Are you creative? Are you a good planner? Consider joining the Community Planning Team as an ongoing member. Meetings happen about once a month, usually on Zoom. Contact Lisa Collins to get involved.

The dictionary tells us that a community is a “social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests.” At Galilee, we think about our community in terms of circles expanding from the sanctuary where we worship to the rooms in our building used by outside groups, to our friends who live in surrounding neighborhoods, to the people we meet throughout Loudoun County, and out into a wide and various world. 

And we think a lot about what common characteristics and interests we share.

John Wesley encouraged early Methodists to be friendly, outgoing, neighborly, and helpful to others in order to grow a Christian faith that united people for the common good and a higher purpose. Wesley took faith beyond the doors of the churches of England and brought it to fields and factories, hospitals and prisons, expanding the meaning of both church and community. It worked in Wesley’s time and gave birth to our worldwide denomination (which is another word for community).

We were reminded about the importance of community more recently when Covid made it impossible to gather in person for church or for anything else! How disconnected did that make us feel—and perhaps still makes us feel? This experience has spurred us to put new effort into creative ways to build community for the extraordinary purpose of sharing God’s love.

Galilee established our Community Planning Team to create opportunities for our congregation to gather together and meet new people in our church and wider community. If you participated in a Walk for Ukraine, or Fireside Carols, or Chili Cook-Offs and Movie Nights, then you’ve seen the fruits of this team’s work. 

The team is always busy planning our next community event, because being part of a community gives individuals a sense of belonging and purpose which has physical, spiritual, and mental health benefits. That’s one piece of the puzzle that will help us build a society of loving friends and neighbors. And not just a society, but a kingdom.