Community
By Luis Cuevas, Reosnate Bosie
“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community... Let him who is not in community beware of being alone... Each by itself has profound perils and pitfalls. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
College was a formative time for me to start to see what community looked like. When I joined the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, I was the only Christian in the house. I was sure that my faith was solid enough to get me through hard moments, but I can tell you during those first nine months I had many crises of faith. I turned to sin to satisfy my desires, and I ran to accolades to validate my self worth.
Throughout my freshmen year , I started to develop friendships with believers in different fraternities and sororities. A group of comrades started to form who all grew in vision for reaching their peers in their respective houses. We would pray together, live on mission together, and enjoy life with one another. They were my biggest support team and encouragement as I tried to live out my faith in a very difficult environment. I have moments where I think back on all of the things God did through our crew: church planters sent out on mission, people saved and baptized, and a gospel movement started that we did not know we could ever be a part of. Many people in our church have found this type of community at Resonate over the years, and the last few months have made it difficult to stay connected to others.
Scripture paints a picture of the church being a tight knit community that has intimacy and depth. In his letter to the church in Colossae, during his house arrest, Paul admonishes the church and says:
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
No one knows the value of community like the Apostle Paul. Even under house arrest he charges some of his faithful friends to join him in isolation, knowing that fellowship with other believers was an essential part of the Christian faith. As he writes his letter to the church he reminds us that we are to be one body, and we are to do a few things to grow in this body. I know many of you reading this are sitting at home thinking “How on earth do I still stay connected to my community while I am now hundreds or maybe thousands of literal or proverbial miles, away from anyone?” Here are a few encouragements I wanted to write to you while under what feels like house arrest during this season:
1.Stay Connected with Village
You need other people during this season even if they aren’t in your physical presence. Paul would think about and pray for his community even while thousands of miles away from his friends. He often would yearn to be with them face to face, but knew that wasn’t at all possible. They didn't have Facetime, TikTok, Instagram, Houseparty or any of the technology we have today for instant connection. At your fingertips, you have access to every single person who was a part of your community back at school or in your old village. Take advantage of digital moments to connect with those people. For many of you these will be the people, by God’s grace, who will be your family when you get back to school in the fall or have become your family as you have weathered this storm. Make it to that village call after church, throughout the week, call your friends and set zoom call dates so that you don’t miss a beat. Be the community you were when you were in close proximity, even if you are now not able to see them in person. I am sure Paul would look at us now lamenting about having to connect on zoom and think how lucky we are to have the ability to virtually see the body of Christ whenever and wherever we are.
2. Stay Connected with your disciples
So school is now closed, or you're working from home, so your discipleship journey is over right? No. Throughout the book of Colossians, Paul disciples his people even though he is not in their physical presence. He takes his responsibility to ensure the growth of the churches he leads. Even from prison, he doesn't miss a step. There are likely more letters we’ll never see that Paul wrote to his disciples over the years while on mission in or out of prison. A global pandemic is no excuse for us to not continue discipling those we led when we were able to physically gather. It's harder, I know. Zoom calls and Facetime aren't ideal, but at least they are a starting place. You have more time to pour into the younger believers in your life than ever before. Take the opportunity now to help your disciples grow into the fullness of the knowledge of Jesus during this season like Paul writes in the beginning of Colossians.
3. Stay Connected with Jesus
Most of us don't have a traditional schedule, we have more flexibility than ever before, and can sleep in most mornings. During this season, connect with Jesus. He is the source of life and light. You need him to live this Christian life. During this season, consider waking up daily and jumping on a DT houseparty link, or a morning zoom call with other people to encourage each other in the word, and grow in your knowledge of God. While many things may be on pause, this season can be a season where your relationship with Jesus grows tenfold. What if God used this season of our lives to grow us in ways we never could in the hurried lives we had before? Connect with Jesus, push your friends and family to sit and read with you, and lead yourself to a place of flourishing that God always intended for you. So that like Psalm 1 says we can be like a tree planted by a stream of water whose leaves do not wither.
For more reading on community check out this free PDF of Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
