A Matter Of Christian Faith Communities

I have been thinking of two types of Christian faith communities in relationship to spiritual formation of Christians:


(a) The community that nurtures
In the community that nurtures, the community is the context in which spiritual formation takes place. People join a community for what the community may offer them. Then by taking part in the community undergoes spiritual formation. When they find that they cannot learn anymore from this community, they leave to find other communities that may help them. This is akin to a university where one joins the community to learn skills for a certain profession or to acquire a degree. Once that is achieved, the person leaves for other communities.


(b) Nurturing community
In a nurturing community, spiritual formation takes place because the person is the content of the community. One grows spiritually with the community because the community is growing. One becomes the community and takes on characteristics of the community. The analogy for this is the family. One is born into this and is always part of it even when relocated to a different geographic location.

I wonder which type of Christian faith community do you belong in?

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