Community. It’s hard to find and even harder to lose.
Recently, I made a cross country move. When you make a major move, there are certain hardships you expect. Leaving friends, finding a new job, learning a new city. Yet, surprisingly, there’s been a spiritual impact as well.
It’s taken me a while to process that. One of the conclusions I’ve come to through this time is that the spiritual struggles I’ve been facing have a lot to do with Christian community. I left a great church behind, one where I had experienced true Christian community for maybe the first time ever.
I’ve been reminded of the early church. At the end of Acts 2, we see a few interesting characteristics of the early church.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (v. 42)
“All the believers were together and had everything in common.” (v. 44)
“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (vs 46-47)
Do you see the relationships they intentionally formed? Fellowship brought them joy and favor with others. It also drew others to the Lord.
If you find your faith stalling, I’d challenge you to ask yourself a few questions. How much time do you spend with the Lord in prayer and the study of His word? If you’re faithful in that, consider your relationship to other believers. Who knows… maybe community is what you’re lacking. We need each other to spur on growth. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Candle Sutton 