At the centre of this framework is the Jesus-shaped community. Community is sustained by creation, in that we live our lives of faith in this created world, but it also strives towards the new future promised by God. As the model expresses it, the human community at the centre of our framework is “shaped" by Jesus.
It is empowered by the truth of Jesus' resurrection: the first sign of the new creation. Through this empowerment, the people of God are asked to live in the light of the new future, as a sign and agent of God's kingdom. Living this way means promoting God's activity, mirroring God's character, and working for liberation from evil in all its forms as a foretaste of the new future to which we strive. We are to take seriously that Jesus announced “good news for the poor" (Mt 11:5, Lk 4:18) and criticised (directly and through parables) the oppressive religious, political and economic situation of the Jewish people under the Romans and their collaborators. In line with the work of Jesus the people of God are called to live in accordance with the purposes of God and to work for the common good of humanity. Despite the tendency for sin (our weakness of flesh) to sabotage this work, we have the promise of the Spirit of Christ who can continue to shape us to follow him.
Following Jesus means being partners in transforming the world so that it comes closer to the future God intends. It means speaking truth about injustice and grieving with those who suffer. It means being people of hope, embodying this in our lives through committed action. And it means being humble, acknowledging our complicity in injustice and the way we have benefited from the unequal distribution of resources from God's good creation.
The lives we live in this world empowered and shaped by the Spirit, committed to love, justice and faithfulness are a response to God's grace in Christ and an act of worship. In a world characterised by exploitation, competition, division and economic disparity; being a Jesus-shaped community means being committed to conservation, cooperation, harmony and a fair distribution of goods. It means recognising each person's dignity; encouraging solidarity, commitment and service of others neighbour; building peace and justice. A Jesus-shaped community will be characterised by the qualities we have seen in God, incarnated through Jesus, empowered by the Spirit.
The Jesus-shaped community is in the middle of this paradigm because it embodies the tension between present realities and the promises of God. We have the responsibility of working both individually and communally to respond to the needs around us, both in the present and by organising and structuring society for the future. We know that we are not solely capable of achieving God's kingdom on earth. But we also know that in this in-between time it is we who represent the body of Christ to a needy world. In Jesus' words: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me" (Matt 25:35-36, NRSV).
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