Whilst it is undoubtedly true that we are saved by grace through faith alone [Eph 2:8], it is surely not God s heart for us to live alone by faith.  We were made for community. There is no sense in which the gospel envisages the embracing of it [the gospel] without the embracing of spiritual community.  However, many of us who have come to know our true nature in Christ have chosen [often with good reason] flight over fight from the church .   Some have resettled in the Emerging Church but many of have not been able to reintegrate themselves into spiritual communities. 

Yet in or out of community there nonetheless remains a deep need inside of each one of us for to touch and be touched by one another.  We need both contributions from others and need to make contributions to others.  Silenced by the church and in some cases driven out we must confront the reality that we need relationship.  Having said that whilst not quite Mission Impossible it needs to be acknowledged that building community is painful and risky. 

As Jean Vanier put it so eloquently:

Community is the place of pain, of the death of ego. In community we are sacrificing independence and the pseudo security of being closed. We can only live with this pain if we are certain that for us being in community is our response to the call from God. If we do not have this certitude, then we won t be able to stay in.

For those of us who identify ourselves as part of The Grace Project, whether in London or in Brazil or Finland deepening and developing authentic relationships is vital. For us to reach the depths of who we really are we  need one another to tease out the life of Christ that is within us. 

The journey into spiritual maturity is one that takes us from [1] Independence - child level; [2] Dependence - teen leve;l [3] Interdendence - Father level. cf 1 Jn 2:12-14. Our might be mission "impossible" but Let s accept it.

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