Book Review: The Connecting Church

Book Review: The Connecting Church


The Connecting Church on amazon.com



Salaams! I've finally finished up a book I've been reading for awhile now: The Connecting Church: Beyond Small Groups to Authentic Community, by Randy Frazee, who is the pastor of Pantego Bible Church in the D/FW area (www.pantego.org).

Reading Rating (scale of 10): 7.5

This was a pretty good book that had some good stuff on the church becoming a community (like it should!). I really liked the 3 sets of characteristics revolving around: 1) common purpose, 2) common place, and 3) common possessions (see them below with a short quote for each point). What I didn't like was that in a lot of ways the "new structures" (wineskins) the author describes are just a variation of the old structures--with small "Community" groups part of a bigger Zone group which are part of the one mother church. I like his points on the interdependence of the Body, but this is still just a way to re-org a Mega-Church with ONE Head pastor/bishop...

BUT, for me a very key passage (& VERY applicable for us wherever we are) was the following--read this carefully!:
"Consumerism in a strong economy tempts a kind of independence that can quickly diminish community. John Locke puts it succinctly when he writes, 'If we needed things we couldn't buy, many of us would have more friendships.' The pursuit and attainment of Western wealth has enabled us to bypass each other as we pursue meetings our basic needs. Poet and farmer Wendell Berry says, 'If people don't need each other, they will spend little time together telling stories to each other, and if they don't know one another's stories, how can they know whether or not trust one another?'"

Five Characteristics of Community around a Common Purpose:
1. Authority: "Someone is responsible to lead the community in such a way that it upholds and advances the common purpose. It is this authority structure that blesses and reinforces positive behavior, and holds community members accountable for negative or destructive behavior."
2. Common Creed: "a shared understanding of the beliefs and practices that guide the community."
3. Traditions: "Traditions are things you do in the same manner, at the same time, which hold great value in communicating meaning to the people of the community. A tradition can be a symbol or festival or any activity that reinforces the beliefs, values, practices, virtues, and purposes of a community."
4. Standards: "...a list of written or unwritten guidelines that define what is expected of the people of the community. These standards lay out what is considered normal behavior."
5. Common Mission: "Any true community will have a clearly defined mission that brings the individuals of a group together and knits them into a cohesive family." (like Matt 28:19-20, "making disciples" who will obey all Jesus' teachings)
Five Characteristics of Community around a Common Place:
1. Spontaneity: "If [we] are going to find fulfillment in [our] search to belong, [we] must find a small band of people who spontaneously go in and out of each other's lives"
2. Availability: "Those who have found a meaningful experience of life together discover that most of the time it is because their comrades are ready, willing and eager to lend an ear or a hand--or ever to offer the simple gift of their presence."
3. Frequency: "Simply put, people who are satisfied with the experience of community are those who spend a great deal of time together."
4. Common meals: "There is something vitally important and special about sharing a meal together. Just consider the fact that the Lord's Supper (an act of partaking together of food and drink) is one of the few New Testament rituals we are commanded to observe."
5. Geography: "The simple fact is that in all places of effective community people live in close proximity to each other--and the closer the better!"
Five Characteristics of Community around a Common Possessions:
1. Interdependency: "Interdependent persons are usually those who could, by nature of their plentiful resources and strong health, be independent but rather choose to make their resources available to others--instated of choosing to consume all they can for themselves, either through accumulating vast savings or through purchasing all kinds of amenities."
2. Intergenerational Life: "Christian community is not an occasional group get-together led by small group leaders; it is at its core a familial structure. It is patriarchal and matriarchal in structure. It is something one is trained to participate in, by those who are older, over the course of life through all the stages of life."
3. Children: "Effective places of community accept the responsibility to effectively care for, nurture, and train its children."
4. Responsibility: "When we discover true community, the place where responsibility toward others is a higher priority than standing up for our own rights, we will never want to go back."
5. Sacrifice: "From time to time...we are called on to dig deep into who we are and what we have so that in the end we become depleted in a significant way for the sake of someone else."

If interested more, check out this longer book review at 9marks.org:
A Review By Greg Gilbert
http://www.9marks.org/cc_article_email/1,,UFRJRDMxNDUyNnxDSElENTk4MDI2fENJSUQxNTYyMjcw,00.html
____________________________________
9Marks
http://www.9marks.org/9marks

The Connecting Church: Beyond Small Groups to Authentic Community
Written by: Randy Frazee
Format: Hardcover, Jacketed
Page Count: 256
List Price: $16.99 {CDN:$23.99}
Size: 5-1/2 x 8-1/2
ISBN: 0-310-23308-9
Available: April 2001
Publisher: Zondervan

Description
The development of meaningful relationships, where every member carries a significant sense of belonging, is central to what it means to be the church. So why do many Christians feel disappointed and disillusioned with their efforts to experience authentic community? Despite the best efforts of pastors, small group leaders, and faithful lay persons, church too often is a place of loneliness rather than connection.

Church can be so much better. So intimate and alive. The Connecting Church tells you how. The answer may seem radical today, but it was a central component of life in the early church. First-century Christians knew what it meant to live in vital community with one another, relating with a depth and commitment that made "the body of Christ" a perfect metaphor for the church. What would it take to reclaim that kind of love, joy, support, and dynamic spiritual growth? Read this book and find out.

--------------------- from amazon.com --------------------
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Pastor and consultant Frazee begins with a problem that many church leaders
admit only hesitantly: small groups, widely hailed as a means to achieve
authentic community, often fail to achieve the hoped-for experience of "life
together." This book follows the story of Frazee's congregation, Pantego
Bible Church in suburban Dallas/Ft. Worth, in its efforts to "take [the
small group movement] to the next level." Frazee's proposal is no quick fix;
it belies megachurch stereotypes by taking a countercultural stand against
the individualism and consumerism that Frazee says plague contemporary
American life. Drawing on biblical models as well as sociological research
and urban planning principles, Frazee makes a strong case that the mobility
and privacy of "American Dream" suburbia fosters a spirit of fragmentation
and isolation that is unworkable as a basis for authentic community. Frazee
recommends "consolidating relationships," opting out of multiple activities
and superficial social circles in favor of "a circle of relationships that
produces a sense of genuine belonging." Small groups emerge as a necessary
but insufficient ingredient for attaining Frazee's vision of "biblical
community." The author's fondness for lists and systematization make for a
dense read at times, but the human insights and real-life examples that
really drive the book have a powerful appeal. Given the popularity of small
group spirituality, and its potential discontents, this book should find a
wide audience.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customers who bought this book also bought:
Making Room for Life: Trading Chaotic Lifestyles for Connected Relationships
by Randy Frazee
Building a Church of Small Groups by Bill Donahue
The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups by
Joseph R. Myers
Emerging Church, The by Dan Kimball
Leading Life-Changing Small Groups by Bill Donahue
Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry, The by Bill Donahue

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"If you're not standing on the Edge,
you're taking up too much room."
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