Are you tired of facing life alone? Have you tried to find a community to belong to? Do you need a friend? God created us to live in communities of people. Having friends is important, as is being a friend.  It takes some thinking and action on our part to make friends and build a community. We must know why having a community is important and how to get community.

Personal Story

I remember when COVID left a huge longing in my life for community in 2020. We couldn’t go to church, small group, or even work for a period of time. I’ve heard stories of domestic abuse and even suicide because of loneliness due to a lack of community during the pandemic. Building a community is important.

Why a Community Is Important

Some benefits of having community include the following:

• Support during times of decision-making, job loss, sickness, and death of family or friends. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
• Encouragement when we are under a heavy load that life puts on us. “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2.
• Celebrations when meeting goals like finishing college, getting married, or having a baby. “Rejoice with those who rejoice…” Romans 12:15a
• Growth as a person happens when we surround ourselves with quality people. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17
• Service to others is a great way to get community! Serving the marginalized or those in need is a way to come together in community. Galatians 5:13b says to “serve one another humbly in love.” Taking a meal to someone after their surgery is an example of a way to serve others.

We need others pour into us when we are drained, and we can give to others when they are. According to Harvard Medical School, “people who have satisfying relationships with family, friends, and their community have fewer health problems and live longer.”

How to Get Community

Making friends and getting involved in a community is easy for some people and hard for others. Here

are some tips for getting yourself out there to find your community:

• Decide where you can have social interaction with others. Home, coffee shop, gym, YMCA, restaurant, concerts, church, small groups, a book club at the library, and parks all are fun places to develop your community of friends.
• Invite someone to do something with you. Put yourself out there!
• Strike up a conversation with someone you don’t know.
• Reach out to a work friend.
• Volunteer in the community- at church, the homeless shelter, or a hospital.
• Speak up if you’re lonely. You can’t find friends and community unless you own up to the fact that you need people in your life.
• You can have community with people of all ages. Nurture those younger people in your life. Help a single mom with her children.
• It takes time and energy to develop your own friendships, but it is worth it!

Often, a person’s closest friends help lead them down the pathway to who they will come to be. We must be wise in choosing our friends.

Action

Take time this week to build your community or reach out to them. The friends in your community will support, encourage, celebrate, grow, and serve with you.

May God bless your healthful endeavors!

Joni

P.S. How do you build community in your life?