Living the Connected Life

Living the Connected Life.

The great German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, "If you love the vision you have for community, you will destroy community. If you love the people around you, you will create community." One of our highest values at Ten Mile involves relationships: our relationship with God, followed quickly by our relationship with one another.  The New Testament writers would not have understood a Christian faith that did not involve people being intimately connected to each other.  This kind of connection happens only when people make a radical choice in their lives.  It is much easier, efficient, and comfortable to live an individualistic and isolated life in 21st century America.  Our vision of church does include us having corporate programs for people to begin the connection process, but our vision includes relationships taking an organic nature from that point.  

Organic relationships happen when people take the initiative.  They happen when a couple has another couple over for dinner.  They happen when two guys meet at church and one invites the other to meet regularly for coffee and to read through a book together.  They happen when people realize that trying to live the isolated Christian life a contradiction in terms. Bonhoeffer's quote above hits the nail on the head - if you are waiting around for your perfect vision of community to "happen", you will destroy true community.  If you dare to love the people around you, you will experience real community. 

By all means - we would encourage you to get involved with Ten Mile on Sundays and in our weekly community groups, but more importantly our hope is that community becomes less of an "event" in your life and more of the "way" in which you live your life. -Ryan Snow