How Community Can Change a Life By Gladys Childs, Ph.D.
My mother was a mean drunk. In elementary school coming home was always an adventure
Would she be there? Would she be passed out in the bedroom? Would she be raging? Or would I be locked out of the house for hours, waiting for her to return from some drunken escapade? I had no community to whom I could reach out.
Fast forward to the summer before I began high school, we had moved from the suburbs of Houston to a little town nestled in the gently rolling hills of Arkansas called Amity. No stop lights, no traffic, just a town square, never-ending trees, and people who kept smiling at us even though we did not know them.
This is where I found community. It began with the youth pastor and a teen girl who came by our house to invite us all to church and me to youth group. Thus far, I had grown up not going to church. My family had no intentions of going, but I had nothing better to do, so I went to a few youth group gatherings. Then, they invited me to church camp, and again with nothing better to do I went.
At camp, I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. This tiny church became a home to me. A place where I could escape. A place where I learned about Jesus and what it meant to be a Christian. This community of believers changed my life through their kindness, guidance, love, and generosity.
They embodied 1 Peter 4:10, "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace." (ESV) Being good stewards, they welcomed me warmly into their community and served me in my need. And, by making space for me, God was able to start me on the path of healing and restoration.
How does community impact a life? Now as a Religion professor, university Chaplain, and pastor's wife, more than once, I have heard it proclaimed the church community is not necessary to faith as it is irrelevant and outdated.
However, I know that you would not be reading my words without the church. They would not be written. I would not have spent over twenty years talking about God with thousands of college students, speaking at conferences and retreats, and ministering to broken individuals.
The woman I am is because of community, specifically the wonderfully beautiful church community in Amity. I was the one out of the ninety-nine Jesus went to find using a small-town church. This sheep rejoices because of the communal effort by a faithful group of believers. Community changed my life and set me on a path to minister to others. I can hear some of my previous naysayers state, but you are just one person, one life changed.
My answer is, Jesus said a good shepherd will leave the ninety-nine to find the one who is lost.
Matthew 18:11-13 states, "What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray." (ESV) God began a good work in me through community. An ordinary country church nestled in the gentle rolling hills of Arkansas became a home and place of refuge for one lost sheep.
And that made all the difference for me.
Helping people deeply connect with God through speaking, leading retreats, and writing, Gladys Childs is a straight-talking Religion professor, pastor's wife, and mom. She currently serves as Chaplain at Texas Wesleyan University. Connect with her at gladyschilds.com, Instagram @gladyschildsauthor, or on Facebook GladysAnnChilds.