2.5 stars

The positive aspects of this book could be summed up by stating that it's good to invest time in your surrounding community and develop relationships with people (which takes time!).

Serving, as we do, a God who acts in time but is unbound by it, we can afford to enter a neighborhood with the posture of the listener. We can linger at the table. We can start work we won't see the end of. (p 52)

The fact that we are called to follow God in community is a hedge against the waywardness of our individual desires. The local church is the crucible in which our desires are transformed from the building of our individual and tribal kingdoms to the seeking of God's all-encompassing shalom. (p 225, emphasis original)

It's written by "non-professionals," and this shows in how much of their book was simply them quoting other people. I liked a lot of these quotes, but I don't know that the book itself was super necessary...

The authors have some ideas that I just can't get behind. For example, they believe churches can/should "generate income" beyond the offering plate (through coffee shops, bookstores, etc. in church buildings), and I strongly believe that income-generation is not the business of the church!

They subscribe to Walter Brueggeman's interpretation of the famine experienced in Egypt, which Joseph helped prepare for. They state that Pharaoh was being greedy and selfish by requiring people to pay for the stores of grain with their livestock, land, etc., and that Pharaoh was operating from a "scarcity mentality." In reality, this kind of distribution was all Joseph's idea and happened because God was preserving His people through this.

They also believe that the evolutionary theory is fact, apparently, as they briefly mention that the world is billions of years old.

The authors were very passionate about their subject, but unfortunately, passion doesn't equal excellence in execution. I thought the parallels of "slow church" to the "slow food" movement was taken too far, and they had to stretch a bit to make them fit. ( )

I attended Catholic school from kindergarten through second grade. I went through first communion. After that period, I would attend Midnight Mass (on Christmas) and Easter Vigil at a Benedictine monastery (a tradition I've kept up). I tend to choose something to sacrifice for lent. Other than these things though, I don't think you could call me a practicing Christian.

I came across this book when I met one of the authors at a Slow Money National Gathering in 2014, right around the time it was first published. I found the concept compelling due to its focus around community. The book is structured around three pillars: ethics, ecology, and economy.

There's fascileness that both authors bring to their interactions with biblical citations. Although they cite the Bible extensively as part of their ontology, I didn't feel like it detracted from the book. They also shared a number of stories from their communities.

I think this book could be compelling to anyone thinking about spiritual community. ( )

Sometimes you pick up a book and know you'll like it because you know you agree with it, and you know you'll review it well to support the authors and get the ideas out there with some more traction. And that's not a bad thing.

But occasionally, something from that stack REALLY jumps out to you as IMPORTANT. This book is that way. It's IMPORTANT.

The co-authors build from the themes of the Slow Food movement into a general Slow Church movement, while saying "this isn't the next big thing. it's just ordinariness called into life." As such, it's not Missional, Incarnational, House, Seeker-*, Network, or any other good idea that ends up just getting franchised. This is a theological, cultural and pragmatic foundation for Church. Of all flavors, but which will be engaged in neighborhood, community, relationship and reality. It's given me a broader language for the Church, and also some energizing ideas about how spiritual formation might be approached in a similar, slow, holistic, ordinary way.

I highly recommend it to all who lead, pastor, attend, or care about the Christian church, in all its flavors. ( )

Slow Church gives you lots to think about as you seek to counter the "McDonaldization" of church in NA. It is a vision in contrast to the fast-paced, attractional, consumeristic churches that dominate our culture. I really enjoyed seeing this idea and need to think through be implications for myself and my church. ( )

This is an interesting and challenging book to read as pastor of a rural church that has been here for more than 120 years and where it isn't unusual to have 4 generations of the same family taking communion. We do much of what this book encourages. Many other areas we could do better, but we are at least in the ballpark. Book decrys the "McDonaldization" of church, where Christianity is a commodity that can be packaged, marketed and sold. Rather, it seeks to cultivate a deep, holistic discipleship and lifelong apprenticeship that touches every aspect of one's life. How do we embody Christ in our local community? Fascinating and counter-cultural and can be challenging to read as it applies to The Church, this church, and this individual Christian. ( )