Friendship Goals

Building Christ-Centered Friendships That Last

Find Your Tribe and Grow in Faith and Fun

God created us for community. From the very beginning, the Bible is clear that relationships are not just nice to have, they are the foundation of our spiritual growth, emotional health and happiness. If you are a young or new Christian, you may be wondering how to build friendships that go deeper than small talk or hanging out. How do you build genuine friendships rooted in Christ? How do you encourage, challenge, and support each other in the ups and downs of life?

In this post, we will explore the beauty of Christ-centered friendships using the incredible relationships of David and Jonathan as a guide to finding your tribe and growing in faith and fun. We will also provide helpful advice on how to start small groups, accountability partnerships, and create faith-related events and engaging activities to build authentic connection. Get ready to learn how to do life together God's way.

Why Christ-Centered Friendships Are Important

Friendship is much more than companionship. Friendship is a God given opportunity for spiritual development, encouragement, and healing. The Bible speaks about community in both the Old and New Testaments.

Proverbs 27:17 reminds us,

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."

The goal is growth: becoming more like Christ by having honest friendships that are both challenging and encouraging. Research shows that having strong relationships can reduce stress, improve happiness, and even enhance physical health. For young Christians who are beginning to navigate new challenges, whether it be the stress of college, entering a career, or wrestling with questions of faith, creating a solid circle of friends from a faith based community can make all the difference. When relationships are built upon shared faith, they become a powerful resource of encouragement, accountability, and lasting joy in our lives.

Lessons from David and Jonathan: A Biblical Model of Friendship

The story of David and Jonathan offers one of the best examples of Christ-centered friendship. Their friendship in

1 Samuel 18–20 offers the best model for us today. Jonathan was more than David’s friend he was his brother in faith and support, who protected, encouraged, and sacrificed for him, even when times were tough.

Unwavering Loyalty: Even when facing threats posed by his father, Jonathan remained loyal to David, which modeled sacrificial love as God wants us to display.

Spiritual Encouragement: Jonathan was a source of spiritual encouragement for his friend. David was grounded in the promises of God, even when his circumstances were more challenging.

Honesty: They were each other’s sounding boards, which created a spirit of trust and honesty between them.

These qualities are at the foundations of Christ centered friendships today: loyalty, encouragement, and honesty. When we invest in these, we can nurture friendships that remain intact during the storms that life inevitably sends our way.

Finding Your People: How to Form Deep, Authentic Relationships Rooted in Christ

Begin in Prayer and Openness

Pray and ask God for friends to embrace who will encourage you in your spiritual growth. If you propose to be open and vulnerable, trust that you will be led to strong friendships that take your thoughts and feelings seriously. Keep in mind that this will require you to make your own faith journey, challenges, and hopes vulnerable. Vulnerability is a good dimension of trust and relationship.

Get Involved in Church or Faith Community

Churches are a great place to encounter people who share similar beliefs and views. Look for Bible studies, youth groups, or volunteer teams in which you can serve alongside others. Serving with others builds relationships quickly as you share a common cause.

Start Small: Quality Over Quantity

Don’t put pressure on yourself to have a lot of friends. It’s completely okay to have a depth of friendship with one or two people, than many shallower friendships. When you have a few people, nurture those friendships by listening to their thoughts and needs, understanding what their needs are, and encouraging them in affirmation.

Be Intentional in Offering Encouragement and Accountability

Get in the habit of being an encouragement to your friends faith and life challenges. You might even want to locate two or three friends and start an accountability partnership, in which you can pray for each other, check in with one another on a weekly basis, and support each other in terms of agreed spiritual goals for the week.

Establish Faith-Based Gatherings and Activities

Establish a small group to meet regularly for Bible study, prayer and fellowship. With a small group established you can introduce a fun aspect from time to time, such as board games, hiking, or crafts etc. The sharing of events that are not faith discussions strengthens the bond and friendships.

Practical thoughts when starting and growing small groups that are christ centered

Small groups are a great way to share friendships and develop in faith. Here are some practical suggestions to get you started.

Establish Regular Meeting Times: Consistency is essential. Regardless of whether you meet every week or every other week, find a meeting time that works for the commitment of your group.

Location: Find a comfortable, accessible space to hold meetings (living room, church room, coffee shop, etc.)

Purpose: Determine a common format (bible study, prayer, support group, etc.) so group members can have some parameters of what to expect from the group.

Study or Topic: You can use a bible study book, or simply apply the study of the bible through a topic that relates to a faith aspect specific to your group study.

Allow Individual Expression: It is important that everyone has a chance to ask questions, have open discussions and share their personal experiences without being hushed.

Prayer and Worship: Plan to have everyone pray to open and close the meeting, which could include prayer for others. Depending on the group, you could include worship through song or another expression of spirituality to invite God's presence.

Again, it is not about perfection, but about connection and developing friendships. In the end, when members share births, deaths, relationships and experiences, they will develop friendships in amazing ways.

Creating Accountability Partnerships that are Strengthening Your Faith

On occasion, “one on one” friendships may have an intimacy needed for confession, encouragement and mutual growth potential that is absent from larger groups.

Here are some super quick tips to create a strong accountability partnership:

Find Someone You Trust: You want to choose a person who shares your faith values and wants to grow.

Set Clear Expectations: Establish how often will you meet and check in with each other. Decide what types of topics will you share- spiritual struggles, personal goal progress or spiritual and personal prayer requests.

Be Honest and Vulnerable: As the saying goes, “You get back what you put in;” accountability will only work if you are real and willing to be open and share.

Pray Together: Make prayer a foundation to your regular time to ask for God to help provide you with wisdom and strength.

Embed a Celebration Mindset to Encourage and Support Each Other: Rally each other during challenging times and provide encouragement.

Fun Faith Activities to Grow Together in Joy

However, friendships can thrive when nourished with fun! Fun faith-based activities provide opportunities for fellowship and fun that build lasting memories and strengthen your friendships.

Faith and Movie Nights: Spike peppers your spiritual fruiting faith evenings; start by watching a great Christian movie or one that represents an inspiration traditional faith story we read about, and then discuss the spiritual lessons we can learn and apply.

Outdoor Adventures: You can hike, camp, and picnic and incorporate opportunities for prayer and reflection in God’s creation and in the company of your friends.

Serve Together: You can participate in community-based volunteer opportunities together from church events, community shelters or shared mission project/triage service.

Creativity & Worship Evenings: These quarterly meetings may focus on worship through creativity - Jesus-Centered music, art and/or journaling times.

Book Clubs: You could read a book together and then discuss it together, personal devotionals or other Christian published books that encourage individual and group growth.

All the above fun activities keep recurring relational rhythms in place for friendships to grow and remain healthy through faith and laughter.

How to Work Through Difficulties in Christ-Centered Friendships

Authentic friendships can be hard work and sometimes, you can be faced with misunderstandings, busy schedules, and sometimes, you may encounter spiritual disagreements. Below are a few insights for how to navigate challenges to your friendship according to God’s direction:

Have Honest Conversations: Don’t allow small things to turn into deep-rooted issues. Be honest about how you feel, and talk about your hurts in kindness and humility, in accordance with Jesus' calling for forgiveness.

Schedule Time: Prioritize. Being intentional means you will find time together, when life feels busy.

Pray for Your Friend and the Friendship: Ask God to bless your friend, bring them peace and wholeness, and to provide you both with wisdom for the friendship.

Grow Everyone, including Yourself: Encourage all of your friends to grow, not be perfect; we are all on the same journey, so please lets not forget, grace is paramount.

When your friendship centers around Christ, a challenge to the friendship can be a trigger for a strengthening of the relationship and an opportunity for growth and maturity.

Conclusion: Experience the Blessing of Doing Life Together, God’s Way

Friendship goals do not mean finding the most friends or the most convenient friends. It means finding your tribe, the people who will walk the journey of faith with you, honestly, lovingly and graciously. Whether it is through the example of David and Jonathan, or moving into practical steps by starting small groups and accountability partnerships, each of us are calling you to build faith-centered friendships that can last.

You can start today, praying for your future friends, getting actively and intentionally involved with your community, and being the friend you would want to find. When you start to invest in friendships that center around Christ, you may be surprised at the sheer joy, growth and support that is experienced conveyed through the friendships. Which evokes the relational joy that often lasts a lifetime.

We would love to hear from you! Please leave your comments outlining your experiences with creating faith-based friendships, and let us know are you going to start today with a friend. Also, if you feel there are friends that could benefit from what you read here, please share this post with them. Together let us grow in faith together.

Thanks for joining me! I’m Bismark, founder of FaiyhfulyReal. Keep creating, stay curious, keep learning, and I'll see you in the next post. Want more? Subscribe for weekly insights, see you in the next story. Join me weekly.

Invest in your curiosity, Build boldly, Breathe, reset, repeat.