We Need Community

We, as followers of Christ, are meant to live in community. We need each other. Isolation kills.

The Surgeon General’s report Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community “sounds a much-needed alarm. Loneliness and social isolation are not mere inconveniences. They are destructive forces that threaten our lives, our communities, and the future of democracy.”  Relationships matter. Face- to- face relationships matter.

But you don’t need a study or a government report to tell you of the negative effects of loneliness and social isolation. Who among us has not experienced it? Even Jesus did. People describe feeling lonely in a crowded room and even in their own marriage. The sorrow of loneliness bears pain in our spirits, in our souls, and, yes, even in our bodies. We are complex and intertwined human beings. We are meant to be seen, noticed, and responded to. We need each other. And we need each other more and more with each passing day.

This is true for all people but especially true for sincere followers of Jesus. Hebrews 10:25 urges us, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near” (nlt).

The enemy loves to isolate us. Like a predator tries to separate its prey from its group in order to devour it, the enemy tries to divide us from community as well.

We need community. We have one. We have the corporate church and we have the fellowship of believers. We are urged not to neglect meeting together because the tendency to isolate is not, shall we say, an isolated one. When we hurt, we retreat. When we feel we don’t fit in, we can pull away. When we have a deep need, often we pull back and go silent. When we need others the most seems to be the time that we speak the least. Asking for help is difficult. It’s an act of humility, one that benefits us and one that benefits others by giving them an opportunity to come through on our behalf. We need to take the risk.

It’s in community that we grow, and it’s in community that we change.

And it is side by side, shoulder to shoulder, working together in community that we bring the Kingdom of God in the most meaningful way. “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).