Communities are important, they shape us. We're allowed to test the waters in community. We're allowed to go after things that the world would say is impossible, unbelievable. He was in a community of believers that allowed him to put his faith on the line, to push it to the limits. I would say to you that it's out of pushing his faith to the limit that Thomas grew to be one of the greatest apostles in the church, Somehow by not believing in the resurrection, he has come to be a proponent of Christ and his work.
Communities are so important.
We grow when we learn from one another in community. They shape us. They allow us to think beyond the box. They allow us to see God in new ways, and to experience the presence of Christ in our lives in new dimensions. I don't know how different my life would have been had I not had the opportunity to join the Boys Club, but I can clearly trace those moments when God was doing something in my life through my involvement in the Boys Club.