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Try as we might, we can’t make a seed grow.

   But we can cultivate an environment where growth can happen. It works the same way with God. While we can’t make our spiritual life happen, we can learn to recognize, welcome, and cultivate His presence in our lives. Cultivating the spiritual life, like farming, is a vigorous task.

   Sometimes, we can approach our faith like a factory worker. Punch the right combinations of numbers on the machine and out comes a perfectly formed product. Do the right combination of bible studies, prayer times and Christian activities and out comes the perfect “Christian.” But we all know, intuitively, that this does not work. The spiritual life is a much messier and much more complicated life-long process. It’s also an incredibly beautiful and deeply profound process that does not so much involve formulas as it does cultivation, kind of like farming. We can plant seeds. We can water. We can cultivate the soil so the seed has a healthy place to grow… but God is the one who does the growing

   One of the most vital aspects of this lifelong process of “farming,” of learning about and becoming more like God, of transforming into a worshipping, community of missional theologians, is intentionally opening up to and deeply engaging with others who are on the journey with us. At FOC, we see Community Groups as a spaces where cultivating an environment for growth can happen… places where we can plant the seeds and plow the soil so that acceptance, accountability, belonging, care, vulnerability, connection, commitment, challenge, friendships, prayer, learning, support and growth can all grow beautifully and naturally among those who are seeking to know and serve God together.