Dietrich Bonhoeffer shows leaders how to step into real Christian community and keep it healthy, through a shared rhythm, humble service, and honest confession.
- 1
Gift, not ideal
Community is God's reality in Christ; let your wishful image of it break.
- 2
Spiritual love
Love others for Christ's sake, not to remake them in your image.
- 3
Together and alone
Share the day's Scripture, song, prayer, and table; then guard time alone with God.
- 4
Serve one another
Hold your tongue, listen, help, and bear with others before you speak.
- 5
Confess and reconcile
Confession breaks through to real community; reconcile before you gather at the table.
Developing Virtues with the Skill Shelf
Bonhoeffer's practices train Justice: giving God and one another what is due in a community ordered under Christ. Ending the contest over who is greatest builds Humility. Bearing one another's burdens and sins grows Mercy. Refusing a "pious" fellowship that hides sin calls for Candor. Confessing to a brother and settling offenses before the Lord's Supper practices Reconciliation.
Try This Week
For seven days, don't speak about any member of your team or group who isn't present. Each day, pray for each of them by name. Notice how your view of them changes.
The Resilient Leader's Library · Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Life Together Playbook
Bonhoeffer's guide to Christian community, drawn from his underground seminary. Community is God's gift to receive, not an ideal to build, and it stays healthy through a shared rhythm, humble service, and honest confession.
Stepping In
Enter the community God has givenGift, Not Ideal
- Community is God's reality, not our project
- Your "wishful image" must break
- God replaces our fantasy with real community
- Name what you expected your group to be
- Thank God for one real person in it
Spiritual Love
- Emotional love loves others for its own sake
- Spiritual love sees others as Christ sees them
- Ask: "Am I remaking this person in my image?"
- Release one attempt to control someone
The Day Together
- Scripture, song, and prayer open the shared day
- The common table and work bind members together
- Commit to one recurring shared practice
- Show up even when it feels ordinary
Staying Healthy
Keep the community you have enteredThe Day Alone
- Solitude and community need each other
- Silence, Scripture, and intercession keep you healthy
- Keep a daily time of silence with Scripture
- Pray for each group member by name
Serve One Another
- Stop asking who is greatest
- Authority grows only out of service
- Don't speak about anyone who isn't present
- Let yourself be interrupted for someone's need
Confess and Reconcile
- A "pious" community that hides sin leaves people alone
- Confession to a brother breaks through to community
- Settle one offense before you next gather
- Find one trusted brother to confess to
The Order of Service
Bonhoeffer builds the services in order: the quiet ones earn the right to speak, and spiritual authority rests on all of them.
Community is received, not engineered. A leader who loves his dream of community will wear it down; a leader who serves the people actually in front of him builds it.
Source: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Fortress Press, 2015; Reader's Edition, trans. Daniel W. Bloesch; first published in German, 1939). Chapter names shown in italics. Ideas are paraphrased.
"Stepping In" and "Staying Healthy" are this playbook's arrangement of Bonhoeffer's chapters, not his own framework. · The Resilient Leader's Library · This Resilient Soul
Cover image courtesy of Open Library.
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