On the weekend of June 6-8, Amy Meador (Duke Divinity Summer intern) and I traveled 15 miles northwest of Washington DC to Wellspring Retreat Center. I went in search of the Christian community experience documented so eloquently in Elizabeth O'Connor's book, Journey Inward - Journey Outward. My intention as the Johnson Intern Program (JIP)Director was to learn how The Servant Leadership School model ‘works.' I held the assumption that I could use a ‘best practice' approach and create the new fall Johnson Intern curriculum around community building.

The retreat focused upon the inward journey (one's spirituality) and its outward expression (mission) and how it is supported by the community experience. Over the past year, I have struggled with identifying the foundational requirements for building community. At times I have seriously questioned whether it was an illusive ideal; a high and mighty aspiration, yet a human impossibility. I have an ongoing struggle with the concept of Christian community in the 21st century and ask myself repeatedly how (if at all) is it different from a fellowship experience? Is it a community because the persons involved say they experience it? Moreover, what does ‘it' consist of?

I would like to share with you two foundational learnings that came from the weekend experience.

First, the Christian community experience builds upon an individual's personal desire to know the man called Jesus. An individual's desire must be coupled with the emotional and stable maturity to develop spiritual disciplines. It is difficult and dangerous work to enter silence, prayer, meditation, and scriptural study on a daily basis. Our very sense of ‘self' with all its rights and freedoms becomes fundamentally challenged as one encounters Jesus in the daily journey. The prospective applicant interview process is essential for the JIP program. It is through this discernment process that we ensure that we invite young adults committed to developing spiritual discipline, both I individually and as a community.

Second, unless one is involved in the spiritual life in a deep and meaningful way, Christian fellowship is often mistaken for Christian community. So if fellowship is not Christian community, what determines Christian community? I believe it begins with accountability to and with others. Individuals have the personal experience of being encouraged, supported, and challenged for developing spiritual disciplines. The community becomes responsible for the checks and balances of the Christian communal life. Some refer to it as a “rule of life” others a “covenant.” The test comes in the ability of the community members to do what they say they will do and feel the safety and freedom to challenge one another when they do not. In our sessions together, the principle that continued to surface was authenticity, an ability to be honest with God, with self, and with others.