Growing Community

(This blog post is the third in a series exploring the role of “community” in the mission field. Click here for Part 1 and Part 2.)

For me "community" means that people have a togetherness. They share a deeper bond. There is something maybe seen or unseen which is pulling them together.

I am happy to say that we have a community here in Davao, Philippines. It is definitely a huge blessing. We get together with friends multiple times a week and hang out for many hours. Also, our friends in our community do a lot for us. They cook for us, invite us to events at their schools, laugh with us, encourage us around the Word, and even more.

Since we have this depth in our relationship, we can encourage each other from a place of deeper friendship. I want to use this opportunity for good purposes. Most of all I want to speak of and remind people about Jesus. As we build a community together I not only pray that Jesus is a part of it, but the center. I'm happy that a lot of times when we gather together, we are doing it to study the Bible! What a blessing.

The exciting part is that as good as this community is, it is still growing. It is growing both in depth and also in size. It is growing in depth as we spend more time together and make deeper friendships.

Of course this takes time and it can be hard to see the progress, but compared to last year the depth of these relationships are truly a blessing from God.

The community is also growing in numbers. Yes, it is slowly growing, maybe even sometimes one person at a time, but it is definitely growing. Praise God for this. I really hope and pray that God will use our community so more people can hear about God through us, and also that the people we know can grow and understand more the depth of the love of God for them.

Simeon Glende

Davao, Philippines