The Power of Community – Stepping Across Lines

I had lunch with my friend Justin the other day. He’s leaving for a year in Iraq with the Army in a few days. As I listened to him talk about what has changed in his life in the past 9 months, I was reminded again of the power of a community of faith. The first time I met with Justin was right after I had taught a message in CWH about stepping across lines to create friendships. Justin emailed me the next week. He was stepping across a line. I invited him to lunch.

9 months ago Justin probably would have told you he didn’t think much about the church. He wasn’t sure exactly what he thought about God. Yet, he was in college worship hour that morning for whatever reason. At lunch we talked about his past tour in Iraq (06-07) and adjusting to life back in the states. Relationships were challenging for him when he first got back from Iraq and he said my message about stepping across lines and initiating friendships spoke directly to him.

Over the past 9 months, I’ve seen him go from disconnected to extremely connected. From attending CWH on Sunday to joining a small group in Real Time. He was stepping across all kinds of lines that had previously been drawn in his life, by Satan, the world or his past experiences! To top it all off, 2 months ago, he decided he wanted to start a shelter for homeless teens, before he left for Iraq. The guy who was struggling with relationships was now creating a place for many others to step across lines into relationships!

He’s headed out in a few days and the shelter is not up and running, but it is well on its way. There is a team from the college group currently talking with people from the People’s City Mission about this shelter. He sat at lunch 2 days ago excitedly telling me how God seems to be taking his idea so much further than he had imagined! As we finished lunch, he told me several times, “Thank you so much for everything – you don’t even know how much you’ve done!”

As I walked to my car, I thought to myself, “Thank you Justin, you don’t even know!”

Here’s what I mean: Justin was thanking me and I realize I played a part in his journey, but many, many others (I don’t even know how many others) played huge parts. The people in the body of Christ loved him and accepted him. His small group accepted him, individuals on the worship team led him in worship, and people on the hospitality team served him every Sunday! The Real Time Planning Team and meals team created environments for him to step into. That’s the power of community! Now Justin is encouraging us to offer that to others via this teen homeless shelter. And it all started because he was willing to step across a line and when he did, the community of Christ met him!

Now he heads to Iraq and hopefully another community of the Body of Christ. We were never meant to follow Christ on our own for an extended amount of time – we were meant to walk in a community of Hope and faith and love!

Keep Seeking Jesus… Matt