The other night I started packing my pack. It is the end of the month, time to move on. I started the routine that I have created, I started rolling all my clothes and squishing them into my packing cube. I let my mind wander and I started looking back on the previous month we spend and where I was the very time I started to pack.
I usually pack my bag the night before we leave and head to our next country. Some months are harder than others to pack your bags and realize the next day you will be leaving all the beautiful people you spent the month with. It is heartbreaking most times to leave the friends you have build community with. I realized as the months have gone on I have become more numb to leaving. I know it is coming so when that last night rolls around I pack without thinking of what I am leaving behind. Until this past month, when our hosts were too much a part of our lives to just forget them. I found myself fighting tears when I thought about leaving Zimbabwe behind and thinking of all the reasons I could stay.
That’s when the thought popped up in my head, as humans we aren’t meant to leave, God made us to stay.
[Sidebar: on the world race, yes, we have to leave. Staying would get us kicked off this amazing opportunity God has provided for us. We signed up for this and we know the requirements. So yes, we have to go, but it is hard and seems unnatural most months.]
But what does God want for us in ordinary situations?
Most people would say at some point they want to settle down, start a family, or be surrounded by a group of good friends. As far back as we know, people settled in tribes, people groups, and colonies. The ones who didn’t, well, we don’t hear about them because they didn’t make it. We found living together was better than living apart. Hunting was easier, growing crops was easier, surviving was easier. In communities, humanity thrives. People can teach others new skills and create new things. There is encouragement, laughter and even reprimanding. But in this circle of people, life happens; love happens.
Community is so important to the Lord. Think about the beginning of time, the creation of the world. The trinity is hanging out when they decide it is time to make humans. God says, “let US make man in our image”. We were formed out of community, Father, Spirit, Son, so we were obviously meant for community. I think it has been planted into our DNA that we want that marriage, close knit family and/or friend group that we can be real with. We want fellowship that leads to growth. We want to feel acceptable and genuinely loved by the people who know us the best.
God desires us to have good community. He doesn’t want us packing up everything we own every month and moving on. This doesn’t build relationships and it most times doesn’t allow accountability or growth to happen. He also doesn’t want us starting a life somewhere and never branching out and meeting people or getting involved. As Christians we need to be plugged in and find healthy community that we can grow in.
I can speak for most of my squad that one of our top fears with going home is that we will not have this community we have found with x-squad. We have found a community that we are able to grow and walk through hard things. We challenge each other as well as encourage each other. We point each other back to Christ. We have been able to work alongside each other and spend the past year doing the work God has called us to.
We found our people group. In a sense we have founded a really good church. But this church is breaking up. We are all being sent out. Actually being sent home, but now is our opportunity to build up more community. God called us to go and make disciples, but if we look at his example he didn’t just make disciples, he made community wherever he went.
Life is full of different seasons, different stages, different chapters, whatever you want to call it. But when one chapter ends and the new one starts, we also start again. By leaving one community we have more of a desire to start a new one. God calls us to that life. We go where God calls, and wherever that is, let’s build up some good communities
