Editor’s Ink -- By: William David Spencer

Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 21:4 (Autumn 2007)
Article: Editor’s Ink
Author: William David Spencer


Editor’s Ink

William David Spencer

Community is one of the most valued gifts that God has bestowed on humanity. Every church I have ever encountered has wanted to be a healthy, supportive, Christian community. The term, after all, is built from the New Testament word koinonia, which means “close association involving mutual interest and sharing, association . . . fellowship, close relationship”1 —a description every church claims for its identity. Koinonia was brought over into the Latin as communio, transferred to late Middle English as the cognate commuyone, and finally adjusted into modern English. In Spanish it became communidad, in French communauté, describing a group of people living together.

Readers may remember a few issues ago we reviewed Royce Gruenler’s important book The Trinity in the Gospel of John, which is a close study of the perfect community in the Godhead.2 We Christians try to reflect that mutual love in our homes and in our ecclesiastical bodies, but, as fallen creatures, sometimes we fail.

What makes a good community? This issue looks at some of its elements, opening with a clear call from longtime CBE mentor Gilbert Bilezikian to reject the “overbearing leadership” in many churches that compels church members into “leaderolatry.” This, he points out, is not the New Testament model, where churches made joint decisions in a mutual submission that promotes healthy community. He then expands these views in an interview with Glen Scorgie, whose book The Journey Back to Eden was reviewed in our summer issue. Next, last year’s Evangelical Theological Society President Edwin Yamauchi explores the parameters of how unlovable Christian community members can get and still be accepted as he opens up for us the significance of Paul’s observation that some in the Colossian church community were Scythians. After reading about them and their habits, we may find that the “dragons” in our churches do not appear so intolerable to us. Trust is the adhesive that holds any community together, and Jennie Dugan takes us on a thorough and fascinating exploration of trust through an innovative application of psychologist Jack Gibb’s seminal approach to analyzing traits. Her article is the natural follow-through of our spring issue on gender justice. The beleaguered British politician Benjamin Disraeli, an object of great prejudice for his Jewish roots, once observed that “justice is truth in action.”3 Jennie shows us how an environment of truth produces positive traits that together forge trust. Another great promoter of community i...

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