Bayith - Thoughts on Community

​‘Bayith’ is the Hebrew word for ‘House’ or better defined as a family of those belonging to the same House. I love this concept of family, or those of us belonging to the same house.
 
One of our basic human needs is a need to belong to a group of people you could call your ‘tribe’. Your ‘tribe’ is like-minded individuals who you can and want to share life with.
 
For centuries God gave us our families and in our early years we very much needed for them for formation, love and sustenance. Then comes our teenage years where we individuate and we find another tribe that is our peers. Our peers give us a sense of identity through reflection and belonging.
 
As we mature and come into our adult years, we find our tribe in our church, baseball club, golfing or fishing buddies, or girlfriends. All that to say, we are happy to share life with these individuals, and they are our people or in the Hebrew context our ’Bayith’.
 
God has in many ways, become our Bayith, our Strong Tower, our Refuge, our Dwelling Place, and in Him we find fullness of everything lacking in our lives.
 
He has given us a people we call Church, better defined Ecclesia, or called out ones, of a group of like-minded individuals that love the Lord and extol His virtues.
 
No matter where you travel in the world, if you meet up with the Church, you have found family, and you are home again. To me this is the real meaning of Bayith.
 
Our founders, Christine Olding and Merrill Davies have a vision for a stronger community, a Bayiith, where we can grow together and make a difference in the world around us.

• Steve Ongo, Catch the Fire Barrie - Associate Pastor