Peter Steinke in Healthy Congregations: A Systems Approach, has a chapter called "The Immune Congregation." In this chapter he states: "The immune system is a network of cells that recognize and attack foreign invaders. The system asks one profound question: What is self, and what is not self?" [p. 91]
A little later he applies this insight:
The community needs an immune response, to determine what is self and not self. The community needs to ask, for instance, if …
Exegetical Notes, by Brian Stoffregen