Mark 6:6-12

Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.

8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

-Mark 6:6-12

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There are no lone rangers in Christianity.  Notice how when Jesus sent his disciples out he did it in pairs.  He didn’t just send someone by their lonesome self to the mission field to do God’s work.  In fact, in this particular case, Jesus asked his disciples to NOT take things with them to demonstrate how God will provide from them along the way.  The ONLY thing he told them to take was each other.  That’s a pretty powerful endorsement for the importance of community.

Our Western culture have become hyper-individualized.  We’re the most individualistic culture the world has ever seen.  We have the “It’s about me” mentality—it’s all about how I can be independent and not depend on anyone else mentality.  Unfortunately, we’ve brought this thinking into Christianity as well.

With time as an AYL leader, I have heard quite a few kids say, “I don’t really need church.  I’m just focusing on my own relationship with God.”  That’s an oxymoron.  No one can focus on their own relationship with God without a community of believers surrounding them and supporting them.

Are you practicing a lone ranger mentality when it comes to your faith?  Get plugged into your local church.  Get involved with your youth group.  Get involved with Christian groups like Harvesters and AYL.  We need one another to help each other grow in our faith, especially in though times like the ones we’re going through right now.