Jean Vanier on Community and Growth

In Community and Growth, (p. 85,86) Jean Vanier exhorts us:

"Once it (a church community) has found its own identity and discovered how the Holy Spirit is guiding it, it must be very attentive to the manifestations of the Spirit in others. It should not believe that it is the only community to have the privilege of being inspired by the Holy Spirit;...



One of the signs of life in a community is the creation of links with others. An inward-looking community will die of suffocation. Living communities are linked to others, making up a huge reservoir of love for the world....It is a sign of maturity for a community to bind itself in friendship with others; it knows its own identity, so it doesn't need to make comparisons. It loves even the differences which distinguish it, because each community has its own gift which must flourish. These communities are complementary; they need each other. They are all branches of that unique community which is the church, the mystical body of Christ. He is the vine of which the communities are branches. I am always amazed by the multiplicity of communities which exist....Some are within the churches; others are outside any institution, bringing together young people with prophetic institution who are looking for a new way of life. All these communities are part of the vast invisible church. Each is unique."