com·mu·ni·ty
n. 1. a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
n. 2. a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.
God exists in community, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we, as people created in the image of God, are also created to exist in community. The church is supposed to function as a community; Jesus instructed His followers to love one another as the primary way others will know we are His disciples. The church should also function as a family who encourages, prays, supports and equips one another while on the mission together… the church is not a meeting, nor a place, but a "family."
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
- John 13:34-35
To grow in COMMUNITY:
- We have Community Groups (mini-churches) meeting mid-week in homes all over Santa Cruz and the surrounding areas. The heart of these groups is to emulate the Early Church (Acts 2:20, Colossians 4:15) and its practice of meeting in smaller groups to study, pray and do life together. We see the larger weekend worship gathering as a collection of these smaller communities
- We try to create a sense of community among those who serve on ministry teams
- We have a lifestage within the larger community (ministry to women, mens, college, youth, etc).
- Vintage Kids is structured to allow children to worship and learn together with their families in the larger gatherings on a periodic basis.
The primary function of Vintage Faith Church's leadership is to focus on training and building into those serving as leaders in the community, so that its not just the paid staff caring for the community, but the community caring for and sustaining itself.
Because of the complexity of being a larger church, we see "community" as being broken down into smaller settings, since deeper community cannot necessarily happen in a large worship gathering once a week.