What is community?

Community is about the inter-relatedness of people.  In other words, it starts with relationships. It’s about belonging to something larger than ourselves. Community helps people say, “I am a valued part of this body and have contributions to make.” When we see ourselves as a part of a community, we think about how we are related to Christ, people in the congregation, and the people who live near us in our geographic location. 

3 Aspects of a Nurturing Community

1. Connection

First, nurturing communities facilitate a connection between people. They are the places that you want to be a part of because they help you develop a relationship with others. There are immediate, superficial connections that cause us to look around the room and ask, “Who here is like me?” But on a deeper level, we connect with people around our stage of life, life experiences, likes, dislikes, interests, and much more. The point is, when you experience connection with other people, you know you belong to something bigger than yourself. That leads us to the second part of nurturing communities.

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2. Contribution

Nurturing communities invite you to make a contribution. No, we’re not talking about giving money. Although the places that you experience connection and make a contribution with your skills, gifts, and passions are often where we want to spend our time and money. When we make a contribution to the community, we are seen. It’s here that we use our talents to offer something to others. 

3. Care

Which leads to the final aspect of a nurturing community. And this one integrates the first two aspects of a nurturing community. Yes, we’re talking about care. When people know that you care about them, care about their talents, care about their contributions and connections to the greater community, they are more likely to be involved in the community. This doesn’t mean the positional leader has to offer all the care. And it certainly doesn’t limit care to times of crisis or trauma. Care is, quite simply about loving God and loving our neighbor. 

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Questions for reflection

1. What aspect of Christian community is most important to you? Is our connection to Jesus enough?  
2. What contributions are you making to your community?
3. How do you want others to express care for you?

What Have You Missed?

As we head into month 5 of different aspects of courageous leadership. Here’s a quick recap:

1. Purpose (January, Episodes 159- 162)
2. Relationships (February, Episodes 163 – 166)
3. Self-Awareness (March, Episodes 167 – 171)
4. Accountability (April, Episodes 172-175)

As a reminder, you can find all these episodes on the show notes page at https://transformingmission.org/podcast 

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