Nine Distinctives of the Church

How to be friends
● Affirm strengths & abilities & gifts
● Affirm equal importance
● Affirm through visible affection

How to be family
● Share space & possessions (hospitality)
● Share needs & problems
● Share beliefs & spirituality

How to be servants
● Accountability
● Forgiveness & reconciliation
● Serve one another’s interests instead of our own

God means his church to be a community of mutual support. “Comfort one another”, Paul writes (1 Thess. 4:18); “encourage one another,” and “build each other up” (1 Thess. 5:11) … The word “one another” or “each other” (alleloi) emphasizes the reciprocity of Christian care. We are not to leave it to an elite of professional comforters or counselors. These have an important role to fulfill, of course, but supporting, caring, encouraging and comforting are ministries which belong to all members of the Body of Christ.

--- John Stott