Monday, September 01, 2003
Book Review!
Have been reading a fascinating book lately – the Connecting Church by Randy Frazee, the pastor of Pandego Bible Church. The big point is that we don’t have real community today. We try to get it, but Christians and non-Christians alike have succumbed to the isolationism, individualism and consumerism of modern culture. We don’t notice it, like the air around us, but it is there. We have taken on these things as values without realising what we have done. Somehow we have elevated our desire for privacy and security above our need for community. As I read the chapters describing these problems, my heart ached. I could see the problems he was pointing out in my life, and could see them getting much worse in the future.
I haven’t finished reading it yet, but the big ideas so far are:
To have real community, you need close proximity and a common purpose. (He also talks about common possessions but I haven’t got to that yet).
The closer people are to each other, the more likely they are to develop real relationships, as spontaneous contact can just happen, as people are available for each other and as the time it takes to see someone is reduced. Since cars have been around people can travel further, which instead of allowing greater community reduces it. We use cars to escape our communities, don’t know our neighbours and try to maintain dozens of relationships in circles that don’t connect. We may try to keep these relationships, but most people don’t do a good job there, and instead settle for knowing lots of people superficially. Our Church, school, work, family, and neighbourhood friends are all over the place and are disconnected.
Frazee suggests that having neighbourhood based small groups is a key to community. You can walk to each other’s houses, pop in spontaneously, share life together easily, bump into each other at the shops, have your kids at the same school and be close enough to help whenever needed. Together you can pray for your other neighbours more easily and help to establish real community in your area.
I find the book fascinating and the ideas strangely appealing. I expect to be thinking about this for a while.
P.S. The following link is someone who likes the book, but doesn’t think geographic groups are the only way to go… CLICK HERE
Have been reading a fascinating book lately – the Connecting Church by Randy Frazee, the pastor of Pandego Bible Church. The big point is that we don’t have real community today. We try to get it, but Christians and non-Christians alike have succumbed to the isolationism, individualism and consumerism of modern culture. We don’t notice it, like the air around us, but it is there. We have taken on these things as values without realising what we have done. Somehow we have elevated our desire for privacy and security above our need for community. As I read the chapters describing these problems, my heart ached. I could see the problems he was pointing out in my life, and could see them getting much worse in the future.
I haven’t finished reading it yet, but the big ideas so far are:
To have real community, you need close proximity and a common purpose. (He also talks about common possessions but I haven’t got to that yet).
The closer people are to each other, the more likely they are to develop real relationships, as spontaneous contact can just happen, as people are available for each other and as the time it takes to see someone is reduced. Since cars have been around people can travel further, which instead of allowing greater community reduces it. We use cars to escape our communities, don’t know our neighbours and try to maintain dozens of relationships in circles that don’t connect. We may try to keep these relationships, but most people don’t do a good job there, and instead settle for knowing lots of people superficially. Our Church, school, work, family, and neighbourhood friends are all over the place and are disconnected.
Frazee suggests that having neighbourhood based small groups is a key to community. You can walk to each other’s houses, pop in spontaneously, share life together easily, bump into each other at the shops, have your kids at the same school and be close enough to help whenever needed. Together you can pray for your other neighbours more easily and help to establish real community in your area.
I find the book fascinating and the ideas strangely appealing. I expect to be thinking about this for a while.
P.S. The following link is someone who likes the book, but doesn’t think geographic groups are the only way to go… CLICK HERE
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