A vision of community

"When God calls you to service, your job as a leader is to take responsibility for the vision God has imported" Wilkes Jesus on Leadership

I honestly believe that God has a vision for community. I see this as God's vision for both the coffee shop and the Church. I have been blessed to see this happening at both places. As I write, I am sitting on the patio at the coffee shop. I have been here for a while working so I have seen several people come and go. There have been a wide range of people, the buisness man in his 50's, the young mothers and their children, and the teenagers that are laughing outside. The beauty of all of this is that most of the people here define this place as part of their community. This past weekend at church I watched as together as one body we celebrated 50 years. I witnessed the cafe full to the brim with amazing art, children with ice cream cones, and faces from the past. This was a demonstration of yet another community that I am called to be a part of.

So, if Wilkes is right, as a leader in these two places, I am responsible for helping cultivate community. I know that this is something that I have been intentionally working on in the coffee shop and it is my hope and prayer that I have started to help do this at church and that I will get to experience more of the community present as my year continues.

The next idea Wilkes introduces is that leaders must share responsibility with others and use their authority to help raise people up to fulfill the vision. I have realized at the coffee shop and the church there are already teams that are set up. In both places there are people who are on the path to working on the same vision as I am. Likewise in both places I hold positions of leadership, helping to lead those that are cultivating community along side of me.

It is my prayer this week that I can grow in my leadership and that God will continue to prepare me as a leader to lead others in cultivating community.