For 29 years, the country where we serve was occupied by a neighboring army. Six years after the army was finally kicked out, a brutal civil war began, and our country was flooded with refugees.  

The common refrain was that these former occupiers deserved to suffer, and both on a personal and a societal level, much was done to make sure they knew they didn't have a right to any help or care because of the crimes their army had committed against the people of our country.

But the church stepped up and fulfilled her calling in ways I never thought possible. Most of the refugees were from the majority religion. Many believers personally knew people who were killed or “disappeared” by the occupying army. And yet, the doors of the church were flung wide open. Physical needs were met. All were accepted, no matter their backgrounds or beliefs. And Jesus was met by hundreds of thousands who had never before heard His name… because they saw Him in the community of believers who welcomed them.

In the early Church, as the gospel was just starting to spread beyond the boundaries of Israel, the most shocking aspect of this gospel was the community that was formed through the power of the Holy Spirit – a community where Jews and Gentiles worshiped together as equals, just as they were (Ephesians 3:6).

Jesus Himself hinted at this new reality in His parable of the Good Samaritan. “Who is the good neighbor?” he asked the expert of the law (Luke 10:36), knowing full well that this pious man would have a hard time viewing the Samaritan, his enemy, as anything good.  

But this is the beauty of the community created by the gospel: enemies turned into family, all worshipping one God together. Gentile and Jew, slave and free, citizen and refugee, occupier and oppressed, one family saved by the grace of God through the sacrifice of His Son.  

But let's be honest, it's not always easy to find. Maybe the country you serve in only has a handful of believers. Or maybe racial or cultural divides seem too wide to cross. Maybe you yourself are viewed as the enemy. But God can break those barriers, and my prayer for you is that we all get to experience the sweet joy of Christian community as it was intended to be.