Community. 3.7.21
We recently introduced, at our Annual Business Meeting, the 4 basic fundamental values of WFA. As you know, our vision at WFA is: “To inspire lifelong relationships with Jesus.” The way we do that is through various “strategies” which changes with time, culture and methodology. Our “values,” however, are the unchanging principles or standard that guide and shape the strategies needed to fulfill the vision. Over the next few weeks, I want to share these values with you. The first is authentic community.
Authentic Community means that we are a place where people can belong. We help people from every generation and background connect with God and with others. Jesus teaches us to love God and to love others. That’s the ultimate value in all we do. To help people connect to their loving Heavenly Father but to also connect them with an authentic community of faith.
Even though have our eye on the same person of Jesus and the same vision, it doesn’t make us the same. We’re not “cookie cutter” clones nor have the same intensity of relationships. Too often, we tend to sanitize or perceive community as a nice clean package of happy faces. But any community is often messy because it involves people. Authenticity, however, demands that we work through our difficulties, differences, and struggles. People bring their brokenness and luggage into the house. That’s okay. Instead of running to greener pastures, when things get rough an authentic community is fully committed God and each other. Like a family, you can’t always choose your siblings but you can accept them, love and honor them.
Acts 2 is the classic example of New Testament community where we find devotion to each other, beyond our own selfish desires. There is also compassion and a regular frequency in meeting that we would term “doing life together.” Finally, there is growth…..which leads me to the next value that I’ll share with you next week.