Following on from the theme I began in the PIFA August newsletter, let us explore another aspect of St Augustine’s contrast between the City of God and the City of Man:
The City of God Builds Community, Not Radical Individualism.
Put simply, the City of Man says, “I belong to myself,” while the City of God says, “We belong to one another.”
In the Western world, we live within a culture that prizes autonomy, independence, and self-determination. The prevailing belief is that freedom is found in self-sufficiency and unrestricted personal choice: “I’ll call my own shots, do things my way, live life on my terms, and answer to no one.” This relentless message of self-sovereignty lies at the heart of the City of Man, yet it is fundamentally at odds with the City of God, where freedom is discovered not in radical independence but in loving relationship with God and belonging to one another.
Central to Christianity is the invitation to enter an entirely different Kingdom, one that is diametrically opposed to the values and priorities of the world. In God’s Kingdom, identity is not rooted in self-ownership but in relationship: relationship with God and relationship with one another.
The Apostle Paul, writing to the Church in Corinth reveals this foundational truth. Believers are interconnected. We are not merely individuals who happen to gather in the same place; we are people whose lives are joined together by God’s design. The health of one member affects the whole body, and the flourishing of the whole body contributes to the flourishing of each member.
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”
1 Corinthians 12:12
This image of the Body of Christ challenges the radical individualism so prevalent in our society. Followers of Jesus are created for belonging, not isolation; for community, not independence; for mutual care, not self-interest. Whilst our relationship with Christ is personal, He intended that we walk out our faith in close brotherly relationships of accountability and sacrificial love.
The early Church understood this well. Believers shared their lives, supported one another, carried each other’s burdens, and learned what it meant to live as a covenant community. They recognised that spiritual growth is not simply an individual pursuit, but something nurtured within authentic relationships.
I find this most beautifully expressed in the following verses from Acts 2: 42-27:
The Fellowship of the Believers
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
God wants us to share our lives with one another in powerful expressions of Koinonia – intimate, shared lives of love, faith and encouragement.
This is where the concept of relational equity becomes so important. Just as financial equity is built over time through consistent investment, relational equity is built through trust, shared experience, faithfulness, service, encouragement, and mutual care. It is developed when we show up for one another in both the ordinary moments of life and in times of joy, challenge, and suffering. It takes time, persistence and consistency to reach a level of relational equity that becomes a powerful tool for Kingdom advance.
In stewarding the sphere of influence entrusted to me, I have witnessed firsthand the remarkable gift of relational equity in furthering God’s Kingdom purposes. Once established, it fosters the trust necessary for the Body of Christ to function as one inter-connected, expression of Christ in a world experiencing increasing loneliness, fragmentation, and disconnection.
The City of Man says, “I belong to myself.”
The City of God says, “We belong to one another.”
As followers of Christ, may we continue to build communities marked by love, trust, mutual responsibility, and relational equity, bearing witness to the Kingdom of God in a world longing for genuine connection and belonging.
