In Part I, we explored what healthy communities look like and how the act of belonging, rather than fitting in, is a key ingredient in groups that utilize each individual's unique contributions and create lasting action.
Please take a few minutes to read Part I, which sets the stage for how God's people have modeled and expanded community throughout history.
What does a group wandering in the desert have to do with community? It turns out a lot!
From the earliest stories in the Bible, we begin to see how people come together, form communities, and accomplish God's work. Exodus 35 is a beautiful example that shows us how God works through community and belonging.
Let’s set the scene on what’s happening: Moses was given instructions by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt from the enslavement of Pharoh and into the promised land. While this marked a milestone as they moved away from oppression and pain, Moses and his followers now found themselves in the wilderness, building a new life and covenant with God.
Through conversations with Moses, God instructs his people to build a tabernacle in the desert as a holy place of worship and sacrifice. Was this place of worship a simple tent constructed of basic materials? Here’s what Moses says in Exodus 35:4-9:
“4Moses said to all the congregation of the Israelites: This is the thing that the Lord has commanded: 5Take from among you an offering to the Lord; let whoever is of a generous heart bring the Lord's offering: gold, silver, and bronze; 6blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine linen; goats' hair, 7tanned rams' skins, and fine leather; acacia wood, 8oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 9and onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and the breastpiece.”
What do you notice about what God commanded? The specificity is astounding! The colors, types of animal skins, species of wood to be used, and exact gems for the ephod. Where would a group of people wandering in the desert begin to find these items?
As it turns out, this is where the community comes in.
Moses continues in Exodus 35, verse 10, saying that those who are skilled should come and help build the tabernacle, and each individual should give as the Lord leads them to fulfill the list of materials so that this project can come to fruition.
As we keep reading in the story, verse 21 provides us with the key language on how a healthy community works.
“21And they came, everyone whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and brought the Lord's offering to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the sacred vestments.”
Notice the important phrase: “everyone whose spirit was willing…”
It was not a select few who built the tabernacle, nor certain elites with plentiful resources who provided skins, fabric, and gemstones. It was not some of the people—it was all of the people. As we learned in Part I, high participation among a group is a marker of a healthy community.
We can safely assume God knew how immense this project would be for the Israelites in the wilderness. While anything is possible with the guidance of God, it took the entire group of Israelites through labor, skilled craftsmen, women, children, and all individuals bringing forth their possessions and contributions in order to make this holy place of worship a reality.
There were no prerequisites for participation. Moses did not ask his followers to change who they were to build the tabernacle. Instead, he asked them to make consistent, unique contributions to fulfill God’s commandments.
In essence, they pooled their resources to accomplish a goal.
Throughout the Bible, we see groups and individuals giving with their time, energy, skills, and possessions to physically build, rebuild, care for the vulnerable, and provide mutual support.
For us, this is a call to pool our resources together and stay focused on the mission through what we can do best. We don’t solve every problem or be something we cannot. But we all participate in a way we uniquely can and focus those efforts on a continual basis toward God’s kingdom.
While we may never build a tabernacle in the desert of immense complexity and scale, how can we nurture our own communities to accomplish God’s commandment to love him and love others?
Have you ever been excited about a new idea or a chance to minister within your neighborhood, church, or city? You’re off and running with details, planning how this will work and keeping the momentum at all costs.
But then reality sets in, and this once thrilling possibility loses steam. Resources become scarce, and frantic prayers to God begin.
Sound familiar?
But what if there was another way forward, a way to approach ministry in a manner Jesus himself modeled for us?
In Luke Chapter 6, we see a distinct way in which Jesus approached his ministry here on earth. Beginning in verse 6, it says,
“12Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. 13And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles.”
Continuing on, we read this in verses 17-19:
“17He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.”
Notice what is happening here:
Solitude, Community, Ministry. That’s the order.
How many times do we, in our best intentions, do the exact opposite of what Jesus did? We come up with an idea for ministry, and when we can’t make it happen alone, we ask for help and gather a community. When that falters, we turn to God in prayer, asking for His help to make it happen.
Yet, in this passage from Luke, Jesus models an approach that reverses this process. We spend time in prayer and solitude, listening for wisdom and direction. Then, we gather our community to contribute in unique ways. Finally, we pursue ministry that aligns with our vision and community.
Solitude, Community, Ministry.
We can look at solitude, community, and ministry as three disciplines by which we create space for God to work. And when we create space in which God can act and speak, something surprising will surely happen.
As we’ve looked at two distinct examples of community, what invitation can we say yes to in our own life?
Take a few minutes of solitude and consider these questions. There’s no right or wrong answer, but allow yourself space to see what comes up.
1. What is a community that I love or have loved being a part of?
2. What’s an attribute that I want my communities to contain?
3. How might I bring that attribute that I like or love into that space of a community?
