The Gift of Community




I am the quintessential introvert and love being alone with my thoughts. It genuinely takes a lot out of me to be in spaces where I’m being pulled on from every direction. Clearly, I’m in the wrong line of work. Nevertheless, I have learned to retreat to the safety of my home at the end of the day to recharge for my next interaction with people. When I got to Wesley in the fall of 2017, I imagined that I would learn a ton about God, a lot about church, and quite a bit about leadership. What I didn’t bargain for was to learn as much as I have about the power of community.

My first semester at Wesley was lonely and if it weren’t for the smiling faces of my friends who were ahead of me, I would have bowed out of this experience altogether. As I wrestled with my call, it was passing conversations with people wrestling just like I was that encouraged me to keep wrestling. Conversations with faculty reminded me that even though I’m still figuring this thing out, God was very present and as much involved in my education as he is in my spiritual formation.

Now, in the second semester of my second year, I know that community is as much a part of my learning experience as reading, studying, and writing. The shared experience of my fellow seminarians from all walks of life has enriched my own.

I came to Wesley because I knew that if I wanted to grow, I had to be intentional about surrounding myself with a diverse cast of characters to challenge what it meant to know God and to be known by God. There are people in this community who will never know what their hug, smile, prayer, or testimony has meant to my spiritual formation and how I have been better equipped not only for the work of ministry but for life as a young woman in such a polarizing time in American history.

The bible speaks of many gifts that God gives us: prophecy and teaching, faith and mercy... the list goes on and on. But a gift that is not explicitly stated is community. To have people who will bear with you in love, people to sharpen you as iron sharpens iron, and people to remind you that the love of Christ should be extended to all people of regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation, or political affiliation. Community here at Wesley and beyond is just another one of the gifts God has given us, a gift we don’t deserve, to remind us of His love for us.


Duchanna Brown is a seminarian at Wesley.
To read other articles from this issue of the Journal, click here.
You can view the entire issue of the Journal here.

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