COMMUNITY
Helpful Verses:
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” Proverbs 27:17
Quotes:
“In exceptional relationships, you feel seen, known, and appreciated for who you really are, not an edited version of yourself. Your hundreds of social media followers might know what you ordered for dinner at that fancy restaurant last week, but the person you have an exceptional relationship with knows that you’ve actually been struggling with food issues for years, or that this was the dinner when you and your spouse talked about starting a family, or that the impetus for the evening was to discuss the pros and cons of leaving your job. Those subjects are off-limits to the people who follow your feed. They rarely come up with the person you carpool with. But someone you’re in an exceptional relationship with knows what’s really going on with you because that someone really knows you.” –David Bradford, Ph.D. & Carole Robin, Ph.D. – Connect
“Something holy happens around a table that will never happen in a sanctuary. In a church auditorium you see the backs of heads. Around the table you see the expressions on faces. In the auditorium one person speaks; around the table everyone has a voice. Church services are on the clock. Around the table there is time to talk. Eating together opens the door to uncommon community. It's no accident that hospitality and hospital come from the same Latin word, for they both lead to the same result: healing.” Max Lucado
“It takes about 40–60 hours of time spent together to form a casual friendship, it takes 80–100 hours to transition to calling each other a friend, and more than 200 hours to become ‘close’ friends. All of the data points to the fact, if we want friendship, we have to put that time in.” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships –Associate Professor of Communication Studies Jeffrey Hall