Real Church

Real Church in a Social-Network World: From Facebook to Face-to-Face Faith is a title commanding attention. With people experiencing a growing disconnection from the actual world around them and becoming more entwined with a virtual world via their computers and smart phones how can the church effectively reach out to share the love of God?  Does the church need to change how it engages the world?  How can the church bridge the gap and become relevant, real, to a social network population that is staying away from the church in droves?

These were questions I hoped to find answered while reading Real Church and why I was disappointed.  While it is certainly an interesting book, discussing God’s relationship with and love for us, ideas of faith and belief, the desire of God to interact with and be a part of us, the title does not accurately reflect the content
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Author Leonard Sweet, author of more than 20 books, touches on the ideas of community and connectedness, words that appear over and over again when reading about what people desire from relationships in the 21^st century.  However the main thrust of the second half of the book centers more on the Word of God and God’s love for us without necessarily connecting that concept to how the church can function in a meaningful way in our social network world.

Perhaps listing the book’s chapter titles illustrates the point more directly: Faith Versus Belief, Following Jesus, A Longing for Love, Person or Proposition?, The Right Relationship and Telling a Better Story. Again, all tremendous thoughts worthy of exploration and study, but not strongly tied in to reaching people who are more comfortable with Facebook than the book of Revelation.

If you would like to read a book about faith and belief and relationship with God this book is a fine choice but, if like me, you were expecting to delve into a book discussing the church’s relevance in the 21^st century as the title and introduction appear to suggest, this would not be the best choice.  But, you can decide for yourself.  Click this link to download the first chapter.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Enough is Enough

Linking up with Five Minute Friday - the word of the day is Enough


I have written about having enough previously.  I have enough of everything and sometimes feel overwhelmed by my abundance.  But what I don't have enough of is God. 

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Because of my abundance, God gets crowded out.  I can stream thousands of Netflix shows, I have thousands of book choices available to me 24 hours a day with my Kindle, I can communicate with friends a half dozen different ways, I can shop around the world by merely pressing a button.

All of this doesn't leave much space for God.  When the day is packed full and the brain is overwhelmed with choices and decisions, it's hard to find a peaceful corner in my home and heart to spend with my Creator and Savior.

He promises me rest and peace and all I could desire for a rich life, but instead, His promises get crowded out by my abundance.  Can I be like Elizabeth Prentiss and say, "More of Thee and less of me?"

1. Write for 5 minutes flat on the prompt: “Enough” with no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.

Community

Last summer I was waiting in the car to drive my husband home after he left our other car at the repair shop.  I happened to be parked outside a tobacco store, the kind of little specialty shop that sells cigars and pipe tobacco.  

As I idly watched men go in and out of the shop, different ages, different races, greeting each other with back slaps and handshakes, I was struck with how these men, sharing a common interest, had formed their own community.

Since that day, months ago, I have been obsessed with the idea of community.  I realized how much we all seek community.  We seek to belong somewhere.

I started musing about different types of communities.  Gang members form their own communities.  Not based on values or standards that most of us agree with, but they are looking for a place where they can be accepted.

Churches, civic groups, interest groups like hiking clubs and knitting groups, motor cycle clubs, sports teams, volunteer organizations and families, are all different types of communities.

There is even the 21st century world of online communities.  Groups of people who will  probably never be in the same room at the same time, but join together from around the globe to discuss the thing that draws them to each other.


Why is community so important to us?  Belonging.  It is essential to our souls to belong.  We crave love and acceptance.  We want to be wanted.


I keep coming across the concept of community.  Almost every day I hear or read about someone else talking about community.  Somehow I know I'm not finished contemplating community, what it means to me and what it means to others.  
As my last year homeschooling speeds toward its conclusion, there is a new transition in my life. I find myself looking for a new community.  For 17 years I've been deeply woven into the fabric of the homeschool community and I identity so closely with homeschoolers that I am feeling community-less.
What will be my new community or communities? 
I don't know where it will all lead but the Lord has planted the idea of community into my brain and it just doesn't want to leave.  So I know there's more for me to learn.