Prior to becoming a member of The Commons, I had never really experienced true community in a church. I had been an involved, active church participant all my life but had no clue what true community looked like. And then, along came The Commons – the best thing that has happened in my life in a long, long time.
I give most of the credit to Steve and Joy. Steve and Joy create community. They truly love people. They invest in people’s lives. They share their home and their lives with us. They take the time to reach out and scoop people up wherever they are in their life’s walk – embracing them, nurturing them, including them, welcoming them. This has set the tone for our church and as they have modeled true community to our members, it has become one of the foundational elements that truly makes us special. People at The Commons honestly and genuinely care about one another. They invest time and effort in one another. I believe this is why we are growing. People come – and they want to stay because they find something unique here. I believe what they find is true community.
My prayer for our church as we enter our third year of growth is that as more people join us, we will not lose that special thing that makes us who we are. As the Chappels have so beautifully illustrated for us, the more people you have in your family, the bigger your heart grows and the more room you have to love on a grander scale. May our hearts continue to expand and may we continue to love one another on a truly grand scale. As we do this, I am confident that God will continue to bless us exponentially.
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