We know how important it is to be surrounded by biblically minded people. We know that we need people around us who are committed to faithfully following God, but we need those relationships to be more than Sunday morning highlights or mid-week bible studies.
We need a community of people that will rally around us and be part of our lives. These people don’t just know the big updates in your life (New job! Baby on the way!), but also know your day-to-day walk.
These relationships can spiritually transform our lives because they are authentic and engaging. They encourage us to keep pursing Christ and they encourage us in the thick of life.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor and theologian, said, “The Christian, however, must bear the burden of a brother. He must suffer and endure the brother. It is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated.”
To have a community, you must be the community first. How do you go about becoming a person that is invested in others and that both admonishes and encourages your own community? How do you bear the burden of your brothers?
Before we can engage in a community of our own, we need to be sure that we are faithfully pursuing five specific values.
