Beloved Community

Beloved Community Series Overview

On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit made a new kind of community possible, an inclusive community rooted in mutual love, understanding, provision and truth. When we look around today, this type of community can seem like a distant dream. Yet, the Spirit of Pentecost is still among us today, empowering and calling us to live into the Beloved Community that God desires for us. This series helps us to reclaim that vision, to follow Jesus’ call to justice and care, and to intentionally living as Beloved Community. 

This series was created by members of EPA&GNJ’s Commissions on Religions and Race and EPA’s Healing the Wounds of Racism.

Week 1: The Vision of Beloved Community | Acts 2:1-21
Beloved Community can feel like a distant or unrealistic goal but Acts 2 tells us that the Holy Spirit is already creating and calling us into a fully inclusive, mutually supportive community.

Week 2: What Hinders Beloved Community? | Matthew 23:1-5, 37-39
Jesus laments the absence of Beloved Community when the expressions and traditions of our faith become empty gestures, or worse, tools of cruelty. He calls us to listen to the truthtellers in our midst.

Week 3: Moving Toward Beloved Community | Matthew 25:35-40
Beloved Community begins with seeing Christ in one another—especially in the most vulnerable—and responding not only with acts of mercy but with the commitment to create a more just world.  

Week 4: Living Out the Beloved Community | Romans 12:9-21
Beloved Community is not an optional add-on. It is an intentional and active way of life that we are empowered to live daily by the Holy Spirit. It is hard, beautiful, and worth it.