Living in community with other believer’s has had more influence on my beliefs and challenged me as a person than any other event in my life. Before I explain how, it would probably be helpful to have a little background information. I grew up with my mom and sister for the most part. I love them both dearly and my mom did a great job as a single mother However, being the only male in our home I tended to stick to myself and at an early age became very independent. I started working at 14 and once I had a car spent the majority of my time away from the home. I learned to take care of myself and thought as long as I am doing that, I was doing a favor to my family and anyone around me. While I no longer believe that narrative, it took a community to come to that conclusion.
I completely stumbled on living in community about 4 years ago. A great friend of mine, Mark invited me to dinner at a guy’s house he met at a local coffee shop. I tagged along and proceeded to meet the most authentic group of people I know. That particular night there were a dozen people seated on the floor around a short table. The meal was a fondue spread that we ate on pottery created by Ford the guy from the coffee shop. The house was decorated with vintage furniture and local art adorn the walls. In the background, there was some unknown indie group playing. The atmosphere shocked my senses at once due to the hospitality and attention to detail.
Each person I met that night was completely different from the next. There was the ridiculously talented guitar player from Omaha, the potter who rides a 10 speed bike everywhere and knows everyone, the computer coder who likes to talk philosophy, the wife who writes government grants in her spare time, the other wife who manages her husbands startup business and the quiet intellectual. I could tell these people share a bond like I had never experienced. I came to find out that all these people and more had moved from all over the country to intentionally live in Christian community. I quickly grew to love these people and moved in with Ford in a matter of weeks. I saw this community of people expand and experienced the growing pleasures and pains of living in close proximity. As a person I was challenged on many fronts, including what it means to sacrifice and love someone outside of your family, what Christ meant when he spoke of the body, how to interact with people who have different life narratives and how to share individual and collective resources to name only a few.
I lived within that community of 60 or so people for 2 years and consider it the most influential long term experience. I continue to live in community today in Washington, DC with a family from that group. Looking back I see nothing less than God’s hand at work to correct the narrative that was so detrimental to me as a teenager.
