Yesterday was one of those amazing days when I just sat back and felt with pride, "Those are my people and this is my wonderful church."
Our Young Professionals group (but watch out new name is coming soon!) is growing both in number and spirit. From Sunday School in the morning, to worship, to lunch afterwards, to a spontaneous trip to a winery in Loudon County to a "breakfast for dinner" party in the evening, it was an action packed day of community building. And, there are already plans for more next month. (Thanks to John for snapping a picture of the small group that went to the winery).
One thing that I heard from members of the group was: "I like this church; you all are real people. Nobody seems to be pretending about who they really are."
As I see this group's bonds of friendship forming both with each other and with the larger church population, I can't help but think of my favorite theologian who writes about community, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He writes in his book, Life Together:
“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. He will only do harm to himself and to the community…But the reverse is also true: Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Only in the fellowship do we learn to be rightly alone and only in aloneness do we learn to live rightly in the fellowship.”
My hopes are as this group continues to grow in fellowship with one another, the time they spend together will not only be fun and inviting to newcomers, but it will be about growing in discipleship of Christ. Or as one group member said last night, "Let's keep doing this. This is what church should be all about."
Want to join the next event? Let me know and I'll connect you with the coordinator.
