What does community mean to you? When you read Acts 2:42-47, you get an idea of what we think community should mean. The community model of the early church may seem alien to us today, but before you dismiss it as an unrealistic ideal, you need to be aware of this: community is about empowering and liberating. The Community pathway focuses on journeying though life with others. Sometimes those whom we walk with will be disruptive or betray our trust, but that neither invalidates the pathway nor God. A community of sinful humans is not divine or perfect. There is risk when we walk with others, but there is also comfort: Christ is redeeming you, and you walk shoulder-to-shoulder with others who share in your same journey.

If you have a baby, that baby is totally vulnerable and helpless, and you love him and he loves you-there are no facades or pretenses. If you have a best friend, then you share your innermost thoughts and feelings with each other. She sees you - the real unvarnished you. If you have a spouse, then your spouse knows your innermost self, the dreams that you hide and the pain that you subject yourself to. These things are not to be taken lightly. They are boundaries of trust. These are some of the relationships that we have in community, but all relationships along this pathway have one thing in common: authenticity. True sojourners do not most value perfection or beauty or politeness in their fellow travelers; they value knowing the real person and they value grace. Living with the faults of others helps us recognize how imperfect we are. Allowing others into our broken and scarred lives brings healing air to our wounded hearts that have festered alone for too long.

No one would suggest that we completely open up without really knowing one another. Furthermore, no one would suggest that we let everyone in on all the details of our struggles. You might start by meeting with one or two other people, and by the end of a few months you may end up with people who care about you, who know about you, and who pray for you. You will end up meeting and being with others not because they have something you want or because they expect you to act a certain way but because you have built an eternal authentic relationship with them. Often in our lives, being with people is so hard because we have to constantly remember who we are trying to be. Jesus is asking you to be yourself. He is telling you that it is you He loves. He is saying to you that things can get better. He is asking you to extend your hand to brothers or sisters and meet them where they are.