What would happen if we stopped simply reading the New Testament’s “one another” commandments and traveled somewhere that actually challenged us to experience them?

One Another: Croatia is a faith-centered journey being explored by Epic Explorations around some of Scripture’s simplest—and perhaps most demanding—instructions:

Welcome one another. Bear one another’s burdens. Serve one another. Encourage one another. Live in harmony with one another. Forgive one another. Pray for one another. Love one another.

These aren’t instructions intended to be practiced alone. They require community.

So we’re imagining a journey through Croatia where the people traveling beside us, the people we meet along the way, and the places we encounter become part of the experience.

Croatia Becomes the Classroom

Rather than building One Another: Croatia around a traditional sightseeing itinerary, we’re exploring experiences that allow Scripture to move beyond the page.

There will be tables.

There will be walking.

There will be food and music.

There will be opportunities to serve, moments to listen, places to be silent, and experiences we haven’t completely discovered yet.

Croatia offers an extraordinary setting for this kind of journey. Ancient towns, Adriatic islands, rural communities, centuries of Christian heritage, deeply rooted traditions of hospitality, and landscapes made for walking provide opportunities to explore what living with “one another” might actually require.

And not every lesson will be comfortable.

When “One Another” Becomes “The Other”

One of the questions we’re exploring takes us to Vukovar, a Croatian city whose recent history carries lessons far beyond its borders.

At one time, people of different backgrounds lived beside one another as neighbors, coworkers, friends, and families. Then political upheaval, nationalism, fear, old grievances, and war changed those relationships with devastating consequences.

We will approach this part of the journey carefully and respectfully.

Some places call for a response that isn’t an activity or even an immediate discussion.

Sometimes we need to listen, remember, and stand quietly in the presence of what happened.

Only later will we consider a difficult question:

What happens when “one another” becomes “the other”?

It is a question worth carrying home.

A Journey Meant to Be Lived

From Croatia’s interior to the Adriatic, we’re exploring ways to make each “one another” more than a morning devotional.

What might it mean actually to bear someone else’s burden?

Can working beside another person teach us something about serving one another?

Could Croatian craftsmanship reveal something about how slowly we build people up—and how quickly we can tear them down?

What might music teach us about living in harmony without everyone singing the same note?

And what happens when people who began the journey as strangers walk, eat, work, laugh, wrestle with difficult questions, and pray together?

Those are exactly the kinds of experiences we’re searching for.

Forgive One Another

Eventually, One Another: Croatia will confront one of the most difficult commands of all:

“Forgive one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” — Ephesians 4:32

We don’t intend to offer an easy answer.

Croatia allows us to consider forgiveness where questions of memory, justice, loss, reconciliation, and community are not merely theoretical.

Perhaps the important question isn’t whether forgiveness is difficult.

Perhaps it is:

What does forgiveness look like when it actually costs something?

That is a question worth walking with.

Love One Another

Ultimately, all of the “one another” commandments lead us back to the words of Jesus:

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” — John 13:35

Our journey will likely begin around a table.

And somewhere along the Adriatic, it will end around another.

What happens between those two tables is what we’re exploring now.

We know there will be remarkable Croatian landscapes, extraordinary food, deeply rooted culture, meaningful encounters, laughter, difficult stories, quiet moments, and probably a few surprises we haven’t dreamed up yet.

But One Another: Croatia isn’t ultimately about checking Croatia off a list.

It’s about returning home differently.

Perhaps more willing to listen.

More willing to carry.

More willing to serve.

More willing to forgive.

More willing to make room at the table.

And more determined to see the person across from us not simply as someone who agrees or disagrees with us, belongs or doesn’t belong, thinks like us or doesn’t.

But as someone Christ calls us to love.

Not “the other.”

One another.