Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups - Brossura

Myers, Joseph R.

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0310255007 ISBN 13: 9780310255000

Casa editrice: Study Resources, 2003

Riassunto

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

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull?autore

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.

Dalla quarta di copertina

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

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The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small GroupsCopyright 2003 by Joseph R. MyersYouth Specialties products, 300 South Pierce Street, El Cajon, CA 92020, are publishedby Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Avenue, Southeast, Grand Rapids, MI 49530Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataMyers, Joseph R., 1962-The search to belong : rethinking intimacy, community, and smallgroups / Joseph R. Myers.p. cm.ISBN-10: 0-310-25500-7 (pbk.)ISBN-13: 978-0-310-25500-0 (pbk.)1. Community--Religious aspects--Christianity. 2. Smallgroups--Religious aspects--Christianity. 3. Intimacy(Psychology)--Religious aspects--Christianity. I. Title.BV4517.5.M94 2003262'.2--dc212003005789Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the HolyBible: New International Version (North American Edition). Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission ofZondervan.All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means---electronic,mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other---except for brief quotations inprinted reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.Web site addresses listed in this book were current at the time of publication.Please contact Youth Specialties via e-mail (YS@YouthSpecialties.com) to reportURLs that are no longer operational and replacement URLs if available.Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true and are included withthe permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites oftrue situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is coincidental.Edited by Randy FrameCover and interior design by ElectricurrentCover photo by Michael WilsonPrinted in the United States of Americathe myths of belongingOur old ideas about space have exploded.The past three decadeshave produced more change in more cultures than any other time inhistory. Radically accelerated growth, deregulation, and globalizationhave redrawn our familiar maps and reset the parameters: Borders areinscribed and permeated, control zones imposed and violated, jurisdictions declaredand ignored, markets pumped up and punctured.And at thesame time, entirely new spatial conditions, demanding new definitions,have emerged.Where space was considered permanent, it now feelstransitory---on its way to becoming.The words and ideas of architecture,once the official language of space, no longer seem capable of describingthis proliferation of new conditions. But even as its utility is questionedin the real world, architectural language survives, its repertoire of conceptsand metaphors resurrected to create clarity and definition in new,unfamiliar domains (think chat rooms,Web sites, and firewalls).Words thatdie in the real are reborn in the virtual.1Rem Koolhaas, in a guest editorial for a special issue of WiredWen our pastor rose to make the announcement, Isuspected we were in for it again. 'We're going to be achurch of small groups,' he told us, like a child pleading for his parentsto read from the well-worn book one more time. 'A church ofsmall groups instead of a church with small groups.'My heart sank. Been there; done that.I remembered attending a small group several years earlier. Itwas the next step in my process of growing deeper in Christ and incommunity. 'Everyone in a small group' was the church-wide goal.So my wife, Sara, and I hopped in our car and began our eight-weekcommitment.We were greeted kindly at the door. It was not so much afriendship sort of kind as it was a salesman's type. 'This is the firsttime,' I told myself, 'so relax and enjoy.'Once gathered in the 'family' room, we played several silly,juvenile games in the hope of opening the door to relational bliss.Next, we were asked to agree to and sign a Group Covenant.The covenant seemed harmless enough. It established a purposefor the group. It enlisted everyone to the 100 percent attendancepolicy. It explained a code of group life. It requested that we enterinto accountable relationships with our new 'friends.'The covenant was very organizational and institutional. Itspurpose, values, and vision were all clearly stated. Everyone signedon the line. Our well-trained leader promised that eight weeks laterwe would all arrive at a closer walk with God and with one another.Sounded promising and hopeful, so we started. By the thirdweek I had had enough. I did not want to return to share my deepestthoughts. I did not want to give obvious answers to predictable questionsfrom the published small group material. I did not want to playone more icebreaker game.I was not getting closer to anyone. Instead, I was getting angry.This group was expecting more from me than I wanted to deliver.And this group was trying to deliver to me more than I wanted.A church of small groups? Sounded like forced relational hell to me.Others tell of similar experiences.When a friend asked Miguelto help start a men's small group for the new year, he agreed atonce.Through a contact in the hotel business, Miguel found the idealmeeting place and time: Holiday Inn at 6:30 a.m. on the second andfourth Tuesdays.The men would meet for breakfast, pray, read froma study book, and by 7:30 be on their separate ways to work.The group was launched and continued through the spring,summer, fall, and even the winter. Sometimes as few as fourgathered, sometimes as many as seven. Every second and fourthTuesday at 6:30 a.m., often on cold and dark mornings, they met.Through vacations, travel schedules, traffic tie-ups, the group met.As the second summer approached, someone suggested, 'Let'stake a breather for a few months.' Everybody agreed.WhenSeptember arrived, not one person suggested starting again.Common Myths of BelongingCommunity is a complex creature. Many factors contribute tofinding successful community.With the erosion of the geographicallyclose family and the heightened mobility of our culture, many peoplestruggle to learn healthy competencies for community.Schools, service agencies, churches, and other organizations aremaking a concerted effort to help.Yet several common myths surroundthe search to belong, myths that dilute and confuse the definitionswe employ to describe our journey to connect.More time = more belonging. The first myth is that thegreater the amount of time spent in relationship with another person,the more authentic the community will be.This is a pervasivemyth. In reality, time has little to do with a person's ability to experiencesignificant belonging. Many people tell stories of first-time,episodic introductions from which a spontaneous connectionemerges. Have you ever said, 'I just met you, but it seems like I'veknown you all my life.'Contrast this with Teri's feelings about Maggie.The two roomedtogether in college years ago, and ever since have exchanged Christmascards and the occasional letter. Last summer Maggie invited herself tospend a few days with Teri.When Teri got the phone call, she immediately went to her pastor.'I didn't like her then,' she groaned. 'I put up with her. Her sideof the room was always filthy. She's domineering. I don't want her tocome here.What do I do? We roomed together for four years, butwe were never really friends.'Or, for still another perspective, Rose describes an experienceat her church:About a month ago a woman named Sandra began attending.She is 56 years old. She came to our group last night. Shehas zero church background. Four years ago she was alone on aweek-long vacation to Mexico.

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Study Resources
• Data di pubblicazione: 2003
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0310255007
• ISBN 13: 9780310255000
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 190
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: Simone Casetta; 0039 275422215; casetta@mondadori.it; ; Via Mondadori 1,; Segrate Milano; 20090; Italia