It’s hard to find a Christian community that you enjoy. It’s not easy, but it is something we should all learn to do. Because let’s face it: you are going to leave the house someday or get married or go to college or decide to change churches.

So finding a Christian community of some sort is really important. Now, the word ‘community‘ is a bit…daunting. How about…circle or group?

Now, it doesn’t even have to be a Christian circle or group—it could be a Christian friend.

I have various friends around the U.S. who are Christians—some who I went to youth group or church with, others who I did a Bible study with, and some who I do Bible plans/studies with long-distance.

So obviously some of these things are easier than others—a youth group is really hard to join but starting a Bible study or Bible reading with one or two friends is much easier.

Recently I did a Bible plan with a friend (check out his website!) about C.S. Lewis, his writings, and his faith. I love C.S. Lewis, so this plan was perfect and helped me learn a ton! But it’s not just the readings that I enjoyed, it was the discussions I had with my friend. We got to talk about what we read, the devotional for that day, what we thought, and what other stories or Bible verses that came to our minds.

This wasn’t a complicated thing to organize—just a quick text: “Hey, you wanna do this with me?” A simple but sincere invitation. And that’s what makes it so cool: when you have friends you can do this so easily with, then that’s something really awesome.

There’s another friend that I used to do Bible study with (check out his YouTube channel!) and we would take time every week to call, watch a video, read the Bible verses assigned to it, and then share out thoughts. We would wrap it up with prayer requests and boom—done. Again, simple but sincere.

I strongly believe that good fellowship in Christ is what brings us closer to each other. Not just having deep conversations about our feelings (although those are great too)—but being open about our faith, what we are struggling to believe or understand, what is going on in our hearts, what we need help with, and more.

Now, Christian communities (or friends) are amazing. But we need to know that there is a fine line between having fellowship with God and having fellowship with others about God. So let me begin by saying this: both are good, both are very important. And although fellowship with others about God is really good and healthy, we do take that and replace fellowship with God.

You can’t avoid fellowship with the same God that you have fellowship about.

It’s not a ‘choose what you want’ thing, it’s a ‘you need one and the other’ thing.

And sometimes, we prioritize that fellowship with others over fellowship with God. I certainly do that.

Recently I’d been wondering about why, despite having deep conversations with friends about God, I hadn’t felt close to God himself. And that’s because I hadn’t sat in God’s presence—just the two of us—and talked with Him in a while.

And all along, I’d been telling my friends, “I don’t feel like I’m close to Him. I don’t know where He is.”

Y’all, He has been there the entire time, waiting for me to stop pacing and worrying and just sit down with him.

So we need to balance our fellowship between people and God. We need both—and of course we need God more—and with both we will be able to grow steadily.

God gave us people for a reason, so none of this is to say that we should stop having fellowship with people. Jesus himself says, ‘For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them.” (Matthew 18:20 NIV)

So today what is your job? Ask a friend and see if they want to have fellowship. It could be an easy, one-time thing, it could be a Bible study every week. You do you—but I think you’ll find that community and fellowship in (and with) God will seriously help you grow in your faith journey!

Thanks for reading, have a great day!
~Willow