Being part of a community is about so much more than just being surrounded by friends or having a title on a team. If that’s all it was, then how come we can still feel lonely when we’re around a bunch of people? The loneliness and sadness comes because the community ends up being shallow and not what we actually want, depth and substance. Plus, it’s really hard to get to know someone when everyone refuses to open up or pretends to be someone they’re not.

However, if we want to follow Jesus and join His mission then we’re all going to need a lot of help. If we’re going to make disciples and reach the lost, we’re going to need a ton of different abilities, gifts, talents, resources, wisdom, and so much more! Thankfully, God already knew just what we were going to need! 

That’s why God set up the church the way that He did, to be a community where other followers of Christ can get together to worship Him and do amazing things for The Kingdom. That was God’s plan for His church, for believers to come together to help each other out, rely on each other, and tell the world about Jesus. Unfortunately though, many people have made church just a building we go to on Sundays.

If we want to be the church that God intended us to be, that’s going to mean we have to be willing to be open, honest, and raw. Not just to one another either, but to ourselves and on a deep level. We know that in Galatians that Paul tells us that when we share each others’ burdens then we are fulfilling the law of Christ. This famous passage talks about tons of different areas of our lives, it’s about all of the areas of our lives that feel heavy. Our thoughts, feelings, experiences, hurts, and so much more are covered under the word “burdens.”

Question:

Read Hebrews 10:24-25. What does this tell us about how we should live and interact with other believers?

Weekly Challenge:

It’s commonly said that we’re a combination of the five people we spend the most amount of time with. So we’re going to dive into our relationships with those people! We have different levels of closeness with people, and we’re going to break it down into 5 categories.

• Face: You recognize them, but don’t really know them.
• Facts: You know their name, a little about them, what they like, and a little about their family
• Feelings: Your relationship is a little deeper. You know their opinions and feelings on certain subjects, events, and you know a little bit of their story.
• Fears: You know some of their deepest fears and anxieties. They start taking off the “mask” so you can see the real person beneath.
• Faith: The deepest level of friendship. You know about their walk with God, their temptations, their weaknesses, and their spiritual gifts, goals, and passions.

Think of 5-10 friends in your life and write their names down with which level of relationship you think you are at with them! There’s no judgment here, so just be honest! Once that’s done, answer the following questions…

• What’s the deepest level of friendship you have with someone? Describe how your friendship progressed all the way to that level.
• What level are the most of your friendships on? Do you wish they were deeper? Why or why not?
• How do you think you can start moving your shallower friendships to deeper levels?