Communityનમૂનો

The mutuality of friendship

Going into 2026, one of the things I reflected on was the different social groups I’m part of: there’s old school friends, work friends, church friends from various stages of life – a fragmented set of connections that form my community. I thought about how valuable it is to have consistent people in your life, and what importance should be placed on these friendships going forward.

Even with friends, a lot of us can feel isolated and lonely if they’re not satisfying. Some of that I’m sure comes from a mainstream decline in church attendance: this activity that was the centre of the week and a social bedrock for centuries has moved into the background of secular priorities. We have to fill the gap with something, both socially and spiritually.

This isn’t optional, it’s vital to human wellbeing.

One of the main reasons Ecclesiastes tells us we need each other, is to ‘help each other up’. Community functions at its best when we offer support and receive it. And that goes both ways. If we want to model community as God designed it, first of all we need to engage with people, and then we need to be willing to help and be helped.

It’s not always an easy thing – especially the being helped part – but the best of friends are the ones you invite in to your ‘falls’, and who you graciously lift up when they have their own. How can we create that type of community today?

Written by LAURA BENNETT