The Church was the focal point of medieval community life. Religious rituals, such as attending sermons or performing the Office of the Dead at funerals, brought community members together. Meanwhile, texts copied in monasteries and circulated from town-to-town by mendicant friars helped to develop a shared identity rooted in Christian worship. 

It was not uncommon in medieval communities for religion to intersect with economics and politics. Mendicant friars were peacemakers in political disputes, preachers laid out moral guidelines for merchants, and merchants donated to religious causes and funded church construction. As a whole, the medieval community was a complex web often held together by the Church.

Medieval communities were also exclusive in nature, though marginalized groups still managed to participate in medieval society in significant ways. Women played a central role in the production of religious materials and even occasionally served as preachers, while Jews fulfilled important roles as bankers and moneylenders in many communities.