This week it was a joy to be on the Mid North Coast, where I found space to pause and consider what it means to belong. I spent time in Tiona Chapel, where stillness and simplicity invited prayer and self-reflection. I worshipped with the Taree congregation and again with the people of Tuncurry. In all of these moments, I began to imagine what it might mean to call this place home. Something within me knew I was embraced, not only by generous people but by the very land that holds them. My heart was filled with a peace that settled within me. I felt inspired by people whose generosity and stewardship reveal a love for God’s creation and for the community entrusted to their care.
It was an honour to listen as they shared their laughter and their prayers, their stories and their longings for the future. These moments reminded me that discipleship is never just about what can be seen from the outside. It is about what takes root within. It is the slow, hidden work of God transforming our lives from the inside out.
In Community of Christ, we speak of discipleship as a whole life response to God’s grace. It is not something added on to our schedules or performed only in certain places. It is an inward awakening. It is a journey of the Spirit that shapes how we see, how we love, and how we live in community. This journey deepens our capacity for compassion, invites us to risk generosity, and calls us into sacred community with one another. The Spirit meets us in sacred places, in ordinary conversations, in the laughter of friends during tea, and in the gentle movements of our own hearts. From there, the Spirit sends us outward again to embody Christ’s peace and to share God’s grace with the world.
Discipleship is this inward and outward rhythm, a wholehearted response that continues to draw us deeper into the way of Christ. It sharpens our gaze inward to notice what is awakening within us, and it invites us to let that awakening guide the life we share together.
With gratitude,
Meredith Carr
Australia Mission Centre President