Discussion 3: Christ-Like presence in the community (3%)

[Dave]

1. Describe what a humble, Christ-like presence of the church in communities means, and give
examples of how this could be applied in practice.

Humility is a biblical characteristic that can be defined as the capacity to be without pride,
arrogance, or egotism. Jesus Christ is by far the best example of One who humbly followed God
the Father’s plan.

You need to explain what power there is in establishing and developing a humble, Christlike presence in communities based on the above-mentioned statement.

• How does this virtue of humility build bridges in a community?

[Mignon Duvenhage]

Phillipians 2 offers such a great example to us of Jesus, being God, leaving heaven to come down to earth and all its sinful people. Jesus entered our messy lives and chose to lay down his own life to make a way for us to have relationship with Him and spend eternity with him.

Translating this example, into our own, begs the question…what can we lay down or give up in order to enter the lives of others on their terms, with humility to show love, compassion and through the Gospel, a way of being reconciled to Christ?

I offer a few examples. One way of showing humility is to make sure that our churches are accessible to people of all backgrounds and walks of life. This includes accessibility with ramps for the disabled, counselling and help for those in need and a welcoming atmosphere.

Another way would be to form relationships with various authorities, other churches and organisations in the community. It is often better to encourage and support those on the ground who have been helping for a long time than to reinvent the wheel. This would mean laying aside barriers like church dominations, race and specific ways of doing things for the sake of serving the bigger picture and community.

I read a comment this week in one of our family devotionals. It read, “Pride builds walls, humility builds bridges…” A prideful attitude shows that what we know or have to offer is the best. This attitude looks down on the effort of others. Humility realises that in the Body of Christ, we each play our part and no one part is greater than another. Humility builds bridges because it has a sincere desire to see how we can all work together for the greater good and the greater vision of seeing God’s Kingdom come in our community. Bridges built by humility may be slower at first, but accomplishes far greater and lasting fruit in the long run. As the African proverb states, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

[Author]

Posts