A Thriving Community

I have recently been reading the book Soul Cravings, by Erwin Raphael McManus.  I just happened to pick it up from my husband’s office one day.  It isn’t my book, so I couldn’t do my normal ‘underline, mark-up and dog-ear the pages’.  Instead, I have numerous yellow sticky notes coming out of the book at all angles.  I should probably just buy my own copy. 

It has hit me right between the eyes.  So many things have spoken to me that remind me of our vision, “We will be a thriving community of Jesus followers, unleashing relentless love to our broken world”.

One part especially spoke to me about the thriving community aspect:

“A healthy community is not a place of perfect people.

That place just doesn’t exist.  We all are flawed.  If there was a perfect community, it would be ruined the moment I joined it.  And it’s easier to be patient with people when you realize they’re being patient with you.  When we don’t come clean up front, it creates an unhealthy environment that leads to pretension and hypocrisy.

Strangely enough, the best opportunity for building meaningful relationships is admitting up front that you’re not perfect and that you’ve got issues.  Honesty is the only context in which intimacy can develop.  For either of these to have a chance, there has to be trust.  Love, no matter how you come at it, it a huge risk.  It makes it easier for me to remember that God will never reject me because I’m not good enough and that any community that has His heart will embrace me as I am.  Jesus invites us into a community where imperfect people can find acceptance, love, forgiveness, and a new beginning.

Eventually, though, this will require you to have to take the chance and see if God can really love you through people.” (Entry 16, Soul Cravings)

I am not perfect.  You are not perfect.  But God is.  And He can do amazing things through us if we become transparent with those all around us.  It starts with us.  I want to be part of a thriving community, alive and well, so that we can unleash relentless love to those around us.  Do you?