Description

In today’s highly charged social and political environment, we often don’t know how to talk well with others–especially with people whose backgrounds differ from our own. C. Christopher Smith, coauthor of the critically acclaimed and influential Slow Church, will join us in this unique book club discussion to discuss why conversation has become such a challenge in the 21st century. Could this be the most-needed spiritual practice of our individualistic age?

We’ll discuss how learning to converse effectively with those who differ from us in the body of Christ enables us to embody Christ together in the world. In community, we learn what it means to belong to others and to a story that is bigger than ourselves.

Join us as together with author C. Christopher Smith and discussion host Shane Blackshear, we learn together how church communities can be training hubs where we learn to talk with and listen to one another with kindness and compassion. This discussion will explore how churches can initiate and sustain conversation, offer advice for working through seasons of conflict, and suggest spiritual practices and dispositions that can foster conversation.

Special Bonus: Brazos Press is pleased to offer an exclusive 40% discount on How the Body of Christ Talks to everyone who registers for this conversation! 

Meeting Times: 

Tuesday May 21, 3pmET
Tuesday May 28, 3pmET
Tuesday June 4, 3pmET
And
Tuesday June 11, 3pmET

(You will have access to video of the discussion if you are unable to make a session)

C. Christopher Smith (MA, Indiana University) is a writer, community developer, and founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is coauthor of the award-winning book Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus and the author of Reading for the Common Good: How Books Help Our Churches and Neighborhoods Flourish. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, USA Today, the Indianapolis Star, HuffPost, Christianity Today, the Christian Century, Relevant, and Sojourners. Smith lives on the urban Near Eastside of Indianapolis, Indiana, where he is a longtime member of Englewood Christian Church, a congregation that has been learning to talk together for over two decades.

(Discussion Host) Shane Blackshear is a Jesus follower, blogger, speaker & host of the podcast Seminary Dropout. He likes comic books, theology, and growing beards.