The power of community

I made this post on Facebook yesterday:

Within the hour I had people sending me messages about where I could get wood and even several saying they had extra I could have. For me, it was a beautiful picture of the power of community—when God’s people step out to be the very hands and feet of Jesus.

I’ve seen it all over social media as people have stepped forward to help others who have been impacted by these storms. As devastating as they are it’s beautiful to see the church being the church!

When I think about the power of community, I can't help but picture what it must have been like for the disciples as they followed Jesus during those pivotal three years of His ministry. I bet it was fun, exciting, and altogether amazing as they witnessed miracle after miracle and heard parable after parable. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during those years.

When I was younger—especially when I entered middle school—community was everything. If you didn’t have any friends school was hard, lonely, and just miserable. There are two types of community—there’s the community of God’s people and the community of wanting to please the world. I’ve been part of both and let me tell you: trying to please the world is exhausting, unfulfilling, and a waste of your time.

In middle school, I wanted to be that popular kid. I wanted to fit in. I wanted to be liked by everyone—to the point, I was frantic over the very clothes that I wore. My first day of sixth grade almost began as a disaster. As soon as I stepped off the bus at school, I had a clothing malfunction—big time.

I was wearing cargo pants. But it gets better. They zipped up the sides. Yeah, I know. Well, one of the zippers unzipped—still to this day not sure how—and immediately I felt the cool breeze of that early morning shoot up my leg. My heart froze, I stood still and tried to repair it before the humiliation began.

To my fortune, I got the zipper working again before anyone had a chance to realize what had happened. And when I say the zipper unzipped—let’s just say my entire leg was getting some sun. It could have been terrible.

Why do I share this silly story? Well, it’s a picture of trying to find the wrong community—focusing on caring too much about what others think. I wanted to wear these pants because I thought if I did people would think I was cooler than I was. I don’t wear cargo pants with zippers anymore but I also don’t care what others think of me anymore. I live for an audience of One—and ultimately, what the Lord says matters more to me than what anyone else says.

The community I was seeking in middle school was not a community that sought to encourage, build up, and truly love me for who I was. The church—God’s people—is a community that fulfills the longing every human has: to truly be loved.

I love God’s church because every person who is part of God’s family is my brother or sister in Christ. Whether they are here in Florida or overseas, we are a part of one community seeking to love God and love wells. I have found the power of community in God’s church is not in the people but what binds them together—Jesus!

Today, as I write this and as we await the arrival of Hurricane Milton, I am amazed at how the community around us is preparing together for this storm. That’s what we are supposed to do. And when the lost world sees the church being the church they can’t help but ask—why?

And that why can lead to gospel conversations that can invite others to be a part of the true power of community.

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Photo by Kimson Doan on Unsplash