Awakening CallingExemplo

Calling Grows in Community

Who is your community? Maybe you can answer that question easily: a specific set of friends, your family or a group in your church. For others, you may find answering that question much harder or even painful. Especially if you currently feel isolated or that there’s no one else who shares your passions. I’ve never met anyone who hasn’t felt lonely or misunderstood at some point in life. In the age of social media and a culture that celebrates being liked by a multitude of acquaintances, it can be easy to mistake followers for friends. But God, who lives in community as Father, Son and Spirit, has hardwired us to be intimately known and has designed us to work out our calling in community. 

Close friends can often see the unique contribution we can make more clearly than we can, and it’s in small communities of believers where we can outwork Jesus’ two greatest commandments to love God and love our neighbour.

No matter where you are right now, I would encourage you to pursue a church community that provides opportunities to know a smaller group of people on a more intimate level. A small group community with Jesus at the centre is attractive and provides an additional framework and the foundations for our calling in God. Calling is developed through many small decisions that prioritize following Jesus, and we need the help of friends to do that. We are not designed for individual pursuit of holiness. The holiness that God has for us is personal, corporate and social, and that means we find tremendous freedom in being with friends where we can be fearlessly honest, daringly vulnerable and ruthlessly accountable. Your calling and mine were never meant to be worked out alone.

Questions

Who is your community? What questions do you need faithful friends to ask you regularly to help you pursue God’s calling?

Prayer

Lord God, thank you that you have welcomed me into your community. Help me do the same for others, encouraging them in their calling and welcoming their help as I pursue mine. Amen