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My husband was moving to our new home a couple of weeks ahead of me. "Find us a church," I said as he left for the other side of the world.
Confirmation of the move to Papua New Guinea left me conflicted. I was excited about this new adventure, but I didn't know a single soul in PNG. We were leaving our thriving Christian community in the Middle East, and my adult daughters were headed back to the U.S. For the first time, I would be an empty-nester. Big changes were on the horizon, and I was feeling pretty vulnerable.
My husband took my parting request to heart. Some of the residents recommended a church in our new city. The first Sunday he attended, he was approached by an Australian global worker with a special invitation. "Hi, my name is John. Would you like to join our home group?" It was the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship that kept us healthy and whole during our time in PNG. Our communal relationships were protection for all of us, scripted right from Hebrews 10.
It is there where the writer of Hebrews encourages their fractured community to commit to a life of self-forgetfulness. How? By practicing three things; 1) spurring one another on, 2) meeting together, and 3) giving and receiving encouragement. The continued communal fellowship was vital to their spiritual health. Without it, they were vulnerable to regression in their spiritual growth, persecution, and the isolation and loneliness that comes from being separated from the body of believers.
There can be many obstacles that prevent us from meeting together. Sometimes we are hesitant to engage in a worship environment that is culturally unfamiliar to us. Perhaps the biggest obstacle is the ease of accessing online worship services. Ease of access has many benefits, but it also makes us more vulnerable to the isolation that Scripture warns against.
How do we guard against the temptation to forgo meeting together? The key is self-forgetfulness. Fellowship and encouragement keep us, and the body of Christ, healthy by preventing spiritual regression and isolation. The writer of Hebrews gives a compelling motivation when he says, "and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. ~ Helen Keller
As a global worker, what is the biggest obstacle for you to engage in healthy community?
I’m naturally pretty introverted and so it is fairly easy for me to be alone most of the time. But I realized early on in my overseas life that it wasn’t healthy for me to stay isolated for too long. It was uncomfortable at first, but I made myself seek out friendships in the foreign countries where we lived. Those relationships ended up being some of the most rewarding I have ever had and we have remained close because of our shared experiences. They were vital to my spiritual and mental health and I am thankful to God for these wonderful friends He provided for me.