We are currently meeting to plan and pray together. Small groups are beginning to form that meet during the week in public places. If you’re interested in joining a small group, let us know when and we’ll help you get connected!
We are currently meeting to plan and pray together. Small groups are beginning to form that meet during the week in public places. If you’re interested in joining a small group, let us know when and we’ll help you get connected!
All through high school and college I longed for true friendships but could never really find them. Friends came by association. If I was playing ball, my teammates were my peer group. If I was marching in the band, my band mates were my close friends. I took some upper level math and English courses. A few of us followed each other from year to year in the same classes. We became friends.
Yet all of these friendships were superficial. They never developed to anything past the weekend activities or summer jobs. We would spend the nights at each other’s houses, but it was all playtime and never really anything that developed into something compassionate.
And it wasn’t because we lacked big life events. We saw each other through family deaths. We saw each other’s parents get divorced. We saw each other through tragic injuries and silly mistakes during those weekend activities. We visited each other in the hospitals when we had our wisdom teeth out or other minor surgeries. Our friendships existed with closeness, but it was always the “I’ll be there for you” mentality, much like the theme song from our favorite show, Friends.
I cared for my friends. They meant a lot to me. But those friendships, in high school and college, still left a void in my life for community fellowship.
Romans 12:9-21 says that our relationships with other people should be authentic. We should wholly invest ourselves in the lives of others. We’re to be “good friends who love deeply.” True Christian relationships involve an authentic level of intimacy. It’s more than the “I’ll be there for you” mentality. It’s the “I’ll be there for you with flowers and a deck of cards to help pass the time.” It’s calling someone when you happen to think about them and letting them know that they’ve been on your heart. It’s taking a friend out for coffee and talking about how they’re dealing with whatever you know they’re going through, offering comfort and prayer support. It’s visiting someone when they’ve lost a loved one and crying along with them. It’s taking someone out for dinner to celebrate the end of final exams or a promotion at work.
It’s investing our lives in the lives of other people. It’s love. Deep, passionate, intimate, unconditional love. Love that we expect and allow in return.
This is the type of community we want to encourage at the Well. We’re all equal. We’re all here for the sake of each other. We are all the family of God.