I found that having a common vision is the foundation of a solid community and motivates the community during tough times. Since Shiralee and Svargo, the founders of the Kanjini Cooperative, were in the process of developing and growing their cooperative living community, I decided to ask Shiralee what she thought community was. She explained community involved coming together with a common vision. The Kanjini community vision focused on sustainability (see Sustainability post from July 14th). The sustainable community that was being developed at Kanjini definitely inspired me, but my ever-growing definition of community got rocked when I heard Ken, the director of YWAM Townsville, speak at their family meeting. He explained that the goal of this community is not just community for community sake but the vision of this place was to know God and to make Him known. During this family meeting, the YWAM Medical Ship was experiencing a defining moment as they were about to launch their first outreach into the Western Province of PNG. Their vision was propelling their community towards new places and meant pushing through obstacles that they encountered along the way.
While I talked with some of the ladies that were on staff with YWAM and living on base, they spoke about the benefits of living in a community. They expressed the support that comes with community being a huge benefit. Yesterday I heard Bob Goff speak and he painted an excellent picture of this type of support that we are called to give each other in the local church. He explained that when his pastor found out his 8 year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia - the church did not just pray for him and lay hands on him, but literally lifted him up by crowd surfing him as they prayed for him. Community living definitely requires lifting one another up and "bearing each others burdens."
While on the medical ship, I was submurged into community living. This time spent living with 50 other people sharing meals and tasks and (when I was really lucky) french presses and chocolate reminded me why I am made for community. Community living forces me to grow. At one point I said, "Ship life is like camp life" and those campy memories are definitely what shine in my memory. Having a common vision that you are working towards and having a group of people that can help lift each other up during times of need is definitely a huge aspect of community. Those warm fuzzy aspects of community are what I love about community, but it is not always those attributes about community that cause me to grow. Community living in my life can be a microenvironment that illuminates my real, deep junk. You can't really fake it when you are living around people who see you all the time - in the good and bad moments. And since I don't want to fake it but sometimes I do fake it - I need an environment that helps transform my old patterns and tendencies to fake it. When I was honest with myself during those quiet moments on the ship, I saw that I still want to return to a baby mindset that believes life revolves around me while Christ's example was all about self-forgetfulness. In "The Hiding Place" Corrie ten Boone found community even in prison. And while living in this community, she not only found a further depth of her sin but also a freedom in telling the truth about herself. I really appreciated this story that Corrie shared because I think it exposed a huge aspect of community that can be left out of community living as it doesn't always bring an immediate warm, fuzzy feeling. Corrie found that when she told the truth about herself to her community, "a real joy returned to my worship." Community can provide a place where we can confess to one another our weaknesses and take off our masks. In my past, this has always made me uncomfortable but it has always caused growth. So even though I love going off on adventures and need space for a simple life, I also need community to help me grow.
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