The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. —Acts 2:42

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After moving to Richmond in the summer of 2015 we spent about eight months looking for our new church home. We had been fortunate to come from a wonderful church in Orlando, Florida, and knew that finding the right fit in RVA might take us some time. There were weeks where we felt that we might never find that church home, and we would “take a break” and just watch the streaming services from Florida instead. But something was missing.

Finding our place in a new state, with new jobs, and meeting new friends was taking longer than we remembered things taking in our 20s. We hadn’t found our community yet. But God didn’t create us to worship alone. Christians were built for community. It is in the studying of the Word, in the fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the sharing of prayers that we find our closest relationship with God. Last year we finally found our community. At Trinity we found a church where we felt loved and accepted and where we could grow in our faith with those around us. As we go on this Advent journey once again, how can we devote ourselves to our community? How do we go beyond the hour of worship, passively being in community with one another, to being an actively engaged member of the community? What would it look like if we truly devoted ourselves to our community?

Mike and Gin Smith