The interesting thing about seminary is the enormous amount of books you read. I remember having classes that required reading 15 books in 16 weeks and unfortunately you took 3 classes like that at the same time.
However, the great thing about reading all those books was the exposure you received to many different authors. One of those authors I am getting back to is Henri Nouwen. If you have never heard of Henri or read any of his books, you can visit his site here. Henri Nouwen was a Catholic Priest with great insight on the Christian life. He talked about all the aspects of loving God, loving your neighbor, following Jesus and living in community. This last aspect of community is something that has been hitting me hard lately.
When you work at the Conference Office you start to feel the vastness of our network of churches. It is quite a task to think that maybe one person in a little dark office in Lakeland could help all these churches do their ministry more effectively. It is a humbling experience. I sometimes don’t know where to begin when I get to work. I just stare at my desk and wonder what area I should attack next.
Today was no different. However instead of staring at my desk I decided to look to Henri for inspiration. Thank God for Henri. I found an amazing quote about community and I wanted to share it with you all:
“The word community has many connotations, some positive, some negative. Community can make us think of a safe togetherness, shared meals, common goals, and joyful celebrations. It also can call forth images of sectarian exclusivity, in-group language, self-satisfied isolation, and romantic naiveté. However, community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another. Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own (see Philippians 2:4). The question, therefore, is not “How can we make community?” but “How can we develop and nurture giving hearts?”
Henri Nouwen: Bread for the Journey
How can we develop and nurture giving hearts?
Amazing huh? How many times do we get caught up in our own world and forget the others around us? I do it all the time (which is easy in this little dark office if mine). We need to be aware of the others around us.
I was once a youth director. I never looked to the other churches around me because I was in a large church that had everything. But to this day, I wonder what would of happened if I would have shared my resources sitting on the shelf with the small church next to me that couldn’t afford to buy them. What would have happened if I had partnered with that church and helped to grow that ministry? I ask myself, why didn’t I reach out.
I am not telling you this to shame you into action. I am telling you this to help you realize that we are all in this together. It takes a community to build relationships with the lost. It takes a community to make strong disciples. It takes a community to share resources with each other, to strengthen each other, to edify each other, and to make each other grow. Think about this the next time you stare at your shelves and see all the resources you might not be using; is there someone else who could? Perhaps even a phone call to the youth directors near you just to see how they are doing. It could be a five minute call that brightens someone’s day.
How can we develop and nurture giving hearts in the Florida Conference? 
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