The Power of Community in Life's Difficult SeasonsSample

 Why Community Matters

Community and interdependence are God's model for creation. You've probably heard the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child." Yes! It does take input from a community of people for a child to grow holistically. Every significant feat that has been attained by man has always required a team, collaborations, or community. Think about it; most of the world's major global corporations were cofounded. In his book, "Chase the lion," Mark Batterson wrote, without a team, don't dream very big. But if you rally others to your cause, it's game on." There is power in the coming together of people to achieve a common goal. 

Do you know that if God had not confused the language of the Men building the tower of Babel, they would have succeeded in their construction - a tower that reaches up to heaven? Genesis 11:6, "The Lord said, If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them." It is not only their unified language that will make their goal a reality, but also their unity as a community. 

Community is so powerful that where two or more people are gathered in God's name, God said, He's there with them. After Jesus, the wisest man who ever lived says this, Ecclesiastes 4:12 NLT, "A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken."

God values community, and this reflects in his pattern of creation. Before Man fell in the Garden of Eden, God commanded the existence of a human community, Genesis 1:28 NLT "Then God blessed them and said, Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it." That was God's first command to humanity, to be fruitful and multiply. When God said it was not good for man to be alone, he didn't compensate for that "aloneness" by creating a helper of a similar gender for Adam. God formed Eve, and through cohabitation and reproduction, the human race has indeed multiplied. Community matters because it matters to God.

No matter how spiritually sound we are, we all need a community to grow. Our association may change from time to time, depending on the phase of life we are in, but we can't outgrow the need for people. We need a community of friends that will keep us accountable and help us become a better version of ourselves. If Jesus could use a community of twelve disciples, how much more you and I. It is said, "If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go with people." 

A person may have brilliant ideas or a dream that can 'change' the world, but it will always take a community of people for it to become a reality. Any dream you can achieve or accomplish by yourself is a small dream. 

Martin Luther King Jr. was an activist and the most visible spokesperson in the civil rights movement, but it takes more than MLK to combat racial injustice; it takes a community of other oppressed to join the movement. Nelson Mandela fought against the Apartheid system in South Africa, he was jailed for 27 years and paid a huge sacrifice for South Africa's freedom. However, it also takes the collaboration of political leaders and others to gain freedom and equality for South Africa. 

Place premium in community, it will pay huge dividends in the long-term.