Day 19 – Cultivating Community
Community requires commitment. Acts 2:42
Real fellowship between believers can only be created by the Holy Spirit but he cultivate it with the choice and commitment we make. It takes God’s power and our effort to produce a loving Christian community, we must be taught how to relate with each other in God’s family.
Cultivating community takes honestly, you will have to care enough to lovingly speak the truth, even when you will gloss over a problem or ignore an issue, often we know
what needs to be said to someone, but our fears prevent us from saying anything which leads to their destructive ways. Many fellowship has been sabotage by fear because no one is there to summon courage to correct their wrong doings in truth. You can’t have a community or true fellowship without love, in that the Bible says we should speak truth in love. Gal. 6:1.
Cultivating community takes humility, Self-importance, smugness, and stubborn pride destroy fellowship faster than anything else, Pride builds walls between people; humility builds bridges. Humility is the oil that smoothes and soothes relationships. Pride block God’s grace in our life, that’s why you must be clothed with humility.
You can develop humility in very practical ways: by admitting your weaknesses, by being patient with others’ weaknesses, by being open to correction, and by pointing the spotlight on others. Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.
Cultivating community takes courtesy. Courtesy is respecting our differences, being considerate of each other’s feelings, and being patient with people who irritate us. The basis for our fellowship is our relationship to God
Cultivating community takes confidentiality. Confidentiality does not mean keeping silent while your brother or sister sins. It means that what is shared in your group needs to stay in your group, and the group needs to deal with it, not gossip to others about it.
Cultivating community takes frequency. If you want to cultivate real fellowship, it will
mean meeting together even when you don’t feel like it, because you believe it is important
Thinking About My Purpose
Point to Ponder: Community requires commitment.
Verse to Remember: “We understand what love is when we realize that Christ gave his life for us. That means we must give our lives for other believers.” 1 John 3:16 (GWT)
Question to Consider: How can I help cultivate today the characteristics of real
community in my small group and my church?
