In a Big Talks video posted in January of this year, Harvard researcher Robert Waldinger spoke about how loneliness is killing us. 

He defined loneliness as "the sense that I am less connected to other people than I want to be." 

He went on to say that "loneliness is pervasive across the world, across all age groups, all income groups, all demographics." 

"Loneliness" according to one study he cited, "is as dangerous to our health as smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day." 

According to Scripture, we were never meant to experience loneliness. We were created in the image of God to abound in loving and meaningful relationships. 

And yet our world is profoundly broken. 

It's interesting to see what happened when the Good News of Jesus broke out upon the world after his death and resurrection. New communities of faith were born in which their devotion to one another led them to see each other as a new family. 

In fact, for the earliest Christians, "church" wasn't so much an event to attend as a family in which you belonged. 

And that family was marked by loving and supporting and praying and encouraging and honoring one another. 

We're going to explore this first century phenomenon and see what it means for us today as we follow Jesus in a new way of being human. 

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