Building Up Community

By Jeff Barker, Outreach Worker in Willowtree

Hebrews 10:24-25 24 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.”

In many ways we live in a very individualistic society; the main slogan in our agenda when I was in elementary school was “be the best you can be”. We are often encouraged from a young age to strive for our own greatness and our own success. But how does this impact building community?

When we are mainly focused on our own achievements I feel like we often end up looking at other people as rivals and we are unable to celebrate with them in their times of joy or journey with them through life. We are missing out on truly being in community and being supportive and invested in one another.

A couple of weeks ago at our Grade 1-4 program some of the kids were doing slam dunks on a mini net. It stuck out to me that rather than trying to insult one another’s dunks, to make their own seem like the best, they actually got really excited to see what one another were doing. In the same way, I can remember a number of our Jr. High students getting really excited for one another at their track and field meets and encouraging one another before their events or if someone was disappointed in how they did.

God wants to be a part of our life and journey with us and it is exciting to think that part of our journey in Christ is to encourage and to live in community with one another.