Ever since I graduated from Mason the Summer of 2012, I have had really difficult time finding and staying involved in community. I have become aware that this is something that I NEED in order to be held accountable and to flourish as a Christian. I feel like I am fighting a losing battle trying to get plugged in to a church. It seems like every time I am on the cusp of getting involved or developing deeper friendships something happens.
After graduating I moved to Charlotte for 6 months. My church there was AMAZING!! I was leading in the youth group and I had joined a small group. The small group was young adults who were both married and single, which was EXACTLY what I wanted. We met for about two months before the leaders made the decision to move to New York City. I had developed a pretty good relationship with the female leader, so I was excited for her, but also super bummed that she was leaving. So after they moved the small group pretty much fizzled out.
When I moved back to Virginia I attempted to get involved in several churches’ community groups or small groups and it was like swimming up stream. One church would only let you join a small group during certain times of the year and would not let single’s be in a small group with married couples.
Another church I went to had almost 200 small groups. I tried one of them. It was called “Living out your Spiritual Gifts”. I was hoping to learn more about what gifts I possess that could help me in ministry and in life. I was not hoping to be told on my first visit that Jesus would be coming back in 2015 and that demons were going to convince everyone “left behind” that they were actually aliens. Suffice it to say, I never really felt excited about going back.
I am currently attempting to get involved at a different church. So far I really like the people and the way that the church functions. Over the last two months I have only been able to go to a community group 2 times. Last night was really difficult for me. I went to the group only to find out that they were not actually meeting. This was not that big of a deal. The huge blow was finding out that in two weeks, when I would be able to attend again (due to my schedule) they would not be meeting again. So I realized that I will not be able to attend this community group again for another month.
One of the things I was told when I got accepted to the World Race was that I needed to be in a small group up until I leave for the Race. I feel like over the last two years this has been an area in my life that Satan has been winning and I have been letting him.
Now I am choosing to fight. It is SO HARD!!! Everyday it is hard, to not be in community. It was effortless in college, wasn’t it?!?! I could literally text 30 of my closest friends and we would be able to all meet up in an hour. NOW however I only see the friend I hangout with the most every other week. It feels like I have to go through month and a half long cycles with my other friends because there is never enough time to see everyone I love.
I know the value of community. It is beneficial for growth, sharing in joy, intercessary prayer and edification. I know that without community it is easy to become stagnant and lose focus on the Cross.
Have you ever had to fight hard for community? What was the biggest obstacle? How did you overcome it?
Just a heads up….. Here are my funding deadlines(I am currently at 1% of my funding goal):
- $3,500 – Due 2 weeks before Training Camp (October 2014 sometime)
- $7,500 – Due 12/18/2014 (2 weeks prior to my trip)
- $11,000 – Due 4/1/2015 (End of 3 months on the field)
- $15,500.00 + $742.60 (*Insurance) = $16,242.60 – Total Due 7/1/2015 (End of 6 months on the field)
