Self-Sufficiency Is Just Isolation with Better Systems

I've set up our family to not need anyone. We homeschool, homestead, and handle everything ourselves. It felt like leadership until 1 Corinthians 12 started pressing me to consider a different perspective. In this episode, I wrestle with the uncomfortable idea that self-sufficiency might just be isolation with better systems, and what it could mean for our family to actually depend on the body of Christ.

Episode 45 of the Elder My City, with Tim Schmoyer podcast, hosted by Schmoyer Media, titled "Self-Sufficiency Is Just Isolation with Better Systems" was published on March 6, 2026 and runs 13 minutes.

March 6, 2026 ·13m · Elder My City, with Tim Schmoyer

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Summary

Episode Description

Self-sufficiency feels like stewardship, but what if it's actually working against the very thing God designed the body of Christ to do?
In this episode, I share how a living room Bible study in 1 Corinthians 12 exposed something I'd been avoiding: our family doesn't need anyone, and I built it that way on purpose. Paul's body analogy isn't a nice illustration. I think it's a direct challenge to the kind of household independence I've been proud of.

I talk about what actually scares me about interdependence and why Acts 2 paints a picture of community that feels both compelling and risky, and why I'd rather wrestle with this in public than figure it out alone.

Read the full post and comment here: https://read.timschmoyer.com/p/self-sufficiency-is-just-isolation

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