Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider each other carefully for the purpose of sparking love and good deeds. Don’t stop meeting together with other believers, which some people have gotten into the habit of doing. Instead, encourage each other… – Hebrews 10:23-25

Encourage one another!

One of my favorite things to do is to sit down with a friend over a cup of coffee, or lunch, or a beer at TBC and just chat. It is more than just enjoyable, I believe it is spiritual food.

This is essentially a microcosm of what church is all about. We were created for community. This is a fact supported by research in anthropology and in psychology and even in biology.

Interestingly, I skimmed though an article not long ago that discussed the cost to our culture that comes along with the fact that church is no longer the epicenter of life and identity in most towns. I believe that what has been lost is a kind of fabric that knits us together. And, for those who left church, they did not reproduce it in some other context it is simply gone. This is human truth even without accounting for the loss of a spiritual home. Community is life.

Or, and as I wrote in reference to intentionally growing relationships with good people, what is available is spiritual food.

Men especially:

This is at the heart of my love for men’s ministry. Men are – as we have discussed before – generally not so naturally well-equipped as women when it comes to the whole relationship dynamic. Sharing, and asking for support, and conversational intimacy, and vulnerability, and sometimes crying, and praying together can be a bit of a stretch for guys – whereas women tend to be more relationally intuitive.

Some of this came up in conversation with my friend Mark Thursday morning, over hot beverages at the Tarboro Coffee House. We agreed that “being an encourager” is one of the best things men can do for one another. And we can’t encourage if we don’t know, and we won’t know if we are afraid to be vulnerable, and we will never be vulnerable unless we are confident enough to be honest, and confidence depends on mutual trust, and how can we trust each other outside of love?

And how can we love if we keep so much of ourselves under wraps? This is the cost of losing fellowship, so we must come back together – in twos and threes, in small groups and most importantly in worship – with the commitment simply to build one another up, the willingness to know and to be known.

I think this is one of the most important things we can do if we want to see healing. Healing in ourselves and healing in community.

And when you do, you will realize that the reason you walked away in the first place doesn’t matter nearly so much as the healing – DEREK