Assembly

The community, as a community, plays the central role in the formation of adults. "It is precisely through the experience of the local community, through coming to be exposed to and immersed in its life of koinonia, leiturgia, didache, diakonia and kerygma, that the inquirer and later catechumen is drawn into the life of Christ as it is given expression in the body of the faithful."

The five Greek words used above are the hallmarks of a Christian community and were used by the early Church to understand the way in which the Holy Spirit worked in and through all of us, the Body of Christ. The first of these, koinonia, can be glossed as both community and communion. Through our communion with one another we are made one with Christ and thus are made one community. As the readings from the Book of Acts remind us throughout this Easter season, "The community of believers was of one heart and mind and…there was no needy person among them" (Acts 4:32-34). The second aspect of our community though which those coming to the Church may encounter Christ is leiturgia, our liturgy. Literally understood as the work of the people, the liturgy requires of all of us "full, conscious, and active participation" in the mysteries that we celebrate every Sunday as we gather to encounter God in the Word, the Eucharist, and one another. Didache is the instruction or teaching of the Church, the means through which we come to a deeper understanding of the Paschal mystery. In order that we can ourselves be teachers we must enrich our lived experience of the faith with the understanding that comes from reflection on the Word of God, the wisdom of the Church Fathers, and the writings of contemporary teachers of the faith. As a community of believers, gathered each Sunday to worship our savior, and seeking to form ourselves in the teachings of the Church, we become disciples and do the work of Christ. This service—diakonia—is our becoming the hands and feet of Christ, doing the work of the kingdom of heaven on earth. As we serve the Lord in the liturgy we must serve him wherever else we encounter him, such as Christ says, "whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40). Finally, kerygma is the witness and proclamation of our faith. As prophetic Church we must never be afraid to bear witness to Christ and the transformative power of his love for the world. When others see in us a community that witnesses to our faith as much in the marketplace and public sphere as in the church building, then they are drawn with us into a more intimate relationship with the life of Christ.

Morrill reminds us that within our community "there needs to be a quality of Christian living, a genuine concern for and interest in the catechumens, a commitment to surrounding the catechumens with prayer, a desire to lead them by example into the practice of Christian living, an openness and welcome into the heart of the community; into the homes of community members and into the numerous ways in which the community gathers. The community also needs to display a quality in its worship, the seriousness with which it takes its priestly role. In prophetic and kingly service the community also needs to be one that is committed to social action and gospel responsibility in the family and marketplace. The community will, finally, make available and provide the appropriate formation for those who will minister, on behalf of the community, in various capacities in the whole process of the journey of initiation." This is a tall order, but by virtue of our baptism we have been given the means along with the mission. Through our baptism we are invited to constantly be reborn in fellowship with Christ and one another through worship, teaching, service, and prophetic witness.