Mondays with Mike: Living in Community Is Good – But It Is Hard
Good Monday afternoon PCA families,
I hope you and your families had a joyful Easter!
As I was reflecting on Good Friday and Easter and PCA, I was thinking about living together as Jesus calls us to.
Living in community is good—but it is hard.
In this week’s Mondays with Mike, I reflect on something very real in your child’s life: how students learn to navigate misunderstanding, hurt, responsibility, and restoration.
I also share why Easter matters deeply in this work—and how it gives both the foundation and hope for how we grow together.
▶ Listen to this week’s 7-minute episode
Key Takeaways
- Living in community is good—but it is hard.
Students experience real friction, misunderstanding, and hurt as they grow in relationships with others. - How students respond matters more than whether conflict happens.
Students are learning to take responsibility, process hurt, and seek repair and restoration in relationships. - Real hurt involves real loss.
Trust and relationships are affected, and making things right—what we might call “repair”—takes time and intention. It likely often needs help from an adult—at PCA and at home. - Good Friday and Easter make this work both realistic and hopeful.
Because of the cross, students do not have to hide when they are wrong. Because of the resurrection, they do not have to harden or hide when they are hurt. - This is part of formation at PCA.
Students are learning how to repair, restore, and remain in relationship—skills that will shape their lives far beyond school.
This Easter, I am grateful for the opportunity we have to walk alongside your child in this important work.
Helping our students—your children—learn how to take responsibility, extend grace, and remain in relationship is not easy, but it is deeply meaningful, and it matters for life.
Thank you for the many ways you partner with us in your child’s growth as we all live out Compassionate Community at PCA and beyond.
See you on campus soon!
Grace and peace,
Mike Runey
Head of School
Portsmouth Christian Academy
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