In the 1950s, anthropologist Victor Turner studied young boys from the Ndembu tribe who, at age 13, were thrust together into the African bush as a rite of passage into manhood. Turner used the word communitas to describe the unique community that developed as these boys faced a common mission...survival. They didn't have time to squabble over insignificant issues because they were united by a common objective. Along the way, they became a community defined by something deeper than friendship.

When Jesus invites us to follow him, we believe it's an invitation to join him in the greatest and most important adventure imaginable. He doesn't ask anyone to become a religious person, but rather to follow his example, to fully engage in the real world with the hope of changing it through a powerful experience of God's love.

Turner discovered that there is no community like one that forms around a critical mission. Our desire is to develop Communitas into such a community, linked not by a desire for a safe, secure life, but rather a life in which we fully give ourselves to Jesus' mission. It's a costly mission, one that will stretch us in ways we can't imagine, but also one that will provide us with a unique and rich experience of community.