More than a Strategy

It is the word strategy that has stayed with me since the sermon last Sunday.

I have always loved strategic planning—bringing people together, discovering and defining vision and mission, asking the big why, and then thoughtfully mapping out the steps (the strategies) to get there. In the public and community-based organizations I have been involved with, one of the central goals is to build community: getting people to engage and to belong to help accomplish the mission. Action plans usually outlined the strategies that moved the mission from ideas into action.

But when Jesus begins His ministry, something different is happening.

Jesus does not treat community as a strategy to accomplish His mission. Community is the mission.

Community is not something Jesus creates to produce discipleship; it is the shared life where discipleship happens. Before teachings, before miracles, before momentum, He calls people: “Follow me.” And with that invitation, a community is formed—not as a means to an end, but as the very shape of discipleship.

There is no ‘Lone Ranger’ version of following Jesus, as our pastor said in his sermon. No solitary path where faith grows best in isolation. From the very beginning, following Jesus means walking alongside others—listening, learning, failing, forgiving and growing together.

And it is within that shared life that transformation quietly takes place.

Community is not an optional program or a helpful tactic. It is the shared life of following Jesus, and it is within that life that faith takes root. We do not just learn who Jesus is in community—we learn how to live like Him. We discover love through real relationships, patience through friction, and grace through shared weakness.

Jesus does not say, “Believe in me privately.” He says, “Follow me.” And He says it in the plural, inviting us into a shared life.

If we ever find ourselves tempted to think we can follow Jesus on our own terms, at our own distance, it is worth remembering how He began: not with a plan, but with people; not with strategy, but with belonging.

Following Jesus means belonging—to one another.

-Carol Pitts