{Be Loving} 3 Steps to a Better Community

This last fall, I was living in a close-knit community. When I say that, I mean I was living in a 4-bedroom house with 23 people with another 20 down the road in another house (we were all working for a non-profit doing outreach, events, worship nights, nationwide tours, and more in the southern California area).

With 24 people in one house, community just happens. You never eat a meal alone (unless you try really hard), you always have someone to pray with you, there’s always a Bible study going on, worship happening…the list goes on. 

Obviously the situation I’ve been living in is quite an unique one. Back home I was a part of two small groups from my church which meant I met with a group of people six times a month outside of church. Over the last few months I’ve reflected on what those communities look like versus the one I’ve been engrossed in recently. 

There’s nothing wrong with the small groups back I’ve been a part of back home but that said, there is such a difference between seeing your 24-family members everyday versus once a week. The honesty, intimacy, and overall wildness about Jesus you get when living in community is different than visiting it once or twice a week.

So the question I want to present today is not how do we start community. We aspire to be apart of a growing community,  especially ones that are Christ-centered, Gospel-focused, walking in spirit and truth, living in freedom, and are making disciples. I’ve been praying about this quite often and I keep hearing the same thing – you don’t start, you revive. 

I wanted to give a couple steps to cultivate the kind of culture that I experienced the last few months that I want to experience always. It is a culture of true community living out of strength from The Lord relying on Him for every step and every move.

1. Love intimacy – Being with Jesus transforms us. The nearer we are to Him, we overflow His love. That means spending time with Him though prayer, worship, reading your Bible, and more. Get creative and paint or dance! Sing to Him freely and thank Him for all He’s done. When we strive to get freedom, we hardly ever get it. But when we release ourselves to His love, He has space to work in our lives and change everything. 

2. Set up meetings outside of your normal ones – if you meet once a week as a part of church, try to set up meetings outside of that. That could look like a lot of different things from having lunch at school with another girl and sharing what God is doing in your lives to meeting at Starbucks for a small Bible study with 3 other girls to even set up skype/facetime dates just to check in and share His love and light with each other. Consistency in community is key to growth! 

3. Be honest and real / be accountable – There shouldn’t be any shame in struggle. Now that doesn’t mean you need to confess your deepest fears and downfalls in front of a room of 40 people, but there is great value in being open, honest, and real.  The masks that we wear need a safe place to dissolve. When we are real, it opens up opportunity to be accountable within your community. Keep a prayer journal and check up on your friends who need help, get together with leaders and be open with them about your concerns. Know that loving freely comes from a place where our walls are down. 

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When it comes down to starting something new, or reviving something that’s already existing, it can’t be done in our strength. We can try and perhaps do quite well depending on the circumstances but at the end of the day, the transformation comes straight (and only) from God.

When we release ourselves to His love, we release ourselves to greater things and freedom and joy that we cannot achieve by ourselves. We carry authority in Christ and give permission with out lifestyle for others to step into the freedom and revelation we carry. 

We cannot force it, and if we try to usually not much comes of it except for frustration. We can however initiate the change by living life out of intimacy with Jesus, being consistent, and being vulnerable. The freedom, the love, and the community He has for us is never ending!