Addressing Christians' involvement in the community, the Christian writer Tertullian wrote:
"Do we not dwell beside you, sharing your way of life, your dress, your habits and the same needs of life? We are no Brahmins or Indian gymnosophists, dwelling in woods and exiled from life...We stay beside you in this world, making use of the forum, the provision-market, the bath, the booth, the workshop, the inn, the weekly market, and all other places of commerce. We sail with you, fight at your side, till the soil with you, and traffic with you; we likewise join our technical skill to that of others, and make our works public property for your use."
Wow! The early Christians were not a society of separatists. They engaged in the life of the city. They socialized with their neighbors. The looked out for them. What about your church? Is it part of the warp and woof of the community?
Entire post quoted from: The Externally Focused Church by Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson
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