Better Together: Why Community Is at the Heart of the Church

I want to start with a confession: when I was a kid, I was a full-on LEGO nerd. I’d spend hours building, imagining, and playing with those colorful bricks. And now, as a parent, I get to relive that joy with my girls—who love LEGO just as much as I did. We build houses, towers, and all kinds of creations together.

But here’s the thing about LEGO: one piece alone doesn’t do much. A single brick might look nice, but it’s not fulfilling its purpose when it’s isolated. It was made to be part of something bigger. When that one piece connects to others, it becomes part of a house, a spaceship, a masterpiece.

That’s exactly how God designed us. You and I were not created to live isolated, disconnected lives. We were created to be part of a community—fit together with other people to build something beautiful for His glory. The Apostle Paul says it like this in Ephesians 2:19-22:

“...you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household... In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.”

Paul paints a picture of the church not as a gathering of individuals doing their own thing, but as a building—each person a brick, connected and joined together to create a dwelling for God’s presence.

This is why one of our core values is “Community is our heart.” Because we believe the church isn’t just something you attend—it’s a family you belong to.

In April of 2023, our family experienced firsthand just how essential this value is. We were walking through a tough season, and it was the people around us—our church family—who carried us through. The hugs, the prayers, the meals, the late-night texts—they reminded us that we weren’t alone.

Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 12:26:

“If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”

That’s how the church should work. Like a body. Like a family. If I stub my toe, it’s not just my toe that feels it—my whole body reacts. That’s what happens in true community: your pain becomes our pain, and your joy becomes our joy.

We weren’t designed to do life alone. From the very beginning of creation, God declared that everything He made was good… until He saw man alone. Then He said, “It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). The first problem in the Bible wasn’t sin—it was isolation.

When we choose to follow Jesus, we’re not just saved from something—we’re saved into something: a spiritual family called the local church. Just like a newborn goes home with a family, new believers are meant to be planted in the community of faith.

Some people today say, “I’m for the universal church, I just don’t do the local church.” But there’s no such thing as the universal church without the local church. The local church is God’s plan A. There is no plan B.

Yes, during COVID many of us got comfortable with “a la carte” church—grabbing worship from one source, teaching from another, and community from none. But the church was never meant for consumption. It’s meant for connection.

It’s more than sitting in a service; it’s about doing life together. It’s about small groups where people know your name and your story. It’s about laughing together, crying together, praying together, and growing together.

There’s an old analogy I love about Belgian horses—some of the strongest in the world. One horse alone can pull 8,000 pounds. But two horses? They can pull 24,000 pounds. And if they’ve trained together and built trust, they can pull up to 32,000 pounds. That’s the power of connection. We are stronger together.

Acts 2:42 says:

“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to sharing in meals, and to prayer.”

That’s the blueprint. That’s the early church. That’s what we’re building here.

So whether you’re new to church or have been around for years—let this be your reminder: you’re a vital piece of what God is building. And together, we can build something beautiful. Because community is our heart, and we are always better together.