I wish that there was some simple five step plan to building and finding your community, and even though I sat here for many hours and tried to think of them I could not. I hope that this short book has helped you figure out some steps to building your community, but most importantly I hope that you go and try, I hope that you find a community of people who you can rely on!
Get plugged in. It is impossible to step into a community if you isolate yourself from it, and I mean total isolation. I do believe that we can find community online, so many of us had to rely on the online community during 2020 and beyond. It is my prayer for you, that you will also find personal human flesh connections as well.
I remember 2020 like it was yesterday, I am writing this four years after the shutdown of the NHL season, yeah that was a big deal for me then. I remember coming home from a leadership conference in Ohio and watching things be shutdown left and right, people losing their jobs, The Tiger King being the only thing people talked about.
It was during that time my online group formed “the dungeon crawl.” A discord server with five of my online friends from around the United States. We would chat throughout the day as we worked from home and learned that new style of life, then most nights would jump on an audio call and play through a few ladder games of StarCraft II.
I eventually convinced them to play Dungeons and Dragons, I helped them create some unique characters and had them each write a small backstory and we jumped into this made up world of Adawood. Fighting monsters and ghouls, leading up to the big bad guy who wanted to destroy everything and keep the power to himself.
This went on for months, it was the longest DnD session I had ever run and it was something each person looked forward too while no one could leave the confines of their home. As the year went by and life started to open back up again, our schedules became more filled with what once was, and our games went from nearly every week to once a month, until finally we tried to play our last session knowing peoples lives and jobs were changing.
I absolutely know that the online community we had was real, there were incredibly deep conversations that would take place at one or two in the morning, but even that seemed to lack something important.
I again encourage you and will be praying for you to step into a physical community. A group of people who can be with you and see when you are high and low. Where they can hold you when you are broken and celebrate when you succeed. A physical group of people who you can break bread with and simply be amongst.
I don’t have the answers as to how, but I know that the first step of this journey of community is in your hands. Either by finding a community to join, or starting one for others to be a part of. In the past 10 years I have seen how different people fit into different places, and sometimes it can be hard to find the place you fit, so creating that space might just be what God is calling you to do.
I think about our own church planting journey. I was ignorant and honestly selfish in what I originally wanted in my mind when setting out to plant The Table. I wanted the perfect looking families, with a mortgage and two cars, two to three kids and maybe a dog. God had other plans, and I am so grateful He did.
My people are anything but perfect, they are goofy, talk to much, have too many issues, can’t seem to get ahead, but they are beloved by God. If you were to show up to The Table, it might not look like the perfect church with all the bells and whistles, in fact, its not. We meet in my home, where the baseboards are nicked, the paint is chipped, and I’m sure you can smell my dirty dogs.
Though, these people would love you so well. You would not be able to sneak in and hear a good word, you would be greeted by a five year old who has trouble saying words with “S” in them, an older father who loves to listen to where you have been, a screaming baby who gives you the biggest grin. You would see moms who are exhausted from caring for their littles, dads who are working two jobs to get by, and elders who want to belong.
These people would share your burdens, they would make sure you had plenty to eat and left overs to take home. They would pool their money together to make sure you could pay your bills, babysit your children when you get heldover after work, cook you a meal when your refrigerator dies.
Everything I’ve said has happened, this small anything but perfect community, is following the will of God perfectly. Loving their neighbor as Christ loves them. That is waiting for you, it will take you bravely stepping into community and being willing to allow God to begin doing amazing things in your life.
Are you ready?
Your Life. Is to be done in community.
