A street fair or market is happening near a single downtown-style building. People are shopping at booths and others are walking or holding conversations in the street. Most are Black or dark skinned.

Bridging the groups in your community

ByBecky McCray

I was reading Jon Swanson’s 300 Words a Day newsletter, and he shared this really old truth about building community from a Bible story:

“Jesus was traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem. And it went right along the border of two bad parts of town. Or two great parts of town. I mean, everyone has part of town you avoid. It’s just that different groups have different parts.

“This story happens in the borderlands, where we’re not sure where we stand. There are lots of mixed up and mixed together stories in the borderlands. And in the borderland of disease, people who wouldn’t otherwise be together are together.”

What if you created places and times in your town for people who otherwise wouldn’t meet to sit down together? The purpose might be to eat, to talk and listen, to buy from each other, to paint something, to plant something or to work side by side.

This is community building at the most basic building block level.

If you’d like specific practical steps you can take right away, look at our list: 99% of the ways you can build a stronger community don’t require anyone’s permission. It’s a reminder that your small steps add up to change the future of your community.