{"id":512,"date":"2012-02-07T13:28:36","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T18:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/?p=512"},"modified":"2012-02-07T13:31:57","modified_gmt":"2012-02-07T18:31:57","slug":"becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming Conversational #7 – Connect Church Members who live in Close Proximity."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"The<\/a>My ebook The Virtue of Dialogue: Conversation as a Hopeful Practice of Church Communities<\/em><\/a><\/strong> was recently released by Patheos Press, and in it, I argue that open conversation is essential for the health and flourishing of church communities and the places they inhabit.<\/p>\n

Over the past week and the current week, I will be running a 10-part series that I am calling \u201cBecoming Conversational\u201d<\/strong> in which I offer suggestions for how churches might enrich the conversational life of their church communities<\/strong>. (Some of these ideas have been adapted from my earlier ebook, Growing Deeper in Our Church Communities<\/em><\/strong>, which is available for free download here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the spirit of conversation, I encourage readers to utilize the comments section below to ask questions, share relevant stories from their own experience, etc. <\/em><\/div>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

#7) Connect Church Members who live in Close Proximity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many of our churches exist in places that are not places, such as many suburban areas.\u00a0 I think churches \u2014 and particularly churches that are learning to recover the practice of conversation \u2014 can play a key role helping to revitalizes places, but this process should begin in the life we share together.\u00a0 We cannot help our neighborhoods to be flourishing places, if we have not begun to share life and flourish together within our church communities.<\/p>\n

If yours is a large church, it is particularly important that members be connected with others with whom they can share life on a daily basis, and to do so effectively members must live in close proximity (although, the definition of \u201cclose proximity\u201d might vary depending on your context \u2014 from a matter of blocks for some urban churches to a matter of miles in some rural communities) Designate a time when members can gather in homes with other members who live close to them, perhaps canceling your church services on a Sunday evening. Find people who live near other church members and who would be willing to open their homes, and have people gather at the home closest to them. Have a conversation in each home about something that group of people could work on together that would help connect them to \u2013 and benefit \u2013 their neighbors. Find ways to encourage members to share life on a deeper level with others in your church who live close to them, perhaps even exploring the possibilities of moving to be closer to other sisters and brothers.\u00a0 These mini-communities of church members become new and vital places for conversation to unfold, as neighbors seek to discern what being faithful together looks like in their own ultra-local context.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow: #8 Build Relationships with churches \/ missionaries around the globe.
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Previous Post: #6 <\/em><\/strong>Spread the \u201cPastoral\u201d Work of the Church Around<\/em><\/a>.<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My ebook The Virtue of Dialogue: Conversation as a Hopeful Practice of Church Communities was recently released by Patheos Press, and in it, I argue that open conversation is essential for the health and flourishing of church communities and the places they inhabit. Over the past week and the current week, I will be running […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,50],"tags":[11,19,176,25955,186],"class_list":["post-512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-conversations","tag-church","tag-conversation","tag-neighbors","tag-place","tag-proximity"],"yoast_head":"\nBecoming Conversational #7 - Connect Church Members who live in Close Proximity.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My ebook The Virtue of Dialogue: Conversation as a Hopeful Practice of Church Communities was recently released by Patheos Press, and in it, I argue that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Becoming Conversational #7 - Connect Church Members who live in Close Proximity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My ebook The Virtue of Dialogue: Conversation as a Hopeful Practice of Church Communities was recently released by Patheos Press, and in it, I argue that\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Slow Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-07T18:28:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-02-07T18:31:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/68\/2012\/01\/virtueOFdialogue.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"281\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Christopher Smith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Christopher Smith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/\",\"name\":\"Becoming Conversational #7 - Connect Church Members who live in Close Proximity.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-02-07T18:28:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-02-07T18:31:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/#\/schema\/person\/ab0ab77c4d00c2b846694b86d5498f71\"},\"description\":\"My ebook The Virtue of Dialogue: Conversation as a Hopeful Practice of Church Communities was recently released by Patheos Press, and in it, I argue that\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Becoming Conversational #7 – Connect Church Members who live in Close Proximity.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/\",\"name\":\"Slow Church\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/#\/schema\/person\/ab0ab77c4d00c2b846694b86d5498f71\",\"name\":\"Christopher Smith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e60c00066ec1e997f25a900d180b9240?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e60c00066ec1e997f25a900d180b9240?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Christopher Smith\"},\"description\":\"Chris Smith is the editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is a member of Englewood Christian Church on the Near Eastside of Indianapolis and author of the new Patheos ebook The Virtue of Dialogue\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/englewoodreview.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/author\/christophersmith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Becoming Conversational #7 - Connect Church Members who live in Close Proximity.","description":"My ebook The Virtue of Dialogue: Conversation as a Hopeful Practice of Church Communities was recently released by Patheos Press, and in it, I argue that","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Becoming Conversational #7 - Connect Church Members who live in Close Proximity.","og_description":"My ebook The Virtue of Dialogue: Conversation as a Hopeful Practice of Church Communities was recently released by Patheos Press, and in it, I argue that","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/","og_site_name":"Slow Church","article_published_time":"2012-02-07T18:28:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-02-07T18:31:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"281","height":"450","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/68\/2012\/01\/virtueOFdialogue.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Christopher Smith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Christopher Smith","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/","name":"Becoming Conversational #7 - Connect Church Members who live in Close Proximity.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-02-07T18:28:36+00:00","dateModified":"2012-02-07T18:31:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/#\/schema\/person\/ab0ab77c4d00c2b846694b86d5498f71"},"description":"My ebook The Virtue of Dialogue: Conversation as a Hopeful Practice of Church Communities was recently released by Patheos Press, and in it, I argue that","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/02\/07\/becoming-conversational-7-connect-church-members-who-live-in-close-proximity\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Becoming Conversational #7 – Connect Church Members who live in Close Proximity."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/","name":"Slow Church","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/#\/schema\/person\/ab0ab77c4d00c2b846694b86d5498f71","name":"Christopher Smith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e60c00066ec1e997f25a900d180b9240?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e60c00066ec1e997f25a900d180b9240?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Christopher Smith"},"description":"Chris Smith is the editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is a member of Englewood Christian Church on the Near Eastside of Indianapolis and author of the new Patheos ebook The Virtue of Dialogue","sameAs":["http:\/\/englewoodreview.org"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/author\/christophersmith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}