It has always been a dream of mine to be on mission ¤ together ¤ in community. When I think about the World Race and all that it is about, it is this part that I am looking forward to the most. It seems to have the most potential to be where we empower and call each other into greatness and while helping each other drink from the cup of suffering that so often is sanctification.
Last week at training camp, I gained a new family. In the backwoods of White, Georgia, 50 strangers came together as Q squad and met the people we had committed to love and serve for the next year. We were also given our teams, groups of 7 who we would live with in close proximity. For the first month on the field, Q squad will be together, after that our respective teams will be at different ministries, sometimes with other teams, sometimes not.
God had many things for me, too many for me to write all about. The moments I had of deep joy and contentment were primarily found in the simple pleasures of community that is going to be my life for the next year: Early morning Scripture reading while sitting under a tree with Britney and Zack; overhearing a conversation between Aline and Phil about a passage in Romans right before bed; Megan and Amanda reaching out to me saying, let’s talk because I haven’t spent any time with you yet, Karah, Megan and Mary holding my shoulders, looking me in the eye and speaking truth over me, Sharing my story with Alexis, Hearing people share theirs, and learning the details so we can start to learn how to love each other well. That combined with the moments in teaching and ministry session where God brought up my “stuff” again and spoke the words of life and love I so deeply needed again were the best parts.
We learned about feedback and the 24 hour rule. If anyone in the squad has an issue with another member and then talks about it, she is given 24 hours to go and talk to the person directly. If she doesn’t then her team member will go with her and they will have this talk together. We will learn the art of pointing out the times when we fall short and calling each other into greatness
It’s this part that I think will most challenge me in the next year. We are used to doing our own thing in our own way. We often live close enough to community to feel a sense of connection but far enough away that we can stay distant from someone if there's tension. We can avoid the vulnerability of needing people to come around us when we're weak and the pain that follows when they fall short. We can avoid the obligation to give sacrificially to those in need around us by claiming ignorance.
This will be impossible in the context of living and working with the same people 247.
We see a lot of symptoms of our individualism and lack of feedback in our families, communities and churches: People leave small groups because they feel misunderstood, people talk about other people, people ignore people they don’t particularly like, people participate in church for years but manage to hide their sin or come soul sick and remain uncared for.
One my motivations in going on the World Race is that I might come back having learned what it is to make the constant daily decisions to lay down my life, to love and serve those around me the way Jesus has called me to.
How about you? What conversations do you need to have? What systems of feedback might need to be put in place to move your group towards the vision of biblical community functioning like a family?
