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Faith

Depth of Community

friendsThere is a certain bond of community that forms between people who work together to share the good news of Jesus with others. The strength of this bond is illustrated in Acts chapter 20, when Paul has his farewell tour on the way to Jerusalem. There is a sense of foreboding, as everyone knows that Paul is going to experience imprisonment and suffering and possibly death when he gets to Jerusalem.

In Troas, after Paul had stayed for a week, there was an all-night meeting to farewell Paul. Paul, eager to ensure that he left nothing unsaid of all that he could impart concerning the gospel, talked the whole night through, apart from the interruption when Eutychus fell from the window, and he left at daybreak. This was the type of community that did not just throw a farewell party; it held a commissioning service that lasted all night.

In Ephesus Paul had another emotional meeting with the leaders of the church community. Behind the words which he is reported as saying to them, it is possible to sense the depth of the love which he has for them and they have for him. Their relationships have grown over only a few short years, but there is a special depth to those relationships which can only be experienced by members of the community of believers.