New Ebook – The Virtue of Dialogue

January 26, 2012 By Christopher Smith 9 Comments

The Virtue of Dialogue - C. Christopher SmithChris has has a new little ebook that is now available from Patheos Press:

The Virtue of Dialogue:
Conversation as a
Hopeful Practice of
Church Communities.
http://amzn.to/virtueofdialogue

This ebook narrates Englewood Christian Church’s practice of conversation, how we — a failed megachurch — stumbled in the practice of conversation 15 years ago, and how it has transformed us and continues to transform us. A strong case is made that open, conversation is an essential and timely practice for all churches.

Conversation — and particularly dinner table conversation — is essential to our concept of Slow Church, and this little book will serve to point us in a direction that will be fleshed out in much more detail in the coming Slow Church book.  For people who want a sense of where we are going with the Slow Church project, The Virtue of Dialogue offers the tiniest taste of where we hope to go.

The Virtue of Dialogue is available for download as a Kindle ebook for only $2.99! http://amzn.to/virtueofdialogue

If you do not have a Kindle, Kindle apps for your computer or smartphone are FREE and easy to install…

Now available for Nook through BN.com (Also $2.99!)

“There is something very 1st Century about Englewood, and there’s also something very postmodern — that’s because Englewood is seeking to be missional, not by theorizing about it but by actually doing it. Where they began is where we all need to begin: with conversation. We must face one another in a listening mode. Only then can our words become genuine conversation. This little book could be revolutionary for your own faith community.”
- Scot McKnight, author of The King Jesus Gospel and Junia Is Not Alone
“The story of the Englewood Christian Church is a compelling one, not because it’s unusual (which it is), but because it narrates a story of church rebirth many people are experiencing under the radar of the ‘success-driven’ U.S. Christian establishment. Beautifully written, stunningly simple, this piece by Chris Smith gives hope for all those working in churches in the midst of long decline. To you who are looking for a way forward that is different from the latest mega church conference, I urge you to read this little book.”
– David Fitch, B.R. Lindner Professor of Evangelical Theology at Northern Seminary, author of The End of Evangelicalism?

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  3. Once you’ve had a chance to read it, write a short review and post to Amazon, Facebook, your blog, Goodreads, etc.

Filed Under: Books, News Tagged With: , , 9 Comments

CCDA Recap. (Or, May our means fit our ends).

October 17, 2011 By Christopher Smith 2 Comments

CCDAI spent the bulk of last week at the Christian Community Development Association’s annual conference, which was held here in Indianapolis this year.  The CCDA conference is always a great opportunity to see old friends from around the country who are engaged in good, reconciling work in their places, and I was excited to be a part of the host team for this year’s gathering.

For the vast majority of the week, I was hunkered down in the CCDA bookstore, which The Englewood Review of Books ran again this year, but thanks to my brothers and sisters of Englewood Christian Church who helped in running the bookstore, I did get out to a few seasons over the course of the week.  Here are a couple of Slow-Church-related observations from the week:

1)      There is a deep interest in conversations related to Slow Church, about place, stability, culture, agriculture and food. There was a good deal of curiosity about the Slow Church fliers and bookmarks we were handing out in the bookstore. Even more telling, however, was that our best-selling books (not including those of keynote speakers or Bob Lupton’s brand new Toxic Charity, which was timed for release at CCDA) were Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s The Wisdom of Stability and a variety of Wendell Berry’s books.  We hosted an off-site workshop on Saturday afternoon at Englewood Christian Church, and had some good conversations about a number of the facets that John and I are describing here as Slow Church, including stability, and the possibility of an economy that rejects assumptions of scarcity and is instead founded upon the super-abundant grace of God (a topic that I hope to write more about later this week.)

2)     At the same time, there is still, in the CCDA audience, a deeply engrained activism that believes that our first course of action should be to change public policy. This was exemplified for me in the debate between Jim Wallis, of Sojourners, and Arthur Brooks,of the American Enterprise Institute. (Click here to listen to a clip that reflects the overall tenor of the debate). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Happenings, News Tagged With: , , , 2 Comments

Official first post will appear tomorrow!

September 28, 2011 By Christopher Smith Leave a Comment

The official first post on this new blog will appear tomorrow, Thursday September 29!

This is simply a test post… Check back tomorrow for our first post…
And while you’re waiting, connect with us via Facebook, Twitter or Email (see the sidebar ——–> ), so that you don’t miss a post!

Filed Under: News Leave a Comment