Review of The Connecting Church by Randy Frazee

I have been "sitting" on this book for about 3 weeks. The point of the book is that people are made for relationships, need relationships, are starving for relationships, and the church and small groups is the best means of meeting that need. The reason I held back on this book is that I could not shake this feeling that some of the things in the book were "off." More about that in a moment.

First, the strengths of this book. Randy Frazee does a very good job of laying out the biblical and sociological argument on the need for community. He does a good job of presenting the theological argument for community, and does a great job of presenting a study on culture and society to demonstrate how our culture has changed. He uses various studies and authors to present how the United States culture became more fragmented after World War 2. If you want a good, brief overview of "what happened" in regard to community, this would be a good resource.

Frazee argues that in order create community, a person needs a common purpose. Within the church and small groups, the author cites how his church uses the study of 30 theological truths on which to focus everyone on the same target. For anyone wanting to know what are some of the critical components of the Christian faith, these thirty are a pretty good starting point.

It is at this point that the nagging doubts about the book crept in. The "solution" to creating community is just unrealistic in our culture in general and South Florida in particular. Obviously, there are adjustments to lifestyles that need to be made to creat community. One cannot expect to do the same thing you have always done and get different results. However, Frazee goes so far as to suggest that people should either pick jobs very close to their home, preferably within walking distance, or move to a house closer to work. The idea being that you need to limit your travel as much as possible and spend it in your neighborhood.

Short of a cataclysmic change in our culture, this is not happening. It is an unrealistic expectation of people to structure their lives around where you live on this lone principle. I understand his premise of being purposeful of spending time in your neighborhood and investing yourself in the people in that area, his solution is not viable.

What this should create in us is an intentionality in how we spend our time. If possible, do your shopping locally and build relationships with the workers and owners in these stores. Spend your leisure time in your neighborhood and make friends with your neighbors. Invite people to your home on a regular basis and spend life together. These are all steps to building community and inviting new people into that community.