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Desire for Exchange about your Questions ...

Wednesday, May 15, 2013. How do you establish real community when it comes to faith in Christ? Of course, we have our churches, everywhere in th country. We have services everywhere on Sunday morning, and they are key parts of Christian community. But is it sufficient to go to some service now and then?

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Desire for understanding and questions …

We have a deep desire for understanding. I mean to be together with others which understand our thoughts, our questions, our feelings. It is very important to for us not to be alone - and not to be alone usually means that we have people to talk and to practice our faith jointly.

In our church, we have cell groups or house groups, which meet weekly and establish a space for exchange. Reading the bible, praying for each other, talking about questions and experiences is an important part of these house groups.

But from years of experience I also know that there are very different demands and backgrounds. Every human is different, has a different personal history and different set of skills and gifts. This also strongly influences the experiences and needs. Also, our faith questions are different in different states and phases of our life.

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Faith is alife …

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When our faith lives, it will change itself over time. When we are new to faith, we have some questions. Some of them will be answered, and new questions arise. The way which God goes with us will lead us to challenges, when time is ripe for them. But that leads to a changing demand of exchange over time.

Some of us have the need to talk about particular questions of faith, like creation or ethics. Others do not feel the need to go deeper here - and that is usually perfectly ok. Not every Christian needs to ask every question or go deeper in every topical area. But those who feel a need to go deeper, they need to find partners for exchange as well. Those who want to go into mission need partners to talk to. It is very important to find those partners …!

There are two important remarks on this: first, it is not always easy to find the right people to talk to. When you are someone, who is interested in the intellectual parts of faith, you want others who can argue on the same level. When you have a heart for the poor, you need others who have a heart for them as well. But it might take you a long time to find peers.

What is a good way to find people you can find community with? It is not always clear. A very generic answer is: pray! Ask the Lord. He knows who can help you, he knows everyone. And he can bring you together with those who have the same questions. Pray! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts

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