Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own.
–Henri Nouwen

One of the many dictionary definitions of community is “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests and goals.” We cannot exist alone. We need community in order to survive and, if you think about it; we all live in many communities. My question to you is this: Do the communities you belong to bring you alive?

I have an exercise to help you begin to discern how your varied communities may be positive, neutral, or negative. This is something for you to do for yourself to help you become aware of the many communities you
belong to and how you fit in. 

It’s called a sociogram. It is a graphic to help you see who is in your sphere. By drawing it out, you can see where there are communities you belong to by obligation, choice or necessity. Family, friends, co-workers are all people and community groups you may have as part of your life. Then there are all the other communities you belong to which are unique to you. You may be surprised to see how many people you are connected to.

Here is an example of a sociogram that may look something like yours – to help spark your recognition of howyou are connected to others.

I like what David says in response to people’s concern that it matters who you vote for. His response is that the quote doesn’t end in “everything is cool”, it ends with we will try to be here for you. Being and living in community is about being there for one another regardless of our station in life and how we interpret our beliefs. That is our hope for this community called connect.faith. Our hope is that we can live up to this goal of being
there for one another. In our prayers, conversations, and actions, may we always strive to lift one another up. May we even be able to speak in love and humility when everything is not cool. Connect.Faith may not be a very traditional neighborhood but we are called to be neighbors in all settings.

To add to your own community, we have created connect.faith. We want you here. We want you to feel at home and have a voice. Welcome!