Last year, I offered to plan a women’s retreat for my small, but growing, church. The pastor took me up on it, and seventy-eight women signed up to take a weekend away together. One after another said, “We are new here, and I am finding I desperately need community.” Their need wasn’t foreign to me. I had only been a member at this church for a couple of years myself. When I looked around, I saw familiar faces and mild acquaintances, which are nice to have. But they are not the same as deep, abiding community.
Post-pandemic, many churches experienced shifts in their membership, often leaving the church body feeling misshapen and somewhat unfamiliar to each other. Not only that, but in our everyday lives, things like job changes and age-and-stage progression can alter the backdrop of our connection with the communities we’ve lived in for a long time. We all know it’s healthy to be clicked-in and committed to a broader landscape of folks who care for us and offer us the opportunity to do the same for them. But when life shifts, what does one do in order to build a new community? And when a church experiences a change in leadership or location, where do we begin?
It may be helpful to consider the five human senses. God has made us with both body and soul. Our souls are often ministered to when we show up and care for each other in the flesh. Acts 2:42–47 describes a season of intense health and vibrancy in the Body of Christ.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (ESV)
The Sense of Hearing
Right out of the gate, this community in Acts was devoted to listening to the apostles’ teaching from the Word of God. Their heart posture was one of humility, eager to hear what God had to say about himself, about them, and about the space in between. A teachable spirit is one that is open to hearing the Word and talking through it with fellow believers. This creates a bonding experience that can be very useful for building community. Later, this same passage mentions that the people praised God together. Perhaps this was through talking, but almost certainly singing was involved, as it has been since the earliest days of humanity. Even now, musicians who don’t worship God sing about what they do worship, and we can hear it on any modern Spotify channel or radio station. When another person sings and I agree with their sentiment or like their tune, a natural response is to join in the song. Just like listening to the preaching of the Word together, hearing one another praise God in harmony is most certainly a way to weave our lives together.
The Sense of Taste
Perhaps nothing foreshadows what awaits us in heaven like breaking bread together, just as these verses mention. These days, that can look like sharing Communion (a.k.a., The Lord’s Supper) in a church service. But I think we do ourselves a disservice if we don’t feast together on the regular, reminding each other that a feast is being prepared for us that nothing here can hold a candle to. There’s something sacred about sharing a meal with someone. We see this all throughout Scripture, from the Passover Seder to the Last Supper to the feasting that awaits us in heaven. Whether we eat pizza with the youth group or a steak dinner with a few other adults, sharing a meal at the table is nearly irreplaceable in its power to build community.
The Sense of Touch
The word “together” makes an appearance twice in these few verses, alongside words like “fellowship,” “in common,” “distributing,” “attending,” “received,” and “added.” Special blessings are innately present when God’s people come together. And when we are together, we can’t help but bump into each other, for better or worse. On the good days, that looks like a hug when we are hurting. On the bad days, we may act very much like brothers and sisters in the back seat on a long road trip who tattle over the tiniest thing: “Mommy. She touched my arm!” Nevertheless, God intends for us to show up, assuming the posture of both a support and a servant, loving each other as he has loved us.
The Sense of Sight
When the Lord opens our eyes to his work through miracles and in everyday life, he also opens our eyes to the needy world in which he has placed us. It is a mark of the Holy Spirit’s presence on a body of believers when we see our earthly possessions as piddly and see the needs of our fellow man as vital. Unselfish lives spent for the good of others are attractive to those who don’t yet know Christ as Savior. Looking up to God first enables us—with the help of the Holy Spirit and our local church body—to look at the needs of our fellow man through the eyes of Jesus himself.
The Sense of Smell
Perhaps the most noticeable scent in this passage is what 2 Corinthians 2:15 would call “the fragrance of Christ” (CSB). In Acts 2:43, the writer says, “And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles,” and in verse 46, it says that “they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.” When the Holy Spirit works among God’s people, we are right to stand in awe of his gracious presence in our midst. His power is not limited to what we can decipher or understand. When he works miracles—such as every time a human soul turns from sin to the Savior, a “wonder” both then and now—the only proper response is utter awe. The Bible says this humble and unified heart of worship in a body of believers wafts upwards to God’s nose as the fragrance of Christ. He has been in our midst, and we are left changed. This aroma can often have the same effect on the unbelieving world. The last phrase in this passage is perhaps the most beautiful one of all as it sums up the larger effect of a communal body of believers walking in everyday unity through the power of Jesus Christ: “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (v. 47).
Photo credit: Emilee Carpenter
Candace and her husband Jim enjoy raising their five children in Tennessee. She has written a children's book calledJosephine and the Quarantineabout how God cares for us in times of loneliness through puppies. Candace also writes a weekly column for theDaily Memphianand for publications likeThe Gospel CoalitionandRisen Motherhood. She dreams of having her own writing cottage in Oxford someday (England is the dream, but Mississippi's not bad either). You can find Candace on Instagram @candaceecholswrites or on her website atcandaceechols.com.
