<ul>
<li>2014 Readers' Choice Award Winner</li>
<li>2014 Best Books About the Church from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Bookstore</li>
</ul> Fast food. Fast cars. Fast and furious. Fast forward. Fast . . . church? The church is often idealized (or demonized) as the last bastion of a bygone era, dragging our feet as we're pulled into new moralities and new spiritualities. We guard our doctrine and our piety with great vigilance. But we often fail to notice how quickly we're capitulating, in the structures and practices of our churches, to a culture of unreflective speed, dehumanizing efficiency and dis-integrating isolationism. In the beginning, the church ate together, traveled together and shared in all facets of life. Centered as they were on Jesus, these seemingly mundane activities took on their own significance in the mission of God. In Slow Church, Chris Smith and John Pattison invite us to leave franchise faith behind and enter into the ecology, economy and ethics of the kingdom of God, where people know each other well and love one another as Christ loved the church.

Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus

Politics & Social Sciences

Smith, C. Christopher

Pattison, John

Social Sciences

High-speed internet. Rapid rewards. Quick thinking. Fast food. Fast . . . church? Slow Church by Chris Smith and John Pattison has been eagerly received by a people who are ready to be invited out of franchise faith and back into the kingdom of God. This eleven-session study guide provides an opportunity to reflect on the message of this groundbreaking book both individually and in community. Each session features 
<ul>
<li>A guide to lectio divina</li>
<li>Suggested videos that can be watched online</li>
<li>A series of in-depth questions expanded from what is currently in the book</li>
<li>A quote for reflection</li>
</ul> Here is an opportunity to begin to develop a deeper and richer community where people know each other well and love one another as Christ loved the church.

Slow Church Study Guide

We have been created to live and work in community. But all too often we see ourselves primarily as individuals and run the risk of working at cross-purposes with the organizations we serve. Living faithfully in a neighborhood involves two interwoven threads: learning and action. In this book C. Christopher Smith, coauthor of Slow Church, looks at the local church as an organization in which both learning and action lie at the heart of its identity. He explores the practice of reading and, in his words, "how we can read together in ways that drive us deeper into action." Smith continues, "Church can no longer simply be an experience to be passively consumed; rather, we are called into the participatory life of a community. Reading is a vital practice for helping our churches navigate this shift." Discover how books can help your churches and neighborhoods bring flourishing to the world.

Reading for the Common Good: How Books Help Our Churches and Neighborhoods Flourish

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

How close do we dare to get to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount? It’s widely considered the key to understanding who Jesus was and what mission he strove to fulfill. For two millennia, countless people have wrestled to apply it, from Augustine to Luther to Tolstoy to Gandhi. Alongside much wisdom, there has been much evasion, prompting Jewish theologian Pinchas Lapide’s tart comment: “The history of the impact of the Sermon on the Mount can largely be described in terms of an attempt to domesticate everything in it that is shocking, demanding, and uncompromising, and render it harmless.” There’s good reason for this: Jesus’ teaching is deeply disruptive. It demands a top-to-bottom reordering of life, work, and social relations, starting with radical economic sharing, nonresistance and love of enemies, lifelong marriage, and unconditional forgiveness. This issue of Plough Quarterly focuses on people willing to get their hands dirty living out the Sermon on the Mount. Their ranks include Dorothy Day, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John Wesley, Henri Nouwen, Mother Teresa, and others you’ll meet in these pages. Their insights are not to be consumed passively. Rather, they should inspire and equip each of us to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Bold, hope-filled, and down-to-earth, Plough Quarterly features thought-provoking articles, commentary, interviews, short fiction, book reviews, poetry and artwork to inspire everyday faith and action. Each issue brings together essential voices from many traditions to give you fresh insights on a core theme such as peacemaking, biblical justice, children and family, building community, man and woman, nature and the environment, nonviolence, or simple living. Starting from the conviction that the teachings and example of Jesus can transform and renew our world, it aims to apply them to all aspects of life, seeking common ground with all people of goodwill regardless of creed.

Plough Quarterly No. 1: Living the Sermon on the Mount (Plough Quarterly, 1)

Moore, Russell D.

Day, Dorothy

Kierkegaard, Søren

MOTHER TERESA

Arnold, Johann Christoph

Moltmann, Jürgen

Cavalli, Patrizia

Arnold, Eberhard

Kollwitz, Käthe

Kyber, Manfred

Wuerl, Cardinal Donald

Stoltzfus, Duane

Nouwen, Henri J.M.

Plough Publishing House

The Virtue of Dialogue: Becoming a Thriving Church through Conversation (Cultivating Communities)

Englewood Press

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Books by Smith, C. Christopher