What’s With This Word ‘Building?’

When I hear the word building, I immediately picture buildings (noun) or building (verb). I think of neighborhoods with houses, apartments and condos. I imagine the skylines of cities and the invasive noise of construction sites. Building any building is a collaborative effort. A house, for example, requires an architect’s vision, someone to read the blueprint, monetary resources, building supplies, appropriately zoned land, workers to do the physical labor, and ultimately, the individuals who will call it home.

Last week I read an article online in The Atlanta Journal and Constitution concerning the building of affordable housing for teachers both active and retired in the downtown Atlanta area. When teachers and retirees were interviewed about their economic realities, planners concluded that the high cost of housing was pricing teachers out of the community. Teachers were simply unable to live where they worked. The answer was to build affordable housing to attract educators to the downtown area. To me, this looks a lot like a community offering teachers a tangible way to belong.

So, what does building belonging look like in our own space? Think about building belonging as visual or physical: a smile, a handshake or hug, food at potluck for a variety of diets, services that encourage the growth of all, an accessible online ministry, groups that welcome diversity, programs that expand our definitions of welcome, and support systems for those in need. The list could and should go on and on.Turns out we’re already practicing belonging, but how do we build more belonging? We don’t stop asking this question:  what do you need to feel you belong within our community? We ask ourselves. We ask our friends. We ask people we just met. The answers we hear are our new building blocks.

~Lisa Kiel