Survival Through Community

“An interview with Charles Colson, author of Being the Body”

What do you hope to accomplish with Being the Body?

If it does nothing else than break Christians free of their dreadful individualism and lets them realize that you cannot be a Christian without being deeply committed to a part of the church, then it will have served a good purpose.

You say that the most profound picture of the church being the body is not in a successful megachurch, but in a gathering of society’s losers, namely prisoners. Why is a group of believers behind bars closer to God’s vision for Christ’s body than a suburban megachurch is?

Because they concentrate on what life is all about. They cannot be taken in by the trivial and the banal, because they have to fight for their faith. It is a matter of life and death inside the prisons, where Christians are often abused and discriminated against. They recognize that they can’t survive individually. They can only survive as a community.

We haven’t figured that out in the church on the outside. I love to be in prisons because there isn’t a person there who is not hungering for truth. The Christian church is the community against which the gates of hell can’t prevail, and the people in prison are up against the gates of hell.

You’re fervent about the church and yet you’ve devoted much of the past 30 years to working with parachurch organizations. What is the promise and what is the peril of the vast evangelical network of parachurch organizations?

What we mean by parachurch is that we come alongside the church—the confessing church, the church where the marks of the church are evident in the preaching of the gospel, the sacraments or ordinances, and discipline.

In Prison Fellowship, we’ve been as scrupulous as we could be in respecting the church. Our job is to equip the church—the local confessing community, the church particular—in its ministry to prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families. When you think you’re doing it on your own, apart from the church, you’re being disobedient to Christ’s command and to the structure that he has ordained. I think there’s a grave danger.

Organizations like World Vision, Prison Fellowship, and Samaritan’s Purse are on a mission from the local church. Local church people support it, because we can feed the poor more efficiently through something like World Vision. It is an aid to the principal thrust, which has to belong to the local church.

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also in this issue

Why is Gracia Alone? Martin Burnham's widow says the proper ransom could have saved her husband. The missions community is not so sure.

Cover Story

Did Martin Die Needlessly?

The Book on Tape (Not Tapes)

A Taste for Blood and Grace

A Bubbly Invitation

Beyond Condoms

Forced by Logic

No Strings Attached

Masters of Philosophy

New Leader at Focus

"Lutherans, Presbyterians Cut Budgets"

No Religion-Based Zoning

Quotation Marks

Youth in a Haze

Cross Purposes

"Jazz, Jesus, and Liberation"

Put Yourself in Jesus Shoes

Damping the Fuse in Iraq

Songs from the Soul

Criminal Faith

Faith-based Bathing

Roe vs. Judicial Sense

Christ via Judaism

Rabbit Trails to God

Navigating Life Storms

Going It Alone

Breakthrough Dancing

Hit by the SARS Tornado

Inside CT : Dogging the Story

News

Go Figure

2003 Christianity Today Book Awards

Faith-Based Lite

NAE Rights Its Ship

Time for Assertive Evangelicalism

'Boston Movement' Apologizes

Fending off Hindutva

Protestants Face Police Crackdown

Threatened Aid Groups Retreat

SARS Comes to Church

Peace Process Criticized

News

Go Figure

Letters

Jesus' Sins?

Paige Ripped

Quotation Marks

Mystery Illnesses

Vanity Watch

The Mother of All Liberties

Walk Humbly

Connecting Colson's Dots

Harleys in Heaven

Rites of Passage

View issue

Our Latest

News

Meet the Evangelical Expats Staying in Lebanon

Shout to the Lord in a Foreign Language

Worshiping God with words we don’t understand may seem strange. But I consider it a spiritual practice.

Jesus Is Still Right About Persecution

Nine truths believers need to understand to pray well for the suffering body of Christ.

The Bulletin

Electioneering

The Bulletin discusses the final presidential campaign push, churches in the age of screens, and the UN’s work in Gaza.

News

Argentina Moves to Officially Celebrate Its Evangelicals

Leaders are grateful for the government recognition but hope for further progress.

All Saints Die

Our yearly reminder for Christians neither to run from nor to leap toward death, but to learn the art of dying well.

 

 

 

 

The Antidote to Election Anxiety

My community is the kind you see in articles hyping the threat of political violence. Reality is more mundane—and hopeful.

News

Steven Curtis Chapman Joins Country Music Royalty

The Christian music star is the first in the industry to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube