I’ll be a speaker this Fall at the Willow Creek small group conference. The conference, called the Ancient-Future Community Group Life Conference, will focus on the nature of “community” in local churches. My address will be on the history of community in the Church.

I’ve got a bundle of books to read now, but I’m very excited about this event.

There are an assortment of churches — megachurches, megachurch wannabes, big churches, small churches, house churches, missional churches, cafe churches, neighborhood churches, village churches. Some change constantly; some are the same as they were when Grandma and Grandpa were baptized there by the pastor whose grandson is now pastor. |inline

Lead pastor at Willow Creek, Gene Appel, mentioned this blog in his talk this weekend so I want to welcome Willow Creekers to the conversations that occur on this blog. A brief introduction to Jesus Creed: we talk about Jesus, about Christian theology, about books we are reading, and about issues — some of them controversial. We pride ourselves on this blog for creating a safe place for conversation. We often disagree; we often state our views sharply; but we don’t insult one another. We are now doing a few series: on a “missional church life,” letters to emerging Christians, and whether catastrophes are God’s judgment or not, and on spiritual disciplines as community (not just individual, personal) endeavors … and so many other things come. Join us. (If some terms get a little stuffy, check out our Bloglossary in the Sidebar to your right.)