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A practical guide for those struggling to build a community of believers in a culture that wants to experience belonging over believing Who is my neighbor? Who belongs to me? To whom do I belong? These are timeless questions that guide the church to its fundamental calling. Today terms like neighbor, family, and congregation are being redefined. People are searching to belong in new places and experiences. The church needs to adapt its interpretations, definitions, and language to make sense in the changing culture. This book equips congregations and church leaders with tools to: * Discern the key ingredients people look for in community * Understand the use of space as a key element for experiencing belonging and community * Develop the 'chemical compound' that produces an environment for community to spontaneously emerge * Discover how language promotes specific spatial belonging and then use this knowledge to build an effective vocabulary for community development * Create an assessment tool for evaluating organizational and personal community health
List of contents
Contents
Foreword: Coach John Wooden 2
Foreword: Leonard Sweet 4
Those Who Show Up Along the Way (an introduction) 6
1. The Myths of Belonging 9
2. Longing to Belong 23
3. “Give Me Some Space” 35
4. Group Chemistry 59
5. Trading Spaces 87
6. Searching for a Front Porch 119
7. What Now? Finding Harmony 135
Bibliography 156
End Notes 168
Index 176
About the author
Joseph R. Myers is a multiprenuer, interventionist, and thinker. He is a founding partner of a communication arts group, SETTINGPACE, and owns a consulting firm, FrontPorch, which specializes in creating conversations that promote and develop community.
Summary
Community is a fundamental life search. We need to belong. In our time, we search with some increasing desperation as terms like neighbor, family, and congregation are being redefined.
