Community Life
Community Life by Rebecca K. Grosenbach
The Gospel Flows Naturally Along Relational Lines
About 20 years ago, when Navigators Fred and Linda Wevodau befriended a couple from their church, they had no idea the friendship would revolutionize their approach to ministry. And it all began with a bad haircut. At that . . .
time, the Wevodaus lived in California and Fred taught a Sunday school class Tim and Tammy Cahill attended. One Sunday, Linda walked into class sporting a new perm. Tammy, a beautician, couldn’t help but notice the haircut was, well, not very flattering. Tammy invited Linda over for a good haircut. As they got to know each other better, Tammy asked Linda if she would disciple her.
Tammy and Tim were relatively new believers. Tammy was the first to ask Jesus into her life, and her new spirit of love and tenderness led Tim to consider the claims of Christ. He decided to become a Christ-follower as well, leaving behind a life marred by drugs and alcohol.
When Tammy and Linda got together for their first discipleship meeting, they asked God to show them what to do. One practical thing Tammy realized she could do was to introduce her nonbelieving friends to Linda.
“I’m a people gatherer,” she said. “I had lots of friends who were
nonbelievers. I did not feel equipped to be a teacher, but I asked
Linda, ‘If I can get the ladies together, would you come teach us? And,
by the way, I sent out the invitations and they’re coming Wednesday.’ ”Meanwhile, Fred and Tim were becoming friends. “We joke about how we got dragged into a relationship,” Tim says.
Tim, a businessman, began talking to people at work about his new relationship with Christ. He invited Fred to talk to these same men, and some came to faith. Tim’s family—he’s one of nine children—also noticed his changed life and some of them became Christians, although it has been a long and slow journey for most.
This idea of reaching people within one’s own realm of influence had always made sense to Fred, a former Air Force pilot. In the months that followed, he began to recognize how much more powerful sharing Christ was in the context of community, not merely one-to-one.
“I think one of the big breakthroughs for me was understanding how important community is to God,” Fred says. “The God of eternity describes Himself in relational terms—Father, Son, Holy Spirit. That is what the Gospel offers us as image-bearers: the opportunity for intimacy, not just with God but with each other. It stands to reason that the Gospel would most naturally flow along relational lines.”
 A friendship formed years ago between Linda Wevodau (left) and Tammy Cahill (right) revolutionized the Wevodau's ministry. |
“We started calling it Family Church,” Linda says. “We met every other Sunday afternoon. Sometimes we’d have a serious discussion, sometimes not. We were just hanging out. But we wanted to hang out with a spiritual focus and incorporate our kids.”
“We wanted to reach out to unbelievers,” adds Fred, “but we decided we wouldn’t necessarily invite people to investigate the Scriptures right away. We would invite them into the community and let our collective witness—not just with words but with lives—make the difference.
“That’s a very freeing thing, not to feel responsible for someone’s conversion. You can just walk with them in love, believing the Holy Spirit is the one who brings conviction, who opens hearts, who invites people into a new life.”
Over the years, many people have entered into a relationship with Christ through the influence of the community. Some of Tim’s siblings, nieces, and nephews became a link to their spouses and children.
Since moving to Parker, Colorado, a few years ago, Fred and Linda have applied the same relational approach to their new neighbors. Linda says, “I don’t think Jesus meant for the Gospel to be just facts. If He had, He would have printed leaflets and left them on people’s doorsteps. I think we should be less wordy. When people see that our family loves each other, that’s good news. That’s really good news.”
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