I still remember how I felt on my way to my first Life Group meeting. My wife Blessin and I were invited by a new friend to visit their Life Group. Essentially, we were going to a person’s house whom we’d never met, to hang out for two hours with 14 people we knew nothing about. I remember thinking to myself, “what on earth have we gotten ourselves into?”

I was scared to step out, scared to do something I had NEVER done before, but little did we know, this Life Group is exactly what we needed as a newly married couple putting down roots.

On the surface, some in the group had similar likes and interests as we did, while others clearly did not. However, all of us quickly learned that God had brought every individual in the group together to share differing perspectives, stretch our thinking and encourage each other in our walk with the Lord.

You Are Designed for Community

The reality is you and I are designed for community.  We are created to have relationship with others and steer clear of living in isolation.

Research shows that “Individuals who lack social connections or report frequent feelings of loneliness tend to suffer higher rates of morbidity and mortality, as well as infection, depression, and cognitive decline.”

Social isolation increased people’s likelihood of death by 26 percent, even when people didn’t consider themselves lonely.

According to the BBC, “Chronically lonely people have higher blood pressure, are more vulnerable to infection, and are also more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Loneliness also interferes with a whole range of everyday functioning, such as sleep patterns, attention and logical and verbal reasoning.”

Additionally, “social isolation increased people’s likelihood of death by 26 percent, even when people didn’t consider themselves lonely.”

Some would argue that in 2017, social isolation really isn’t a problem. After all, we can have hundreds of friends/followers on different social media outlets, and within mere seconds connect with people on the other side of the world, yet most of us know very little, if anything, about our neighbors next door.

We see selective snapshots of people’s lives on Facebook and feel like we are keeping up with our friends. However, we are not truly connecting with others; we are just processing information.

Information without an emotional connection leads to a false sense of community. This façade of connection does not fulfill the need for personal relationship that God has planted in every one of us, and this leaves us in a worse spot than before. At least before social media, social isolation was easier to detect. In today’s culture, we can be in social isolation without recognizing it.

The Benefit of Community

The writer of Hebrews had this plea for us in Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.”

This writer understood thousands of years ago, what is still true today, relationships are integral for humanity to thrive. It serves as an avenue to give and receive encouragement.

It’s true, you can encourage someone through an email, DM (Twitter), PM (Facebook), etc., but those mediums limit you from seeing the entirety of a person’s journey. Communication is more than just words; it involves a whole spectrum of physical and emotional cues that you cannot get from simply reading a text.

Communication is more than just words; it involves a whole spectrum of physical and emotional cues that you cannot get from simply reading a text.

Meeting face to face is a critical component for authentic community.  Although there is a host of benefits community provides, there are two that are invaluable.

First, meeting regularly with others shows us there is more going on in the world than meets the eye.  In other words, being alone lends itself to tunnel vision where all you see is your pressing situation in a given moment.  Meeting with others allows us to share in their challenges, defeats, joys, and victories, which opens our eyes to a world much bigger than what we can experience on our own.

Secondly, authentic community helps us recognize we are not alone.  Others have experienced similar situations to what we might be going through and in turn, can help encourage and guide us through challenging times. We also have valuable experiences which we can use to help others during difficult seasons.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:4, “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”

We must be connected with others because it creates a tremendous impact not only on our lives but in the lives of others.

Two Ways to Build Healthy, Godly Relationships:

1. Join A LIFE GROUP, or whatever it is called at your church. Life Groups consists of 12-14 people in the same stage of life who meet regularly to encourage and build each other up in their walk with the Lord.

You might be wondering, what do these Life Groups do when they get together? It typically involves a time of hanging out and catching up, followed by discussing the latest sermon and prayer. Often times groups even get together and strengthen relationships through fun activities.

If you live in the Springfield Missouri area or are interested in seeing how we do Life Groups, we’ve made It easy to get connected and have listed all the available groups along with information about the leaders here.

2. VOLUNTEER! Volunteering in a ministry area opens the door for you to build relationships. Think about it, when you are working side by side with others to achieve a certain goal, it’s going to bring you closer together. So where do you start?

Talk with your church leaders to find out. At James River Church, your first step is to take the Connection Class. This class will cover all the different areas you can serve at the church and help you to discover where your abilities will fit in best with the ministry! The Bible says “In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well” (Romans 12:6a).

You have gifts that God wants to use to build His kingdom, and you will find you are most fulfilled when you are using your talents and abilities to serve the Lord by serving others. Plus, you will meet some pretty great people along the way! To sign up for the Connection Class, or to see more on the volunteer ministry at James River Church, click here.

An African proverb puts it this way: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Are you engaged in community?