A couple of days ago, I introduced something new that I see myself doing in life, "Building Community." When you first read it, that may seem like a rather vague notion. What do you do to build community? Which community? How do you build something that is a bit of a vague notion in the first place? So today I wanted to think about those for a few moments.
I see several avenues of building community. One is in the church that I am part of. One thing that God makes very clear is that He wants His people constantly working on how they live their lives together. We all have times where little squabbles break out, or where we want to see something done while another person wants something else done. Being human, it means that we will inevitably sin against one another and hurt one another, and so those kind of things need to be dealt with. That's one avenue.
Another one is simply being a good influence and participant with those people with whom I come in regular contact. There are a number of places that I go to quite regularly, and I see some people in those places quite often. Getting to know them, finding out what is important in their lives, and if there is anything of value that I can contribute to their lives are ways of building up community.
There may also be ways that I haven't previously thought of to be active and at work in the overall community in which I live. Part of this challenge may be to identify areas of the community in which I can participate, and then find ways to interact with the people of the community to make it a better community. Part of this involves the discovery of what needs to be done in the community, and then figuring out where my gifts, talents, and time could best be invested.
It's an adventure and a challenge. As with so many things recently, it also reminds me that I cannot do all of this myself. That's the critical thing about community. Sometimes you even have to build up a community to support you in the various things that you seek to do on a personal level. A challenge, yes. But one that I really look forward to engaging in!
I see several avenues of building community. One is in the church that I am part of. One thing that God makes very clear is that He wants His people constantly working on how they live their lives together. We all have times where little squabbles break out, or where we want to see something done while another person wants something else done. Being human, it means that we will inevitably sin against one another and hurt one another, and so those kind of things need to be dealt with. That's one avenue.
Another one is simply being a good influence and participant with those people with whom I come in regular contact. There are a number of places that I go to quite regularly, and I see some people in those places quite often. Getting to know them, finding out what is important in their lives, and if there is anything of value that I can contribute to their lives are ways of building up community.
There may also be ways that I haven't previously thought of to be active and at work in the overall community in which I live. Part of this challenge may be to identify areas of the community in which I can participate, and then find ways to interact with the people of the community to make it a better community. Part of this involves the discovery of what needs to be done in the community, and then figuring out where my gifts, talents, and time could best be invested.
It's an adventure and a challenge. As with so many things recently, it also reminds me that I cannot do all of this myself. That's the critical thing about community. Sometimes you even have to build up a community to support you in the various things that you seek to do on a personal level. A challenge, yes. But one that I really look forward to engaging in!
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