Many of us get a taste of this experience in academic communities, as we did at Harvard and Wesleyan. Indeed, the simplicity of collegiate life – the focus on coursework and working toward a degree, the prime importance of friendships – can haunt one for years afterward. A nostalgic thirst for better times is hard to slake with pale adult substitutes such as the company for which one works or the often jaded company one keeps.

– from Simple Living by Frank Levering and Wanda Urbanska

I just finished reading this book. The full title is Simple Living: One Couple’s Search for a Better Life. If you enjoy reading stories about people who simplify, this is a pretty good one.

Of everything in the book, this is the paragraph that jumped out at me. This has been my personal experience.

I’ve experienced strong community in college and also in a church. But they were only for a specific period of time in my life and have not been an ongoing part of my life, especially the past ten years or so. I am wondering if this is true of anyone else.

I’m also wondering how people who come here define community. What would be your ideal of community? What does it include? What does it not include? What have been your best experiences with community?

When I was on staff with InterVarsity, one of the things that was always discussed with the seniors was the challenge of going from a very intentional campus ministry to joining a church. After students experience something like a campus ministry where they are discipled and there is structure, Bible studies, thoughtful worship, deliberate relationships, etc. it can be a real shock to only have a “regular church” in your life.