One of the most common (yet most unspoken) struggles of adulthood is making REAL friendships.

In today’s episode, we sit down with David Kim, Discipleship and Formation Pastor at WestGate Church in San Jose and author of Made to Belong: Five Practices for Cultivating Community in A Disconnected World.

From surveying more than 1,300 Christians, David discovered that the #1 most common challenge that everyone struggles with is loneliness.

It’s often unspoken, but we all crave life-giving relationships and community. Yet they seem to be increasingly hard to find.

For Mental Health Awareness Month, we wanted to talk about an area of mental and emotional health that we find is often not talked about (in-depth) much:

How to actually find friends who can come alongside you in love, to help fight for your highest good.

In a world that settles for shallow relationships, we hope this episode helps you find the authentic, rich, meaningful connection and belonging with others who help you grow and thrive the way God made you to!

GET THE FREE “REFLECT & APPLY” GUIDE: withthetrans.com/blog/e4

TOPICS:
0:00 - Intro
1:12 - David's personal story that inspired the book
2:25 - Why is it so hard to make real friends as an adult?
5:50 - False beliefs and common myths people believe about community
8:43 - If you're struggling to find community, should you stay or look elsewhere?
12:41 - How to practically prioritize community despite life's busyness
16:23 - The need for community for ministry leaders
19:30 - Why accountability matters and why it's last of the 5 practices
20:30 - How spiritual abuse stems from unhealthy accountability
24:20 - Examples of how to model healthy and helpful accountability
29:52 - How to know which friendships to prioritize vs. let go
34:05 - The 5 Key Practices for cultivating community
35:48 - Reflection Questions & Action Steps
40:27 - What David's working on next and how to connect with him
41:37 - A preview of next week's special episode!

ABOUT OUR GUEST:
David Kim is the Discipleship and Formation pastor at WestGate Church and author of Made to Belong: Five Practices for Cultivating Community in a Disconnected World.

He completed his M.Div and Th

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