Community
I told you I was going to post more about this.
CRU is in the developmental stages of a community. I guess I used to look at it as an outsider looking in, but now the more involvement I have in it, the more I see it as a growth in progress.
It's interesting and very cool that at about 12 pm pretty much every school day, a huge group of CRUstians gather together to eat at the Den occupying at least 3-4 connected tables. This gathering is not questioned, it is expected. Everyone meets and eats, and laughs and drinks.
Other than that, we have our actual CRU meetings on Thursday, then Taco Cabana, then Ultimate frisbee. All occuring on Thursday evenings. This is where the hub of our community is found. The 7:30 meeting is where EVERYONE who affiliates themselves with CRU (and others visiting) meets up to gather.
From there, there are small group Bible studies, aka 242 groups where we are instilled more personally, Biblical knowledge and what it means to follow Christ. And there is also Journeymen, for more personalized training in evangelism, personal growth, and discipleship.
Anyways, my point of this post is simply to show that we are just in the beginning stages of building a true community. Its not like someone actually laid forth a plan and said, "ok, this is what we are doing.. here is the vision of what our Christian community should look like.." and ready, set, go do it.
No, on the contrary, most of this has formed out of boredom or just we randomly gathered. It's interesting how we kind of just assemble. But thats another story.
BUT, and my final point is that I think community is extremely important. It gives us not only something to do, but a place to belong. Also, we get support from others when we are down, we get encouragement when we need it. We have people that care about us, and want to be a part of our lives. It gives us things to do. We are inspired by those around us, and we all have the common bond and love of Christ.
CRU is in the developmental stages of a community. I guess I used to look at it as an outsider looking in, but now the more involvement I have in it, the more I see it as a growth in progress.
It's interesting and very cool that at about 12 pm pretty much every school day, a huge group of CRUstians gather together to eat at the Den occupying at least 3-4 connected tables. This gathering is not questioned, it is expected. Everyone meets and eats, and laughs and drinks.
Other than that, we have our actual CRU meetings on Thursday, then Taco Cabana, then Ultimate frisbee. All occuring on Thursday evenings. This is where the hub of our community is found. The 7:30 meeting is where EVERYONE who affiliates themselves with CRU (and others visiting) meets up to gather.
From there, there are small group Bible studies, aka 242 groups where we are instilled more personally, Biblical knowledge and what it means to follow Christ. And there is also Journeymen, for more personalized training in evangelism, personal growth, and discipleship.
Anyways, my point of this post is simply to show that we are just in the beginning stages of building a true community. Its not like someone actually laid forth a plan and said, "ok, this is what we are doing.. here is the vision of what our Christian community should look like.." and ready, set, go do it.
No, on the contrary, most of this has formed out of boredom or just we randomly gathered. It's interesting how we kind of just assemble. But thats another story.
BUT, and my final point is that I think community is extremely important. It gives us not only something to do, but a place to belong. Also, we get support from others when we are down, we get encouragement when we need it. We have people that care about us, and want to be a part of our lives. It gives us things to do. We are inspired by those around us, and we all have the common bond and love of Christ.
But you have to remember about reaching out to others. A lot of times, we in CRU forget about this and are too comfortable with the friends/community we have made, that we forget what cru is out. It's about reaching out to others too.
Posted by
Anonymous |
8:20 AM
Very good point. But I think the stronger bonds we have with each other, the easier it will be to bring people into the group. But your right. Sometimes I feel like we don't incorporate or bring outsiders in. We should make more of an effort to invite people to eat lunch with us.
Posted by
Sean Raybuck |
3:43 PM
I actually share the same concern as "anonymous"...however I think that a happy medium can be reached where we are sufficently invitation, while at the same time placing the necessary importance on strengthening the bonds among the members of our community.
Excellent thoughts Sean. I hope we can acheive a true community...that's the ultimate model given to us by the Biblical examples of the First Century Church. I think, that if we truly reflect Christ as a community, we should have no problems with the dual tasks of supporting each other, while seeking out those that we are supposed to reach.
- Jordan
Posted by
Jordan_Ryan_Stewart |
8:06 PM