HOW COMMUNITY LOOKS

From the book, THE SILAS DIARY, by Gene Edwards, comes this description of the beginning of the first Gentile fellowship, in Antioch of Pisidia:

"A group of people have become brothers and sisters, their new way of life wonderful and joyful. It is a way of living never before seen on the face of the earth. Yet God ordained that it come into being in this poor and remote region of Asia Minor.

"It is amazing to see how these holy ones take care of one another. If one brother finds a job in the marketplace and the supervisor needs more help, that brother runs to find another brother so he, too, can work that day.

"When several brothers work together, they work harder and better. They share a spirit of joy, often singing, often praising. Though the masters and supervisors don't understand it, they remember these men who work so well together. As they hire workers each morning in the marketplace, they search out these faces first. Some of the merchants have been known to say: 'You, today you work. Go find your friends, the ones you call brothers, the ones you laugh and sing with.'

"The sisters in Pisidia began caring for one another, a phenomenon unknown in the Gentile world. They care for one another in the most unexpected ways. In childbirth, of course, but also working together at the river and in their homes and rooms. Any sister who becomes sick is soon cared for throughout the night and day.

"I have often seen the sisters working together in the fields, caring for one another's children, sharing vegetables and grain with one another, or cleaning rooms together. Sometimes they meet only to sing, to talk, to cry, to care, and to be cared for. If one somehow manages to have more than a day's supply of food, they often come together and prepare one big meal so all can have a good meal that day.

"All of this happened without Paul or Barnabas ever talling them that this is what believers in ecclesia just naturally do together.

"Amazingly, all that I relate to you here emerged spontaneously within only a few weeks after their redemption in Christ. In the brief four months that Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch of Pisidia, this wonderful new way of life had become a natural part of all their lives."
-submitted by ker