Better Together
40 Days of Community finally comes to an end. One word - disappointed.
The word "together" appears million times throughout the book and it was this one word that bring me hope to the 40 Days of Community. I hope I can learn and practice to grow spiritually together, I hope we can actually do something together to better support each other, I hope ... In reality, what else did we do together in the past couple weeks other than sharing/talking every Friday (and that's already the thing we done previously). Maybe we do not know each other enough to point out others' strengths and weaknesses and give advices to their serving path in church, or maybe there're obstacles for us to love everyone, or maybe we care so much about people's impressions/thoughts on us that we can't truly express our real self, or maybe we personally don't have a good worship life that we can't encourage/motivate others to get closer to God...
Things get to be changed and only actions can bring changes.
I've been growing so independently throughout my Christian life and it now comes to an stagnation. No matter how desparatly I crave for a breakthrough, no matter how many different ways I try to have a more intimate relationship with God, it just simply fails. I need to learn to be interdependent. Trust me, nothing can be better without growing "together".
posted by tuenmo at 9:34 AM
3 Comments:
Dear Mrs. Tang,
First of all, thanks for your honest sharing on Community 40. Based on what I've read, I see a young lady yearning for spiritual breakthrough, but is frustrated with the lack of companion on this pilgrimage. To a certain extent, I can identify your feelings regarding Community 40. "Togetherness" was primarily determined by the experience/willingness/passion/maturity of group leaders to drive change. Sadly, I must admit that we are still struggling with ice-breaking rather than doing things together. This is not the fault of group leaders, because, how can you expect b/s to get working together if they can't even keep up with the reading?
We must then ask ourselves the million dollar question, "Do I really want to change my die-hard habits/values while reading this small book?" I hope I'm wrong, but I have a feeling that very few b/s are actually serious about Community 40. We tend to just think of it as an ordinary cell-group discussion: just an opportunity to share recent stories, but never deep enough to cause behavioral change. Under these circumstances, it's no surprise that "Togetherness" becomes such an uphill battle and spiritual growth is a perpetual utopia. We are simply not prepared (or willing) for any change.
Personally, my spiritual growth often begins with a crisis, a situation, or a dissatisfaction about status quo. I tend to ask myself a lot of questions. For example, can I get through it in one piece (spiritually)? I know I can't count on myself, so I'll draw upon any resources or avenues available e.g. bible verses, songs, books, prayer, sharing with others, bargaining with God, or even arguing with HIM. What has God done in the past to help me affirm my faith? Has someone else triumphed in a similar situation? Have I crossed the line? Since I'm not a people person, the biggest help tends to come from the bible. For me, at the end of the day, everything boils down to a simple question: am I willing to follow HIS path, or do I still want to do things my way? Sorting through things is easy, but making a decision to re-dedicate myself to God is always tough. It forces you to seek an honest answer to the same question: is it worthwhile to continue to follow HIS footsteps, even at the current situation?
In short, my formula of spiritual growth looks like this: connect a situation with biblical truths, ask myself a lot of questions, and then make a decision of staying put or breaking out. Again, this is just my approach, and it probably won't work best for most b/s. Buy me a dinner and I can share the specifics with you.
Last but not least, don't lose heart. May be God will use this program to open our eyes about our fellowship's spiritual plight. There is no quick fix, but ignite your passion for God first, only then can you spread the fire to others.
Sorry for hijacking your blog, and I'll pray that your perseverence will help you wither this storm.
It's too much to expect a breakthrough just by this community 40. I am not even sure what sorta stage of growth the fellowship is at. Maybe we were doing it the wrong way from the beginning. There might already some sorta subconscious habits that's already entrenched within each of us that prevent us to meet what God wants us to do.
Maybe it's a good idea to ponder over why it isn't working. But don't lose heart sister, God will see us trying hard and soon will provide us with a breakthrough somehow.
Panda Doh See is right, very few BnS were actually willing to change their die hard habits. Many are not ready, but remember, it only takes 1 person to change to make a difference. As long as something changed, it's not complete a failure(community 40).
Haven't seen the Doh Sees lately for some serious talk, or maybe I never did before. Hehe :)
when i read the book, i think it's too "ideal", almost impossible to achieve what it said...well..maybe it just didn't work out for Chinese community...and i did feel kind of 諷刺 when i read some parts becuz i did try something what the book said we should do b4, but i got an exact opposite result from what the book said (well...maybe just becuz i didn't do it well).
P.Daddy said {"Togetherness" was primarily determined by the experience/willingness/passion/maturity of group leaders to drive change.}, i think i'm not mature enough to talk about maturity, but sometimes it's the experience that kills the willingness and passion. u r willing to share something deep inside your heart that could be the dark side of yourself in order to encourage others to share "deeper", ended up u got backfire and hurt by the lack of respect from others, then the passion will be "gone with the wind"(very cold wind indeed).
at the end, for the ppl who find their little (but "separated") comfort zone, they just stayed in their zone and "together happily" with their buddies; and those not lucky enough to find any comfort zone at all, "give up" maybe their only option and the only way they can breakthrough is to put their heart in a new and greener pasture that is "somewhere else" in HIS path.
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