The following is an excerpt from a book about suffering written by Timothy Downing, Missionary in Ecuador. The book is titled: The Storm Will ComeBuilding Foundations for Inevitable Suffering
The Church as School of Suffering
The individual cultivation of endurance through personal disciplines, however essential, finds its proper context and completion within the community of faith. The church, rightly understood and faithfully practiced, serves as a school where believers learn not merely how to avoid suffering but how to suffer well together. This communal dimension of spiritual formation addresses one of the most dangerous tendencies in contemporary Christianity: the privatization of faith that treats spiritual maturity as an individual achievement rather than a communal process.
The biblical vision of Christian community assumes that believers will face trials and that these trials will serve formative purposes not only for individuals but for the entire body of Christ. Paul’s metaphor of the church as a body with many members explicitly addresses this reality: “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” (1 Corinthians 12:26). This interdependence means that individual suffering becomes an occasion for corporate spiritual growth, while corporate support enables individual believers to endure trials that would overwhelm them if faced alone.
The church as school of suffering differs significantly from therapeutic communities that focus primarily on healing and recovery. While the church certainly provides comfort and support for those facing difficulties, its ultimate purpose is not the elimination of suffering but the formation of character that can bear suffering faithfully. This distinction shapes how Christian communities respond to members’ trials and what kinds of support they offer during seasons of difficulty.
The theological foundation for understanding the church as school of suffering lies in the recognition that the body of Christ participates in Christ’s own redemptive suffering. As Paul writes, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, the church” (Colossians 1:24). This does not mean that Christ’s sacrifice was incomplete, but rather that the church continues to participate in the pattern of redemptive suffering that characterized Jesus’ earthly ministry.
This participation means that when church members face trials, they do so not merely as isolated individuals seeking personal relief but as participants in the larger story of God’s redemptive work in the world. Their suffering becomes part of the corporate witness to the reality that God’s kingdom comes through sacrifice rather than conquest, that divine strength is made perfect in human weakness, and that the way to glory leads through the valley of the shadow of death.
How to Receive Comfort and Offer It
The practice of giving and receiving comfort within Christian community requires wisdom that balances empathy with truth, support with accountability, and present help with eternal perspective. Many well-intentioned efforts to provide comfort actually undermine the spiritual growth that trials can produce, while some attempts to maintain theological perspective lack the empathy that genuine suffering requires.
Receiving Comfort Without Dependence
Learning to receive comfort appropriately involves maintaining openness to others’ care while avoiding the spiritual passivity that can result from excessive dependence on human support. The believer facing trials needs the prayer, practical assistance, and emotional encouragement that community can provide, but must be careful not to allow such support to replace direct dependence on divine grace or to postpone the spiritual growth that trials are designed to produce.
Healthy reception of comfort acknowledges genuine need while maintaining appropriate boundaries that preserve dignity and promote growth. The individual facing financial hardship may gratefully accept temporary assistance with expenses while continuing to pursue employment and develop long-term solutions. The person dealing with emotional crisis may appreciate opportunities to share burdens with trusted friends while maintaining regular personal prayer and scripture study.
The key is to receive comfort as gift that enables faithful response to trial rather than as substitute for such response. Community support should increase rather than decrease the recipient’s capacity for trusting God, serving others, and growing through difficulty. When support creates dependence that undermines these goals, it serves therapeutic rather than genuinely Christian purposes.
This understanding requires both givers and receivers of comfort to maintain clear priorities about the ultimate purposes of Christian community. The goal is not to eliminate members’ difficulties or to provide all the resources they need for comfortable living, but to support them in responding faithfully to whatever circumstances they face while discovering the spiritual resources that such faithfulness requires.
Offering Comfort That Strengthens Rather Than Weakens
Providing comfort that serves genuinely Christian purposes requires discernment about what kinds of support promote spiritual growth and what kinds undermine it. The comfort that strengthens enables recipients to trust God more deeply, love others more generously, and endure trials more faithfully. The comfort that weakens encourages dependence on human resources, avoidance of necessary growth, or resentment toward God for allowing difficulty.
Biblical comfort typically includes several elements that distinguish it from merely human sympathy. It acknowledges the reality of present suffering without promising immediate relief. It points to divine resources that transcend human limitation. It maintains hope for ultimate resolution while accepting uncertainty about temporal outcomes. It encourages faithful response to trial rather than merely patient endurance until circumstances improve.
Paul’s approach to comforting the Corinthian believers provides a helpful model: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
This passage establishes several crucial principles for offering Christian comfort. First, the ultimate source of comfort is God rather than human support, which means that effective comfort points beyond itself to divine grace. Second, the purpose of receiving comfort includes being equipped to offer similar comfort to others, which prevents comfort from becoming merely self-focused. Third, the comfort offered should be the same kind that God provides—comfort that strengthens faith rather than eliminating trials.
Practical applications of these principles might include offering to pray with and for those facing difficulties, sharing biblical passages that have provided hope during similar trials, providing practical assistance that enables faithful response rather than creating dependence, and simply being present with those who suffer without feeling compelled to offer explanations or solutions.
The goal is to embody God’s own comfort—the comfort that does not eliminate suffering but provides resources for bearing it faithfully, that does not answer all questions but strengthens trust in divine wisdom, that does not guarantee favorable outcomes but maintains hope in divine goodness.
The Difference Between Sympathy and Biblical Encouragement
Contemporary culture has largely collapsed the distinction between sympathy and encouragement, treating them as synonymous expressions of care for those facing difficulties. While both have their place in Christian community, they serve different purposes and produce different results in the lives of those who receive them.
Sympathy focuses primarily on emotional solidarity with those who suffer—feeling sorry for their pain and expressing regret that they must endure unwelcome circumstances. Sympathy is natural, appropriate, and often comforting to those who receive it, but it does not necessarily provide resources for growth or faithful response to trial. In its more problematic forms, sympathy can actually reinforce victimization by focusing attention exclusively on how badly the sufferer has been treated rather than on how he or she might respond constructively.
Biblical encouragement, while including appropriate empathy for those who suffer, focuses primarily on strengthening their capacity for faithful response to trial. The word “encouragement” literally means “to put courage into,” suggesting that its purpose is to increase the recipient’s spiritual strength rather than merely to acknowledge their emotional pain.
Biblical encouragement draws attention to divine resources that remain available despite difficult circumstances, to examples of others who have faced similar trials faithfully, to purposes that might be served through present suffering, and to hope for ultimate resolution based on God’s character and promises rather than on favorable changes in temporal circumstances.
Sympathy’s Proper Place and Limitations
Sympathy serves important purposes in Christian community by acknowledging the reality of suffering and expressing solidarity with those who face trials. The believer who weeps with those who weep (Romans 12:15) demonstrates Christlike compassion and provides emotional validation that can be profoundly comforting during seasons of acute pain.
However, sympathy becomes problematic when it represents the exclusive or primary response to others’ trials. Prolonged focus on how badly someone has been treated, how unfair their circumstances are, or how much they deserve better outcomes can actually increase rather than decrease their emotional distress by reinforcing resentment and victimization.
Sympathy also becomes counterproductive when it discourages honest examination of the sufferer’s own contributions to their difficulties or prevents them from taking responsibility for areas where constructive response remains possible. The friend whose marriage is failing may need empathy for the pain involved, but he also needs encouragement to examine his own patterns of behavior and to pursue appropriate changes where possible.
The limitations of sympathy become particularly apparent during extended trials that do not admit of quick resolution. The individual facing chronic illness, long-term unemployment, or ongoing family difficulties eventually needs more than repeated expressions of sympathy for their situation. They need resources for finding meaning and purpose within their circumstances and support for responding faithfully regardless of whether those circumstances improve.
Encouragement That Builds Faith
Biblical encouragement serves the ultimate purpose of strengthening faith—increasing the recipient’s capacity to trust God, hope in divine promises, and love others despite present difficulties. This encouragement may include empathy for present pain, but it does not stop with such empathy. Instead, it points beyond present circumstances toward larger realities that provide foundation for faithful endurance.
Effective encouragement often takes the form of reminding sufferers of truths they know intellectually but may have difficulty appropriating emotionally during times of trial. The believer facing financial hardship knows that God provides for his children’s needs, but may need friends to remind him of specific instances where such provision has been experienced. The parent of a rebellious teenager knows that God answers prayer, but may need community members to share examples of similar situations where persistent intercession eventually yielded positive results.
Encouragement also involves sharing resources that have proven helpful during similar trials. The individual who has successfully navigated job loss can offer practical wisdom about job searching, emotional encouragement about maintaining hope during the process, and spiritual insight about finding identity and purpose independent of employment circumstances.
Perhaps most importantly, biblical encouragement maintains hope based on divine character and promises rather than on probability of favorable outcomes. The person facing serious illness may or may not recover physically, but he can be encouraged to trust that God will provide grace sufficient for whatever he must endure and that his present suffering can serve redemptive purposes even if it does not end in temporal healing.
Bearing One Another’s Burdens as Christian Obligation
The apostle Paul’s instruction to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2) establishes burden-bearing not as optional kindness but as fundamental Christian obligation. This obligation reflects the interdependent nature of the body of Christ and the reality that individual spiritual maturity cannot be achieved in isolation from community support and accountability.
However, the practice of burden-bearing requires wisdom about what kinds of burdens should be shared and how such sharing can be conducted in ways that promote rather than hinder spiritual growth. Not all personal difficulties should become community concerns, and not all forms of support actually help those who receive them.
Discerning Which Burdens to Share
The decision about which personal struggles to share with others requires discernment that balances several considerations: the severity of the need, the capacity of available community to provide meaningful help, the likelihood that sharing will promote spiritual growth rather than mere dependency, and the appropriateness of various levels of intimacy with different community members.
Some burdens clearly warrant community involvement: serious illness that affects a member’s ability to fulfill basic responsibilities, financial crises that threaten essential needs, family emergencies that require immediate practical assistance, or spiritual struggles that involve serious temptation or doubt. These situations typically exceed individual capacity to manage alone and benefit from the practical support, spiritual encouragement, and accountability that community can provide.
Other concerns may be better addressed through more limited sharing with trusted individuals or professional counselors: marital difficulties that involve private matters inappropriate for broader community knowledge, work-related stress that does not directly affect church participation, or personal emotional struggles that require specialized expertise rather than general support.
The key criterion is whether community involvement is likely to promote faithful response to trial and spiritual growth through the experience. Burdens should be shared when doing so enables better stewardship of the trial’s formative potential, not merely to obtain relief from difficulty or to gain sympathy for unfortunate circumstances.
Practical Methods of Burden-Bearing
Effective burden-bearing involves both practical assistance and spiritual support, addressing both immediate needs and long-term growth. The most helpful communities develop systematic approaches for identifying members’ needs, coordinating appropriate responses, and maintaining long-term engagement with those facing extended difficulties.
Practical assistance might include providing meals during health crises, offering transportation for those unable to drive, contributing to special financial needs, providing childcare during emergencies, or organizing work teams to address property maintenance needs. Such assistance should be offered in ways that preserve recipients’ dignity and encourage their continued participation in community life to whatever extent remains possible.
Spiritual support includes regular prayer for those facing trials, sharing biblical passages that address their specific struggles, offering to pray with them during particularly difficult periods, and maintaining ongoing conversations about how their trials are affecting their relationship with God. This support should balance empathy for present difficulty with encouragement for faithful response and growth through the experience.
Long-term engagement proves particularly important for members facing chronic conditions or extended trials that do not resolve quickly. The initial surge of community response to crisis often fades as the novelty of the situation diminishes and other concerns claim attention. Yet it is often during these later phases of extended trial that community support proves most valuable and most necessary.
Effective burden-bearing also includes appropriate accountability that prevents the sharing of burdens from becoming enablement of irresponsibility. The community member facing financial difficulty due to poor spending habits needs practical assistance, but also gentle accountability for changing the patterns that created the problem. The individual whose relational conflicts stem partly from their own behavior needs emotional support, but also loving confrontation about areas where change is needed.
Creating Communities of Faithful Endurance
The development of Christian communities that effectively support members through trials while promoting spiritual growth requires intentional attention to several key elements: theological understanding of suffering’s role in spiritual formation, practical systems for identifying and responding to members’ needs, spiritual disciplines that build corporate as well as individual resilience, and leadership that models faithful endurance while providing wise guidance for others facing trials.
Theological Foundation for Community Response to Suffering
Communities that effectively support faithful endurance must be grounded in biblical understanding of suffering’s role in Christian experience. This means teaching regularly about topics such as divine providence, the reality of living in a fallen world, the difference between temporal and eternal perspectives, and the ways that trials can serve formative purposes when met with appropriate response.
Such teaching prevents community members from being surprised or scandalized when difficulties arise, provides frameworks for interpreting trials that maintain both divine goodness and human responsibility, and establishes expectations about how believers should respond to both their own trials and others’ difficulties.
The theological foundation also includes clear teaching about the nature and purposes of Christian community itself. Members need to understand that the church exists not primarily to make their lives comfortable but to support their spiritual formation, that burden-bearing is mutual obligation rather than one-way service, and that the goal of community support is faithful endurance rather than elimination of all difficulties.
Practical Systems for Ongoing Support
Effective communities develop systematic approaches for maintaining awareness of members’ needs and coordinating appropriate responses. This might include regular pastoral visitation that creates opportunities for identifying emerging difficulties, small group structures that enable more intimate sharing of personal struggles, or organized ministries that address specific types of needs such as illness, unemployment, or family crisis.
The key is to create multiple entry points for sharing needs and receiving support so that community members feel comfortable seeking help when appropriate while maintaining systems that can sustain long-term engagement with those facing extended trials. One-time crisis response, while important, proves insufficient for the kinds of chronic difficulties that many people face.
Effective systems also include training for community members in how to provide appropriate support, how to distinguish between helpful and harmful responses to others’ trials, and how to maintain their own spiritual health while engaging with others’ difficulties over extended periods.
Corporate Spiritual Disciplines
Communities of faithful endurance develop corporate spiritual disciplines that build collective resilience while supporting individual members’ growth. These might include regular prayer for members facing specific trials, corporate fasting during particularly difficult seasons, special worship services that focus on themes related to suffering and endurance, or group study of biblical passages that address trials and spiritual formation.
Corporate disciplines serve several purposes: they remind the entire community that trials are normal parts of Christian experience, they provide opportunities for members to support one another spiritually rather than merely practically, and they create corporate spiritual capital that can be drawn upon during seasons when multiple members face significant difficulties simultaneously.
Perhaps most importantly, corporate disciplines prevent the community’s response to suffering from becoming merely humanitarian service and maintain its distinctively Christian character as participation in God’s redemptive work in the world.
The ultimate goal of community in the storm is not to shield members from all difficulty but to provide the relationships, resources, and spiritual support that enable them to weather inevitable trials while growing in Christlike character through the experience. Communities that achieve this goal discover that their members’ trials become occasions for collective spiritual growth and powerful witness to the transformative power of divine grace working through human relationships committed to eternal rather than merely temporal purposes.
Such communities do not promise their members lives free from suffering, but they do provide something far more valuable: the assurance that no member will face their trials alone and that even the most difficult circumstances can serve redemptive purposes when met with faithful response supported by the love and wisdom of the body of Christ.
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