{"product_id":"slow-church-cultivating-community-in-the-patient-way-of-jesus-9780830841141","title":"Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eReaders' Choice Award Winner\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBest Books About the Church from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Bookstore\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFast food. Fast cars. Fast and furious. Fast forward. Fast . . . church?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 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 \u003ci\u003eSlow Church, \u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJonathan Wilson-Hartgrove (M.Div., Duke Divinity School) is director of the School for Conversion in Durham, North Carolina, where he is a member of the Rutba House new monastic community. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eTo Baghdad and Beyond\u003c\/i\u003e and coauthor of \u003ci\u003eInhabiting the Church: Biblical Wisdom for a New Monasticism.\u003c\/i\u003e He is also the coeditor of \u003ci\u003eSchool(s) for Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism.\u003c\/i\u003e Catch up with him at newmonasticism.org.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJohn Pattison is managing editor of \u003ci\u003eCONSPIRE\u003c\/i\u003e magazine. Previously he served as deputy editor of the Burnside Writers Collective. A member of the National Book Critics Circle, he is the coauthor of \u003ci\u003eBesides the Bible.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eChris Smith is editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Englewood Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e and a member of the Englewood Christian Church community on the urban Near Eastside of Indianapolis.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"IVP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50707506430226,"sku":"9780830841141","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5671c0b5-cb35-4bdc-9a36-9bd18b47315d.jpg?v=1734496756","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/slow-church-cultivating-community-in-the-patient-way-of-jesus-9780830841141","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}