we are family

3 Reasons Why Joining an Online Family Can Be More Impactful than Joining a Community

Peter Guirguis Online Evangelism 101 Leave a Comment

Some times you visit a website and you find that its authors have successfully created a community to rally around its vision and purpose. It can be a powerful thing when people gather online to collaborate and give back to each other.

Here at Not Ashamed of the Gospel, we think that we can take the online community concept one step further.  Instead of being an online community, we want to be an online family sharing the digital Gospel with people around the world.

So why would Not Ashamed of the Gospel members consider themselves to be a part of a family? What are the benefits of being a part of the family as opposed to a community? Here are the top 3 answers:

1) You have been baptized into the family of Christ

If you are a Christian and have had a true conversion, then the Bible tells us that you are now a part of the family of God. It’s awesome to be a part of God’s family because the family cares about each other, loves one another, and serves the other members. The Bible tells us:

[sws_blockquote align=”” alignment=”” cite=”Galatians 3:27″ quotestyles=”style01″] For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [/sws_blockquote]

Since we have been adopted into the family of God, we can share the same vision and purpose. That vision and purpose will come from doing what God deeply cares about.  We know that God cares deeply about those who still do not know Him. Therefore, as a family we want to bring others to Jesus so that they can get to know Him like we do.  This is so we can obey God’s commandment of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.

2) The family of Christ is closer knit together than a community

When you think of the word “community”, what do you think of? Here’s the definition of “community” according to dictionary.com:

[sws_blockquote align=”” alignment=”” cite=”dictionary.com” quotestyles=”style01″] A social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually preceded by the): the business community; the community of scholars [/sws_blockquote]

Online communities are a great way to collaborate together and to gain insights from others. Many of the bloggers that I follow online have successfully created a community around their blog and kudos to them for doing that! A community of people with a purpose can really help you accomplish much more than doing things single handedly.

Now compare this to the definition of a family:

[sws_blockquote align=”” alignment=”” cite=”dictionary.com” quotestyles=”style01″]A group of persons who form a household under one head, including parents, children, and servants. [/sws_blockquote]

If you compare the two definitions, you have to admit that a family sounds more intimate than a community. Healthy Christians are more like a family because we have one bond that unites us all and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Going back to the definition above, Christians are like a household and Christ is our Head. We are made up of parents, children, brothers, and sisters who love each other and look out for each others best interests.  Just as important, we are also servants of God and through Him, we serve each other and we spread the Gospel to the rest of the world.

3)  The family of Christ has explosive power

When we become Christians, we become filled with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus promised His disciples that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them (Acts 1:8).

That’s what we as a family of believers have working through us. That same power is available to us today while we are evangelizing online or off-line. One of my favorite verses in is:

[sws_blockquote align=”” alignment=”” cite=”Zechariah 4:6″ quotestyles=”style01″]’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts. [/sws_blockquote]

We will never be a successful online family sharing the gospel with people unless we do it by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible tells us that when the disciples were all together in one accord, then that’s when the Holy Spirit fell upon them and that’s when they received tremendous power. Likewise, if we can gather together as a family of Christ online, then we can do great things that were never before conceived for the Kingdom of God.

You can become a part of your new online Christian family by actively participating in our evangelism efforts, writing insightful comments to our posts, and sharing the success stories that the Lord gives you in the area of digital evangelism. If you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe for free to keep up with all that’s going on with your online family.

[sws_button class=”” size=”sws_btn_large” align=”sws_btn_align_center” href=”https://notashamedofthegospel.com/stay-connected/” target=”_self” label=”Subscribe” template=”sws_btn_default” textcolor=”” bgcolor=”” bgcolorhover=”” glow=”sws_btn_glow”] [/sws_button]

Would you be interested in joining our online family here at Not Ashamed of the Gospel? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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