After reading pages 1-37, reflect on the following paragraph:
In the forward, Dallas Willard states, "All too often real-life connections simply run on a different track from 'church' and remain unredeemed and unredemptive" (17). Later, Frazee writes that, like the Johnsons, many today have "too many worlds to manage. There are too many sets of relationships that do not connect with each other but all require time to maintain" (33). Frazee suggests that the most profound thought of his book is that "Biblical community is the life of Christ on earth today" (22). Then, in the second chapter, Frazee suggests that authentic community in the church is not an option, but a necessity. Explain why you would agree or disagree with this. If you agree, what are some of the implications for your congregation? What do your actions as a congregation demonstrate about its attitude toward connectedness, community, and fellowship?
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I can relate to some of what is in this book There was a time in our life when it seemed we were 15-20 minutes away from a lot of things, including church. We got burned out on our once a month fellowship group (which was 20 minutes away) because it was one more duty to perform and one more world to manage. We tried to attend more than Sunday morning, but it was hard to make it at every meeting, especially with a toddler. We experienced more community in our breezeway than in church, that was because all of us neighbors (who happened to all have small children) made a conscious effort to connect to each other and be involved in each other's lives. We babysat, played games, went to the park, had birthdays, and did a number of other things together. But these were not people from our congregation. Somehow, we thought Christian community was optional, yet we desired it but didn't know how to get it. We attended worship on Sunday mornings, but felt there was something missing.
In the congregation we are at now, there was a time when it seemed that community was optional. The way meetings were set up communicated that worship attendance was necessary, but community was optional. There were two worship periods on Sunday. Attendance was always highest at the worship period, lower at Bible classes, and even lower at other events which were underdtood to be fellowship events. Thankfully, with the coming of Life Groups in 2003, this seems to slowly be changing. Having Life Groups on Sunday nights communicates that we as a whole believe community to be important enough that we the leaders will facilitate it through Small Group Ministries that meet once a week at a minimum. I think this book will be very instructive, because I have the feeling that there are many of us that attend small groups that have not gotten past a certain threshold of deeper community that we can have in neighborhood groups. We have made significant progress over the last three or four years, but this is not finished. It is something that still needs to grow.
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