to human beings but to God” (Acts 5:4). By holding back, they were saying that the church was just like any other group, where they could get something without giving fully of themselves. They failed to see the church as holy, set apart by God’s presence, and it ultimately cost them their lives.

In our own lives, how often do we bring only part of ourselves to church, whether out of fear or out of a desire to control? Like Ananias and Sapphira, we might show up, but we don’t show up fully. And if we see the church as a place where we have to perform to be accepted, we will hold back our weaknesses, thinking we can only bring our best selves. We won’t ask for help when we need it, or admit our doubts and struggles, because we’re worried about looking “weak” or “needy.”

The Gift of Vulnerability

But here’s the beautiful reality: Jesus doesn’t require perfection to join His family. He doesn’t want us to bring only our best. In fact, He calls us to be vulnerable, to bring all of ourselves – the good, the bad, and the messy. When we allow ourselves to be seen, flaws and all, we are giving God space to work in us and through us. We are freed from the performance mindset and can experience the true unity of community.

This is what we see in the early church, where believers shared all things in common, “and there were no needy persons among them” (Acts 4:34). They were vulnerable with one another, sharing their resources, their weaknesses, and their lives. This kind of community takes time and intentionality. We can’t show up only when it’s convenient or treat community like an extracurricular activity. Building and sustaining true community requires us to prioritize it, to put it above our schedules and personal comfort.

Why Join a Christian Community?

So, why would anyone want to be part of a Christian community? In D.C., the “loneliest city in America,” the need for belonging is real. When we are part of Christian community, we have a place to belong, to be cared for, to find family. But if that’s our primary reason for joining, we risk making the community about ourselves.

The real reason we join is because Jesus calls us to it. He died to make it possible for us to live in true community with one another. In John 17, Jesus prayed that His followers would be “one” just as He and the Father are one. This was His final prayer before going to the cross, underscoring how important unity is to Him.

The purpose of community is not just to make us feel better or to create a social network. It’s to help us follow Jesus together, to glorify Him as a family of believers, and to represent His love to the world.

Conclusion: Living Out the 8th Rhythm

In a world where we’re constantly pulled in a hundred directions, community can feel like just another “thing” we have to fit into our schedule. But the reality is, we need community just as much as we need the other rhythms of prayer, worship, and scripture. Community is part of what it means to follow Jesus.

Jesus opened the way to true community by His sacrifice. Now, He invites us to share in this divine fellowship with Him and with each other. As we come together, we remember that Christianity is a journey we cannot walk alone. We are called to be a people of one heart and one mind, united

The above post is a summarized version of the full sermon. Please click the link below to watch the full message: