Sep 28, 2010
Six Simple Ways to Encourage Dialogue
Posted by Joe Paravisini in Community | Comments (2)
In my last post, I discussed the benefits of healthy dialogue to the learning process. This post goes over a few tips on fostering this kind of dialogue in your own community groups. This list is by no means exhaustive, so feel free to add to it in the comments below. 1 - Break the Ice In the early stages of relationship building, group discussions can be awkward and silent. If the participants do not know each other very well, they are full of insecurities and reservations keeping them from engaging in conversation as freely. Spending time interacting in a less Read More...
Sep 21, 2010
The Benefits of Dialogue
Posted by Joe Paravisini in Community | Comments (2)
At Sacred Journey Church, we put a high value on our gatherings that take place weekly in homes across Rhode Island. In these groups, friends and family typically meet for dinner, and discuss the previous sermon. These discussions are intended to take the learning to the next level, out of the abstract and into the practical. Why Dialogue? A healthy learning process involves both monologue and dialogue. Jesus modeled this by sometimes preaching monologues to thousands on hillsides, while other times engaging smaller audiences with parables and interactive stories. These discussions invited the hearers to wrestle with theRead More...
Aug 27, 2010
Personal Bible study, prayer and community? Huh…
Posted by Evan Whitman in Community | Comments (50)
Recently I had an awesome and inspiring conversation with a fellow brother who, as of late, hasn’t been attending Sunday morning gatherings or engaging in community whatsoever. I asked him how things were going, and he informed me that times have been tough. His family is experiencing serious health problems; there are tensions in his marriage and self confessed “my spiritual life is in the toilet”. I asked him, what are you doing about it? After minutes of conversation he told me that he hadn’t been reading or praying much lately and told meRead More...
Aug 23, 2010
Negative perceptions of community done right (or wrong)
Posted by Jean Alexandre in Church Practices - Community | Comments (4)
Some of us have had experiences with churches or “church people” that have put us off. This sometimes leaves us with thoughts like “that place is a cult”. I’ve used this term in the past to describe churches I’ve been to. I’ve also had conversations with others about certain churches and their likeness to cults. This is especially prevalent in churches where community is done either very well or very wrong. The main issue with most of us is perception. Most of what we experience in church is based primarilyRead More...
