Community? (Part 5)

Keep your eyes open.

It seems to me, that on some level, this is the key. As Liann and I travel around the country, keeping our eyes open is a big part of what we try to do. The question we are regularly asking is, “What can we do to help?” It’s kind of a general query but I think that is actually a good thing because it frees us up to do whatever most needs to be done. Sometimes we redecorate churches and defrost their refrigerators, sometimes we ask a bunch of questions and offer suggestions, sometimes we lead small groups and teach, and sometimes we cook meals and fix bicycles. Where we are right now, we are helping Findlay Turning Point figure out how to reach out to people in the apartment complex and trailer park near their church. As we are here, we are also working on getting a tow bar on our bus so that, when we hit the road again, we can haul people who are broken down to the nearest service station and save them the cost of the tow truck.

Now obviously, we can’t help every single person in every possible way but we are trying to keep our eyes open to use the resources we have to help whoever we can.

While I cannot speak to all types of community, I believe this attitude to be crucial to genuine Christian community. A willingness to proactively look for ways to bless the people around in the name of God is central. Sometimes this means housemates, sometimes it means neighbors, sometimes it means everyone you see. In fact, the (almost too obvious) working definition we are using for community– “common unity” requires that those of us trying to live in such a manner to at least look for ways to serve the others who are in it with us.

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