True Community: The Biblical Practice of Koinonia

by Jerry Bridges

A thoughtful and provocative book that offers a life-changing experience through caring. Some of the topics you will find in this book are:
Renew your bonds of love with other believers.
Participate in the partnership of the gospel.
Contribute your spiritual gifts to help others.
Share your possessions according to God's plan.

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Paperback, 176 pages

Published August 20th 2012 by NavPress (first published November 1985)

tags: theology, faith, christianity, church, religion, ecclesiology, nonfiction, christian living, discipleship, christian

Book Quotes

“A willingness to share our possessions with one another is a very important aspect of true biblical community.”

― Jerry Bridges

topics: Biblical Community, Community, Koinonia, Share

“This is fellowship: sharing with one another what God is teaching through the Scriptures, and this is an important part of true community.”

― Jerry Bridges

“It is not the fact that we are united in common goals or purposes that makes us a community. Rather, it is the fact that we share a common life in Christ.”

― Jerry Bridges

topics: Christ, Christianity, Community, Koinonia, Life, Purpose

“Biblical community, then, incorporates this idea of an active partnership in the promotion of the gospel and the building up of believers.”

― Jerry Bridges

“Without this relationship with God, there can be no spiritual relationship with one another.”

― Jerry Bridges

“It is relatively easy to serve those above us — even the world expects this — but Jesus served downward.”

― Jerry Bridges

“Practice of true community involves responsibilities and actions that do not come naturally to us.”

― Jerry Bridges

topics: Community, Koinonia

“If we are to master the scriptural principles of true biblical community, we must master this one: True greatness in the kingdom of heaven involves serving one another. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:26).”

― Jerry Bridges

“one of the chief characteristics of a servant is that he serves downward — that is, to those who by the world’s standards are beneath him in position or station in life.”

― Jerry Bridges

“Fellowship is much, much more than food and fun and even more than reading and studying the Scriptures with another believer. Fellowship at times may involve blood, sweat, and tears as we stand side by side with our persecuted brothers and sisters.”

― Jerry Bridges

“The reason most of us do not see opportunities to serve is that we are continually thinking about ourselves instead of others.”

― Jerry Bridges

“For an action to be truly obedient to God, it must be done from a motivation of genuine love and gratitude to Him.”

― Jerry Bridges

“Whether fellowship is perceived as participation or partnership, in either case it implies a responsibility to fulfill our function in the body. We usually don’t think of fellowship in terms of fulfilling a responsibility, but that is because we have lost sight of the biblical meaning of fellowship. Fellowship is not just a social privilege to enjoy; it is more basically a responsibility to assume.”

― Jerry Bridges

“But this is what servant-hood within the fellowship of believers is all about: being alert to the little things that need to be done and then doing them.”

― Jerry Bridges

“If Christ grieved over unrepentant Jerusalem, does He not grieve over unrepentant America as well? If we would fully enter into the fellowship of His sufferings, we must begin to see sin from His point of view.”

― Jerry Bridges

“Fellowship is not just a social privilege to enjoy; it is more basically a responsibility to assume.”

― Jerry Bridges

“Biblical community is first of all the sharing of a common life in Christ.”

― Jerry Bridges

topics: Community, Koinonia, Life

“does no good to nail an unattached branch to the vine; there is no life-giving connection. But those branches that are an integral part of the vine share in the life of the vine.”

― Jerry Bridges

“All believers share a common life in Christ, whether or not we recognize it. We are in fellowship with literally thousands of believers from every nation of the world. Although we have never met most of them, we are in fellowship with them. We disagree with many of them over various issues of faith and practice, yet we are still members of the same body. Even though we struggle to like some of them, that does not alter the fact that we share together a common life in Christ. Neither our attitudes nor our actions affect this objective sense of koinonia. We are in community with all other believers, whether or not we like it or even recognize the fact.”

― Jerry Bridges

“In fact, there is no such thing as grudging obedience. For an action to be truly obedient to God, it must be done from a motivation of genuine love and gratitude to Him.”

― Jerry Bridges

Jerry Bridges

Jerry Bridges is an evangelical Christian author, speaker and staff member of The Navigators. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including The Pursuit of Holiness, which has sold more than one million copies. His devotional Holiness Day By Day garnered the 2009 ECPA Christian Book Award for the inspiration and gift category, and The Discipline Of Grace received a similar award in 1995 for the Christian living category.

Bridges earned his undergraduate degree in engineering at the University of Oklahoma before serving as an officer in the United States Navy during the Korean War.

He joined Christian discipleship organization The Navigators in 1955, where he served as administrative assistant to the Europe Director, office manager for the headquarters office, Secretary-Treasurer of the organization, and as Vice President for Corporate Affairs before moving to a staff development position with the Collegiate Mission.
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True Community: The Biblical Practice of Koinonia

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Book Quotes

Jerry Bridges

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