I just got back from a Christian women’s meetup in Edina, sponsored by (in)courage. It’s called #inRL and it’s meant to help women connect in community, both on- and off-line. To create a network of support and mutual growth. Most of all, to remind us we’re not alone in this mess called life, dealing with all our “stuff” in a vacuum.
So we met, with snacks and a craft, music and videos and stories of how people just like us are walking through life with their hands in each other’s, and in God’s hands.
We shared tears and stories of our own, finding out that we’re not so very different after all, and that each of us has a story to tell. They’re not all finished, neatly tied up and pretty, but just the fact of sharing our stories ties us together and helps something beautiful grow.
One of the women said, in talking about her group of friends from many different churches, “If all we have in common is Jesus, it’s enough.” It’s what I’ve found the last two years in going to Set Apart Conference, and what I hope to find here at (in)RLMN in the next months.
I don’t underestimate the power of any group to reach out in Jesus’ name, but something about a cross-denominational fellowship makes it that much more powerful, because we’ve already decided to put aside any differences in the cause of advancing the gospel in our sisters’ lives and in our own. Only then can we have the extra necessary to reach out to others who don’t have that gospel and draw them into fellowship with us.
This is what I’ve been hoping to do with Prayer and Cookies, though I’ve gotten off to a (very) slow start. I hope to improve that in the next few months, maybe with the help of some of the new friends I made today.
Here’s to (in)couraging each other and reaching out hands of fellowship, both online and #inRL.
Prayer and Cookies 