I’ve been rummaging around in the archives and discovered a post dated back in January. It is a written version of something that I talk about a lot in conversations about living the Jesus Way in a relational context. It was about the “new commandment” that Jesus gave His disciples (John 13:34-36″). You can read the whole post—I hope you do—but it essentially says the Savior expects us to seek out a community where we intentionally love and serve. We are to look for a people among whom we can live like Jesus with everybody; a community that balances the common values of love, truth and the Spirit.

The implication of this is that we can’t be casual about it. A command expects a deliberate response. So, where might we seek out what we’ve taken to call a “church of the heart”—assuming you don’t have one?

One obvious place might be a local church congregation. Seems like a no-brainer, right? Checking out a local church where, presumably, everyone is serious about Jesus seems a logical first step. Perhaps you can find a cluster of like-hearted friends there. On the other hand, not all local churches are fellowships where deep, meaningful, intimate and committed friendships prevail. Too many are impersonal, cold, and mechanical—clubs with religious by-laws.
Assuming you haven’t had much luck in a “church,” where else might you look? So as not to get to verbose with this post, I’m going to suggest two things that have been mentioned before here.

• A Summit Fellowship (call ’em what seems best to you, ie., house church, simple church, organic fellowship, and the list goes on…).
• A Sonship Study.

But there are other ways to seek out a church of the heart. I’ll suggest a few thoughts about intentionally search for one in future posts.