Community

 

Community is a word we hear a lot of these days. Topics and trends come and go but one thing being paid a lot of attention to in our world today is the correlation between community and connectivity. Think about the ways technology has brought connectivity to people, but ironically studies have continued to indicate that currently there has never been a time as we have today in which so many people out there do not have “community.” They are genuinely lonely. The Christian periodical Relevant Magazine comments on community. It poses the following questions: “What about our relationships with other believers that God has placed into our lives? What about mentorship, discipleship and friendship? What about community?” 

Read more at https://relevantmagazine.com/life/whole-life/10-unexpected-benefits-real-community. 

The article continues by listing ten direct benefits of healthy community. It is a worthwhile read! Hopefully there are many different types of community we currently engage in. An example of a very functioning and helpful community was the one that met at the Membership Meeting held last Thursday evening. The community of people supporting the education of our children gathered and not only talked about the functioning of our school, but we also heard Pastor Martin Dam speak about guiding our children in experiencing and relating to secular culture and questioning how that fits with our Christian belief system. He spoke of the challenges of doing that in a culture in which many choices available do not lead to God. The community which gathered at this meeting received mentorship, discipling and of course support  through friendship. We are all in this together, all traveling a road, following Jesus’ instruction and trying to honour Him in all that we do. Sometime we forget that actually the rituals or habits we participate in are there for our mutual blessing. We are blessed through community.

 

M. Dieleman, Librarian