• Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Our Team
    • Wall of Support
    • Affiliates
  • Resources
  • Join our team
    • Open Positions
    • Write For Us
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
  • Store
  • Contact
Joshua's Outpost
Support Us
Login
No Result
View All Result
JO
Support Us
Login
No Result
View All Result
Joshua's Outpost
No Result
View All Result

What’s so Important about Community?

Mitchell Friestad by Mitchell Friestad
November 13, 2019
in Community
Reading Time: 3min read
1
What’s so Important about Community?

A group of young adults studying the Bible and praying together. Selective focus on the girl with red hair.

“Community” is a little bit of a buzzword in Christian culture today. In order to fight the contemporary problems of isolation, loneliness, and depression, we often identify the solution as a community. But what do we mean when we say that? There are a few things that we receive from an authentic community that cannot be found in isolation.

  1. Community brings about honesty.

No one can be heavily invested in another’s life without finding out a thing or two about the people you spend time with. You can put on a mask or a facade, but you will either not have the healing community that we’re talking about, or you will become so tired that you will become isolated.

This means the ugly stuff. Like the real ugly stuff. Addictions, hatred, past experiences received from others, past experiences done to others, the whole you. You can’t let community shape what you don’t allow it to touch. So if you want your community to help you through an addiction, you got to be honest about an addiction.

If you want your community to tell you the truth about what you experienced, you have to share what you experience.

This does not mean sharing everything with everyone, but if you want your community to shape part of your life, you have to let them in on it.

  1. Community brings about perseverance.

William Shakespeare once wrote a poem about love entitled Sonnet 116. He wrote that “Love is not loving which alters when it alteration finds or bends with the remover to remove.” In other words, love sticks around no matter how hard the times get.

Since the community is about loving others and being loved by others, it naturally means loving others faithfully and being loved by others faithfully. Obviously, this is a lot easier said than done, but if you’re not willing to commit through the hard stuff, then you cap where your community can grow you.

  1. Community brings about humility.

If you are surrounding yourself with people who think differently, act differently, look differently, or grew up differently than you did, then you are not going to agree on everything. The best communities See multiple perspectives on single topics and challenge you in a way that cannot be done on one’s own.

This means that you’ll probably run across the fact that some way that you thought, acted, or spoke may have been less than ideal. As hard as this can be to admit, nothing will show you it faster than a community that you surround yourself with.

And it is okay to change your mind! It’s okay to have been wrong. It’s not fun, but it is always okay, and humility is a positive thing to embrace, not a shameful thing to feel.

Now that we know what we mean when we talk about community, the question is, “Is community the solution to fighting isolation, loneliness, and depression.” I would say that yes indeed it does, but not because of honesty, perseverance, and humility. No.

A community that brings honesty, perseverance, and humility is a community that brings us, Jesus.

And Jesus is the solution to fighting isolation, loneliness, and depression.

Jesus honestly prayed to God in the garden that he didn’t want to go to the cross. Jesus persevered the beatings, the thorns, and the carrying of a cross. Jesus humbly hung on a cross. He did all of this so that we could have a community with him, and as we try to look like him, we can have this community with others.

Join our mailing list and get a FREE Devotional plus 5% off on our Online Shop
We respect your privacy. No Spam Emails!

Mitchell Friestad
Mitchell Friestad

Mitch graduated from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL, where he studied Evangelism and Discipleship with an emphasis in Intercultural Ministries. He blogs at his own website about how the Gospel impacts the way we ought our lives. He was a Golden State Warriors fan before it was cool and is considered a semi-professional Kan Jam player in his hometown.

www.mitchellfriestad.com
Like what we do? Take a second to support us on Patreon!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
Tags: Christian livingChristian menCommunityJesus
Previous Post

Why We Argue About Directions

Next Post

Why we continue to date our spouse, after the wedding

Next Post
Why we continue to date our spouse, after the wedding

Why we continue to date our spouse, after the wedding

Comments 1

  1. Yaa Attobrah says:
    4 years ago

    A whole new perspective on community; some food for thought. Thank you.

    Loading...
    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Follow Us on Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 105 other subscribers

The Frontline Podcast

  • Home
  • About
  • Resources
  • Join our team
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
  • Store
  • Contact

© 2021 Joshua's Outpost. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Write For Us
  • Store
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

© 2021 Joshua's Outpost. All Rights Reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
%d bloggers like this: