Bonhoeffer 1

In this week’s chapter 1 reading of Life Together by Bonhoeffer we see the need for balance in the global church. In the beginning of the chapter, Bonhoeffer talks about believers being scattered across the globe. Later, he also speaks about the importance of community to the believer. I think it is very important for the global church to balance these two sides.

While we should not make an all-inclusive Christian community that does not go out into the world, we have been given the desire and need for community with other believers. Perhaps it is important that we work in teams as we go out into the globe. As Bonhoeffer says, the community aspect of Christianity is a necessity, as “the Christian needs another Christian to speak God’s Word to him.”

The better of a community we build, the closer to understanding and finding joy in the Word of God that we can be. Community, if good community, points us back to God. Our need for community is directly indicative of our relational characteristic, that is inherent to humanity.

How do we balance this, with the idea of scattering all over to reach new people with the Gospel? I think this is the challenging part that many do struggle with.

An interesting contribution to this is how diverse the world Christian population is now. There are Christians equally throughout the world, with certain areas growing and others decreasing. For example, Africa is growing, whereas Europe is declining. This has made the percentage of global Christians on each continent rather similar. That means that for the most part, Christians are scattered already. A global effort to reach out in our own communities would be the most efficient way to reach more people. There are Christians present in every continent, so if they all were to unite and locally reach out, there could be an efficient outreach.