Community
& Commitment
Judi Chow
Lately,
a word kept popping up both in my conversation with people as well
as during my personal reflections.
The Lord is calling my attention to this word--- community.
I know what a community is; we all are part of a community,
and some of us live or work in a community.
So, what is the Lord trying to tell me about community?
Someone
said community is a place of belonging, a place where people find
their identities.
That’s
true, I am part of the CCM family (sense of belonging) and I am
CCM’s missionary (identification).
Generally speaking, I say a community is a group of people
who share a common interest or goal. How committed a person is to that community depends on how
much that person feels belonged or identifies with that community.
How committed are CCMers?
Well, if time is any indication, some of us are on this
journey together for some twenty, thirty years.
We shared the common interest of serving Christ and our goal
is to spread the Gospel among our kinsmen worldwide.
For me, it was that calling from God to serve HIM through CCM
that kept me tied to this community.
It is the memories we share which bond us together
spiritually and emotionally.
Larry
Crabb refers to the church as a community of people on a journey to
God. It is ironic that
we presume the church to be a loving community, yet people are not
satisfied. Why? Maybe we
have a too-high view of the church.
We expect perfection in the house of God and forget the
people in it are imperfect sinners turned tarnished saints.
We want nurturing, but we land up with responsibilities. We want affirmation and acceptance, but we get guilt and
gossip instead. We desire the
greatest gift of love, but what we hear are clanging cymbals. Shall
we lower our expectations so we won’t be disappointed?
Reducing the church to be a place for social gatherings?
May it never be!
If
we are together on this journey to God and if we are clear about our
destination, steam ahead. Transformation
will take place with one (me) plus another like-minded individual.
A community between the two will form with the common desire
for spiritual quest and intimacy. As sojourners committed to
travel the narrow path, a mutual support and the
willingness to carry each other’s burdens will develop.
Christ has
promised where two or three are gathered in His name, He shall be in
their midst. Don’t
give up and settle for mediocrity. Instead,
pray for the Lord to reveal a kindred spirit committed to walk with
you in community.