WDBC Care Clusters
by Joanna Hoffman, Minister of Community Life
“I need some help.”
“I’m not coping very well”
“Would you pray for me.”
If you’ve heard these words from me before count yourself lucky and holding a gold star. Do you find it hard to be vulnerable sometimes? I do.
Am I pursuing solitude or community?
For many of us presenting a need or weakness can be incredibly hard or not even considered an option.
When presenting your own struggles, does it feel like you are diminishing the needs of others who have ‘much more need than me’?
Need can carry the weight of guilt in feeling like you haven’t worked hard enough to solve it on your own. Need can also carry the parallel weight of the shame of creating one’s own mess.
Asking for prayer can be ever intimidating because often it can be met with really good Christian advice (read “judgment”) before prayer.
These comments may dismiss the fact that you might already know where God’s Word stands on the subject but that you find it really hard to do what you know you ought to do or to believe what you know is true.
But allow me to ask the obvious:
Do I not want my brother or sister’s prayers?
Do I truly think I am not in need of prayer for life’s journey of faith?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer warns us of the potential danger on either side of the precipice of community in his book Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community.
Let him who cannot be alone beware of community... Let him who is not in community beware of being alone... Each by itself has profound perils and pitfalls. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.
What is your COVID-19 experience?
During this COVID-19 season many of us are being put under pressure, in different ways and degrees. Are you working extra shifts for the increased demands? Supervising the same little people 24/7? Working around the clock from home AND supervising children? Already isolated and now incredibly more so?
Were you on a low income and now no income due to lay offs? Is your patience tested in making the one millionth attempt to contact Centrelink? You have always been helpful, but now the need around you is overwhelming and there is literally nothing much if anything you can do to help? Even your faith may be tested, asking “Where is God in all of this?”
Conversely, you may be doing great, appreciating the slower pace, the long evenings with family and the time to get organised and refocused. Maybe your network has tightened and you are meeting regularly and praying for each other. Maybe you are suited for this season and have risen to the challenge!
Are you wondering what you can do to help others? Pray, listen and repeat is a wonderful way to help others.
Is a Care Cluster for you?
WDBC Care Clusters are for everyone in our fellowship who is looking for a way to intentionally connect with 3-4 other people during this season — in order to listen and to pray .
Some people have formed their own organic cluster or already have this kind of support, which is fantastic! But if you are looking for this kind of support during the COVID-19 season I encourage you to join a Care Cluster.
Male or female, young or mature, tech savvy or phone friendly, we will try to put people in a group where their contact preferences align and they will be able to mutually support one another.
Community is not loneliness grabbing onto loneliness: “I’m so lonely; you’re so lonely. Please stay awhile!”…No, community is solitude greeting solitude: “I am the beloved; you are the beloved. Together we can build a home.”
—Henri Nouwen, A Spirituality of Living
Frequent Q & A’s:
Are these groups for men also?
Yes, they are for everyone, male and female. As the groups are quite small and intimate females and males are in groups with the same gender.
Will I be in contact with my group constantly?
No, they are not supposed to be overwhelming. Weekly contact in your preferred method is suggested and then you can let each other know if something specific comes up for prayer or praise. The key is to remember you are there to pray and support, not fix and solve!
I am already in a small group, can I also be in a Care Cluster?
Yes, you can be in a care cluster as well as a small group, they are quite different. They are smaller, sharing and prayer oriented and at this time only for the COVID-19 season of our lives. This is not a long term commitment.
With a mutual commitment to being honest and open and praying for one another it is our hope and prayer that you will be encouraged and strengthened in your journey of faith even more during this COVID-19 season. We push ourselves to grow in vulnerability and openness with one another because this expresses love in the same way that Christ became like us and even walks with us through highs and lows today.
It is one type of good-Samaritan love to stand above and say “Here, I will help you.” It is another more familial type of love that says, “Here, I am a fellow sojourner just like you, let’s walk together.”
“We loved you so much that we shared with you not only
God’s Good News but our own lives, too.”
1 Thessalonians 2:8
Click to express your interest and join a Care Cluster: Care Cluster Form