Monday, 16 June 2008
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Needing Christian community
by miss iris
When I first started university, I would walk around campus feeling very depressed. I couldn't figure out if there were any Christians in my classes or any Christian communities on campus. I thought I was the only Christian on campus and I felt sad because I felt as if I didn't belong. A month or so into school, two things happened that changed my college experience. While waiting for my dad to pick me up after classes one day, I needed to use the restroom so I went into the business building I was standing by to find one. I would not have usually ventured into that building since I was not a business major nor were I taking any classes that were located there. As I was walking past a notice board I saw a flier that showed a fish "swimming against the tide." I read it and it looked interesting. I made a mental note to check it out again. Later on, while visiting my math professor, I noticed the same flier on his wall. I believe I might have even made a comment about it.
I asked my dad to pick me up late one night because I wanted to check out this Christian club. I wasn't sure what it would be like and I was cautious about joining just anything and everything proclaiming Christianity. They had to be genuine.
I remember the leaders and the staff workers greeting me as I walked into the club, which immediately made me feel comfortable despite my not knowing anyone. I went back again the following week, and as I learned more about the people and the club's ideals, I realised that they were just like me and I felt as though I had found my community.
It's so important to be a part of a nurturing Christian community. We all need to identify with something and while we find our identities in Christ, we also need to form fellowship with other believers to lift each other up and to have people to depend on during the good and bad times.
And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Heb 10: 25 (NLT)
Have you ever felt thirsty for Christian fellowship?
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Comments (18)
I feel the need for Christian community all the time. The area I live in now, is not really that into Christianity. Since it is a small rural community, there aren't a lot of options. Even most of the churches are "Chrisitanity Lite", if you know what I mean. It is really really hard.
Definitely...it's so much easier, especially for someone who has recently decided to become more involved with God, to do that if they have the support and friendship of people who are following Him as well.
I'm lucky that at my university we have not one, but many, different organizations devoted to offering students that community. It's made a world of a difference and given me a lot of insight.
I didn't give you the correct name of the site I want you to go to. It's babblingbrooke135. She is the writer of her own Hope Chronicles and you can read #49....God of Purple Daisies. She is a very gifted writer for our Lord. I'm sure you'll find many to post over the years.
Wow.. :] i know how you feel both the desperation and the joy of being in one! ^^ Thank God
All these blogs should be put together and turned into a book. Just like Chicken Noddle Soup for the Soul, but different, better, id read it. What do you think?
Sure I have too. Several weeks ago I checked out a Christian group on my campus and I thought as I was sitting there "Wow I didn't realize how thirsty I was." Christian clubs are together the largest group on my campus. My first Thursday (many of the Christian clubs meet on the biggest party night as an alternative) on campus I tried two of the groups. The first didn't fit. The second was so big I felt lost. I joined a club that fit with my major and resigned myself to the few friendships I have with people I've know since children's church. Then this quarter I kinda fell into the meeting of the third largest Christian club as I was studying outside the room they meet in. This third one has some beliefs I do not share so I am still searching.
yeah, i am really feeling the lack of fellowship right now. i don't really have a car to drive anywhere and i live in a small country town. since i am a very charismatic Christian, i dont feel like a lot of churches around me are on the same page. especially not here. The only other Christian I know is my boyfriend's little sister, but, I am ten years older than her, so, it's hard for us to relate to eachother on certain levels.
i hope God sends a kindred spirit to me soon!
Funny. I went to a Christian university and it took me two years to find fellowship there with people I felt truly knew me. Even more ironically, they were the "rebellious kids." Even more ironically, we all joined a church together and started a bible study. God works in mysterious ways.
every day and yet even amongst christians and in church I never fit in or belong. I am in my 30's...this has been my whole life.
I definetly need some Christian fellowship. I've always lacked it. As a third-year college student, I've been flying solo for way too long.
I took Christian fellowship for granted while growing up in a Christian community and with a devout Christian family. I definitely agree that we need other people to uplift us during those dry periods with God :'( A lot of people say they don't need others - all they need is God, God should fill in the holes - but in my experience, it's kind of like going on vacation to a new place - enjoying it with someone else enhances its natural beauty
@TheSilenceHeals@xanga - I feel ya - we're in the exact situation. Here's hoping we both find something during our 4th year.
let me tell you i felt in your shoes. i transferred schools for selfish reasons and one of the MANY ways God humbled me that trimester was through a real lack of christian community. i did not meet a single person on campus, except a foreign exchange girl, that did not drink...daily! i thought i had my walk all figured out and could stand alone. i stood true to my ideals but curled up into solitude and sorrow without a community. when i transferred back, i knew that this is where i was supposed to be... despite the flaws that made me leave in the first place.
I live in a Christian college town, but I don't attend. The members of my church youth group hit college age and the majority of them went elsewhere. Those that didn't chose not to come after having been called heretics by the pastor. As the youngest, by the time I was in the college age class there was only one regular, me. The occasionals might show up every other month at most, so I was outnumbered by the teachers, who were good people. Some time after my family left that church, I did too. I'm still pretty new in the new church, but there are more people about my age. It's not going to be easy getting used to them, but it's much better than being a class of one.
everyday i long for christian fellowship..everyday.
yes. I've made the mistake of thinking I could live with little or no fellowship. That is how one gets oneself in a miry pit of despair and even sin. Thank God He pulled me out.
Being around like-minded people is vital to any group, especially when the philosophy of the group flies against a lot of what "acceptable society" says.
At college I belong to a great community with great people. Then I come home for summer or on breaks and theres nothing for young adults to do.So for me it's backwards lol
My freshman year of high school was the year I came to Christ. It was awesome, but the only person at my school that I could have real Christian fellowship with was my boyfriend. We had good times, but during my sophomore year my boyfriend started attending a university. I had lots of friends my freshman year, but none (or at least, none that I was close to) were truly Christians. At the beginning of my sophomore year, I began to meet some new people and I got to see God working in some of my close friends' lives, and in that year I had a brilliant group of close friends who could hang out and just have good Christian fellowship together. I didn't know how much I longed for it until I really experienced it, and now it's so awesome!
I absolutely thirst it. I think that is one of the great things about this site, especially while traveling.
All my life I thought that church and friends were two separate things. The didn't need to mix. Before I was baptized my freshman year of college, the people who were studying with me told me about how important it is to fellowship with other Christians. After I was baptized, and began to grow more with Christ, I realized how necessary Christian fellowship is. Talking to someone who has the same values and beliefs as you is really encouraging. Having someone hold me accountable for my sins really helps me build my relationship with God. I used to wonder why the people at my church would always hang out with each other, but I noticed how much it helped me in my spiritual life. These people became some of my best friends because I can talk to them on that spiritual level and if arguments might arise, we can always go back to what the Bible has to say...
But encourage one another
daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:13