One of my favorite scenes in anime is, unsurprisingly, from my favorite series, Oregairu. In it, the stubborn loner, Hachiman Hikigaya, finally admits through tears in his eyes that what he really desires is something genuine out of his service club relationships. It’s not enough to just have superficial relationship with his beloved friends, nor can he function on his own as he so frequently says he can; Hikki needs something deeper, and makes himself vulnerable to reach that end.
For the Christian, authenticity is also key. Without it, the end goal of deepening relationship with God cannot be achieved. We need to come before him as naked as we truly are, humbled and in awe before his power and grace. And likewise, if we are to obey and emulate him, serving those around us, we also need to dig deeper into relationships with other Christians. However, that can be challenging, not only because of those things that, like in Hikki’s case, may be holding us back, but because we just can’t find a community of believers with whom we connect. I’ve been there, and maybe you have, too.
Maybe you’re there right now.
If so, we’re hoping that we might be able to fill that void for you, to offer a community where you can grow in Christ as you grow to know one another. One of our Discord admins, Mecahawk, will be leading a weekly small group, supported by our writer / founder of Gaming and God, Samuru. Together, the group will study the Bible, share and pray with one another, and maybe even play together and watch anime. There’s no commitment—just this offer to come join us and see if this might be a good play to better connect with God and fellow believers. Our first virtual meeting will be Sunday, January 31st at 8pm ET.
If you do have an interest, I encourage you to submit the form below and we’ll get you the details!
We look forward to connecting with you!
I would love to join the meeting.
If it’s not too much to ask, can you pray for me? Me and my best friend were exposed to someone who potentially has covid at school. I am going to get tested sometime soon.
Of course! I’ll pray for you, Rachel. And if you send me an email (beneath.the.tangles@gmail.com), I’ll send you information about joining us for small group.
I cannot even express how timely this is for me right now! *sobs* Was literally just feeling very heartbroken over a situation that happened last week where I felt I needed to change because of my faith. I feel like trust has been broken and just don’t know how to move forward. I’m setting up a Discord so I can join now! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Laura, I’m sorry to hear about your recent struggles. Truth be told, my family went through a church breakup this past year with a place we’d called home for nearly two decades, and it was devastating, so perhaps I understand a bit of what you feel. I don’t know if our small group can provide the community you need, but I hope it can be at least of some help during this time of brokenness. I also want to offer our digital prayer community to you as another way to plug in and share if you’d like—we’ve subscribed to your Instagram, and I’ll message you there with those details soon.
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