Repeat after me: "Intentionally Creating Community..."

I've been thinking a lot about community lately. Any of my friends will tell you that I love to be around people, which is probably why I'm so addicted to ministry in the first place. I'm all about people - all about their hearts and souls and minds. I love to pour into them, love to spend time with them, love to get to know them. It's just who God has made me to be.

Lately, I've been playing a lot of games with friends. Not as in mental games, I'm mean literal games like Scatagories and chess (yeah, I actually played chess!) and Cranium. I suppose it all started in England when friends and I made a regular meeting out of playing Texas Hold 'Em. And then when I returned I seemed to befriend people who had to play games when they got together. So now I find myself sending out texts every Sunday asking who might be up for a board game at the local coffee shop. And I've got to say, it's been amazing getting to know random people through it.

All this to say, I've been thinking about the idea of intentionally creating community as of late. When I came back to Gig Harbor, I had this idea in my head that God was wanting me to start a ministry among young adults. And I somewhat assumed this meant a very straight forward, 'what you normally see' kind of ministry. You know, starting small groups, teaching lessons, etc. etc. But lately I'm realizing this ministry He has naturally evolved for me has everything to do with 'intentionally creating community' and nothing to do with starting small groups or whatever. It's as if there is some switch in me that refuses to shut off. What shall I call it? A hospitality switch? A hostess switch? An organizer switch? I can't stop planning reasons to get together with the young adults in my community.

I wonder if perhaps God wants all of us to be more intentional about creating community around us. I'm not talking about be a freak about it like I am. I just mean that I am someone who believes we were designed to be in relationship with others. But, especially for young single adults, life gets busy with work and play and everything in between. Even hanging out with people can end up being more about entertainment than relationship. I want to start a movement in Gig Harbor where people decide to go out of their way to build relationship with those around them. Have a meal together, play a board game, catch up over coffee, go see a comedian who has come to town, visit a jazz club. Whatever it is, I want to challange everyone, both young and old, to start 'intentionally creating community". See it as a ministry or not. Just give it a try for a while and see what happens. You never know - maybe it might even change your life!