Belong Believe Behave

We're in the business of introducing people to Jesus; to building an ever-growing community of people who love and serve him.  But what comes first when a new person comes along?

I've come out of a community of people who firmly taught that you believe first, then you belong, then you behave.  In practice they wanted you to believe first, then behave properly and finally you could belong.

In reaction to this I've known  people who say you need to belong before you believe.  While the church more broadly is known for its moralising and teaching people to behave properly before they can belong and believe.

How about we press into a new dynamic.  Lets leave arguments about the chronology of these processes behind, and begin to understand them like a triangle.  All three happen at the same time.  They all need to grow concurrently.  There's never going to be a single person who cannot belong more fully, believe more truly and behave in a more Godly way.  Everyone needs to be challenged in all three areas.

They're all linked as well... the nature of a triune God tells us that we need to be in community to believe properly and to behave/live in a Godly way.  If you want to behave you have to believe and belong, and if you want to belong properly you have to believe and behave.  No one is more or less important than the others.