From the age of 5 to the ripe old age of 25 attending Sunday School was a regular part of my Sunday routine.  My family would head to church early Sunday morning, attend Sunday School, the regular church service, and after an afternoon break, we would head back to church for the Sunday night service.

Some of you can completely relate to that type of church schedule while others cannot imagine a Sunday schedule like that! Right?

The reason I have been thinking about Sunday School is that it represented a regular connection with a group of people.  My community.  My friends. Rich support through the seasons of life.   Sunday School, in most churches today, have been replaced by Bible Studies and Small groups, which is great IF the connections are consistent.

It’s so important, no matter who you are, that you have a sense of connectedness; of community.  Isolation never produces a rich life.  Are you connected to community in your life?  Do you regularly engage in quality conversations with like-minded people? Do you have people in your life who will go the distance with you?

Jen Waak does a good job of listing the Power of Community in a recent article.

The Power of Community

Here are 6 powerful reasons not to go it alone:

1. Collective wisdom. No one person ever has all of the answers, and regardless of the amount of Google-fu you may have, consulting with experts is always going to give you better information.

2. Pushing our limits. When working alone, it’s oftentimes too easy to give up when things get hard. By surrounding yourself with others working toward a similar goal or objective, you’ll get motivation, support, and friendly competition to push yourself just a bit further than you would have done on your own.

3. Support and belief. Some days those big goals just seem impossible. On those days when you most want to give up, you need to lean on your community the most. They believe in you—probably more than you belief in yourself.

4. New ideas. I truly believe that when you are working within a community of like-minded people that the wisdom of crowds is considerably greater than any one person working alone. Our divergent world views and lenses mean that we all approach the exact same problem slightly differently.

5. Borrowed motivation. Even on those days when your belief in yourself isn’t waning, doing what needs to get done can seem overwhelming. Look around your community and be inspired!

6. Accountability. If you’re an uber-responsible person, you may not want to admit to people you care about who are pulling for you that something didn’t get done. There’s nothing like having to be accountable to others to up your game.

In my early years Sunday School represented my community.  What represents your community? Do you need to be more intentional to create “community” in your life?  Life is always going to be richer when we do it together!