During the latter part of my first semester of my sophomore year I became a part of a church group. It wasn’t until this semester—the first semester of my junior year— which I really started to invest more of my time into this church group. This was quite hard for me due to the fact that I struggle with constantly feeling like a hypocrite because of the sins I struggle with. I’m not sure if I am alone with this, but when I was around this church group I felt that I was the only one who did not have their faith figured out. I then started to think that I wasn’t worthy enough to be a part of this church group anymore.

One day, one of the leaders of this church group asked to meet with me because he wanted to get to know me, which is when I really began to feel a part of this church group. He and I met at a coffee shop not too far from campus and just talked about life for about two hours. One thing that I really respected was how open he was to and with me. I consider myself a very open person and when I had shared some of the tougher things and not so proud things that have happened in my life, he did not seem disgusted with me nor acted uncomfortable. Instead, he either related with me or thanked me for sharing because he knows how tough it is to open up to an acquaintance.

It was after that talk that I realized that I am not the only broken one in that church group and that I was wrong for assuming that everyone in that church group had life and being a follower of Christ all figured out. I was wrong for thinking that just because everyone in that group was a follower of Christ that they were perfect and did not struggle with sin. I cannot speak for everyone else’s groups, but my church group is full of brokenness and sin. We realize that we are not perfect and that we won’t ever have life figured out no matter how hard we try.

For those that are not in a church group and hope to one day be in one. Do not make the mistake of thinking you are not worthy enough to be a part of that group. Do not think that you are too broken or too deep in sin because you are not alone. As Kirk Franklin says in “Ultralight Beam” by Kanye West,

“Father, this prayer is for everyone that feels they're not good enough.

This prayer's for everybody that feels like they're too messed up.

For everyone that feels they've said, "I'm sorry" too many times.

You can never go too far when you can't come back home again.”

For those invested in a church group understand that your mentors are just as lost as you at times and still have things they struggle with. A great verse to remember is 1 Peter 5:9, which says, “Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.”