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The Community
At Paxton neighbors become a community � a community of faith, anchored in Christ, seeking to equip, edify, and encourage one another towards acts of relevant outreach, biblical discipleship, and holistic compassion to the ultimate honor and worship of our Holy Father, through Christ, empowered by the Spirit. BUILDING TOWARDS COMMUNITY

     Jesus' prayer in John 17:21 includes these words: "Father, I pray that all of them will be one. . . .Then the world will believe that you have sent me" (NirV).  Part of the fulfillment of this prayer of our Savior is modeled for us in Acts 4:32-35.  Jesus prayed that the believers would be "one" and Acts 4 shows the early church living and worshipping in complete harmony.  They "agreed in heart and mind."  They were pulled into a community that freed them of themselves.  Verse 32 says that they "didn't claim anything they had was their own," but instead they "shared everything" even to the point of some believers selling property in order to meet the needs of others. 

     So what were the results of this oneness?  First, we see that there were "no needy persons among them."  That's quite a statement!  What an incredible amount of selflessness was displayed so that all the needs of the community were met.  Ownership became a matter of perspective and that perspective said that all that I have is God's and it belongs to Him to use for His good pleasure.  The second result was intense fellowship with God and each other to the point that it was valued above all else.  The third result recorded was that the apostles continued witnessing "with great power."  We shouldn't be too quick to attribute all of this great power in witnessing to the fact that the apostles possessed amazing spiritual giftedness.  Of course,
the signs and wonders they had the ability to perform were powerful, but the great power quite possibly came from the witness of a unified group of believers living in, or at least close to, perfect community.  After all, Jesus Himself said the world would believe if they saw believers acting as one.  Hence, a powerful witness.
        
       Wouldn't the same be true today?  Here at Paxton Avenue we have a vision of letting Christ live through us.  We have the desire of John the Baptist that we become less and that He become more.  We desire that we become a real community of believers. One that takes care of each other's needs 
even at the cost of personal sacrifice.  One that goes beyond just having neighbors, but being family.  We desire a community that is seven days a week, instead of Sunday morning and Wednesday night with a few interactions here and there.  We desire to know and to be known.  To help and to be helped.  To love and to be loved.  To share in the word and to share the word.  To share in sufferings and in triumphs.  To laugh together, to cry together and to worship together.  All in the precious name of our glorious Lord Jesus.  And we desire to show our neighbors the incredible power of a united community of believers.  To show them and help them experience what they hunger and long for: purpose, hope, acceptance, love, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Messiah, forgiveness, healing, reconciliation.

     We have a vision that we believe is God-inspired.  We have a long way to go to get there.  But we know it starts with laying down our lives and being emptied so that we can be filled with the wonderful Christ.

          - Stephen Daniels (2002)
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