Community

Last night our team discussed the book Learning to Love People You Don't Like. Yes, it is a kind of silly name, but the book was very worthwhile. It wasn't anything I would exactly call new or profound to me, but it was a very solid look at issues of unity within Christian community. There were a lot of things that really hit me as areas I need to work on... a lot. If you're part of a Christian community, then I suspect this book has something to offer you.

After discussing the book, our team discussed expectations and desires specifically for our community. Because of my years in IV in Claremont, and especially because of my summer at LAUP, there are a lot of things I really expect a community as small as ours (6 + 2 staff) to be able to do. I am having to realize a lot that the way I want our community to function isn't the only way. There are several ways I feel kind of disappointed about our community right now. You can definitely be praying for all of us as we seek God's (and not our own) desire for our community. I know we aren't ever going to be a perfect community, but I know there's a lot of ways that we can grow during our time here.

The next book our team will be reading is Rich Christians In an Age of Hunger. This book is much longer than either of our previous two books, so we'll be spending three weeks on it rather than just one.