Customer Reviews

The Good and Beautiful Community: Following the Spirit, Extending Grace, Demonstrating Love (Apprentice (IVP Books))

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
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This is the third book in the Apprentice Trilogy, and for me, it is the most insightful and challenging. I enjoyed the first two Apprentice books(The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love With the God Jesus Knows (The Apprentice Series) and The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ (The Apprentice Series)), which dealt with issues of who God is and how we personally respond to Him, and this book takes the next step by exploring the idea of how we work these changed lives out in community. A reader may expect this book to focus entirely within the walls of a church, and that is where most of the attention goes, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the way that Smith challenges readers to look at the impact they have on people outside their church and inside small accountability groups within a church. I was also challenged by Smith's consistent efforts to bring all of his recommendations back to God's word, even when that leads to an unpopular suggestion that a congregation not sever ties with a denomination that has gone astray in some theological area (I think, on that point, Smith's message of reconciliation and commitment not to divide unnecessarily would benefit from a discussion of how passionate Paul was about differences of opinion on, say, circumcision - he may still end up at the same place, but I would love to hear him get there). While this book is great on its own, I highly recommend that readers tackle the books in order to get the most out of each one, especially in the context of a small group where people can challenge each other. I have started buying copies of The Good and Beautiful God for friends in my church, hoping that we can grow closer to God with them, and The Good and Beautiful Community reassures me that I need to start planning on giving away copies of the entire series. Everyone should read these books.

Our daily encounters with others are the arenas in which our relationship with God becomes incarnate, and most of us need a little help in this area, according to James Bryan Smith in this book. The book attempts to offer ways in which followers of Jesus can have healthy relationships and become blessings to the world around them.

As the King James Bible asserts, Christians are a "peculiar" people, or at least they should be. They should obey earthly laws but live by higher laws. They should be living lives that are so winsome that others want to have what they have. They should live in a hopeful, serving, Christ-centred, reconciling, encouraging, generous, worshipping community. To help readers work towards this, the author provides soul training exercises at the end of each chapter.

I tend to regard spiritual disciplines are something that is good for me, rather than something I find exciting. Nonetheless as I read the book I found myself resonating with and attracted to the "good and beautiful community" that the author portrays. The soul training exercises may not suit the theological inclinations of all readers, but the essential characteristics of the Christian community that the book describes are compelling.

We all live in community at differing levels. Of course we are part of the community of humanity. But we are also part of the community which is our country; the community of our city, town, neighborhood, church and family.

We interact with other people every day. As Christians, as followers of Jesus, how are we to `be' in the communities we exist in.

How we are in the everyday of life should be something we think about. Do we leave our `faith' at home when we go to work, or school, or college? Do we have our quiet times in the morning but then are indistinguishable during the day from anyone else we interact with? Or maybe the opposite is true. Maybe we are generous and kind and giving and service-hearted but our faith is not the driving force. James Bryan Smith suggests that how we act in community should be inseparably connected with what is going on inside us spiritually. In The Good and Beautiful Community Smith challenges us to balance contemplation and action; piety and mercy; personal devotion and social service, all in the context of our every day life.

This is an immensely practical book. It is not just to be read, it is to be `done'. The `Soul Training' sections at the end of each chapter help the reader to think and put into practice what has been said with suggestions for action for the days following. At the end of the book, Smith has provided a very helpful section on "Writing A Soul-Training Plan". This helps you to look at how you are with God, with yourself and with others, and then helping you to create a plan of action to develop and grow in these areas.

This is a great book for small groups to work through together.

The Good and Beautiful Community: Following the Spirit, Extending Grace, Demonstrating Love joins others in the Apprentice Series to promote Christian spirituality and faith. It's the author's third book in the trilogy and teaches how to live in relationships with others as apprentices of Jesus - and as an apprentice he means those who live in continuous contact with God. There are many opportunities to affect the world: this chronicles community interactions and how social and spiritual practices can blend.

As the 3rd book in a series, this is an excellent book which I felt was the most meaningful of the 3 (and all are excellent). It is a good resource for an individual or a study group,

This is the third book in the trilogy and I just finished it. Wonderful books that really help you (with soul training exercises) understand how to live more Christ-like.

I have read, studied, and taught small groups using the first two books in this series; The Good and Beautiful God, The Good and Beautiful Life. I have found them to be very well written with excellent content. The participants in the classes have rated them highly as well. The Good and Beautiful Community is another treasure in this series. I am looking forward to leading a group of 15 in my church starting January 12 as we learn together from this life-changing series.

A great book I would tell all to read it! This is the last of three books and our ss class has been going through them. AMAZING!

This book provides a great perspective on the next stage of the church and ties his two prior books together as a series.