Customer Reviews

The Safest Place on Earth

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

My favorite book is Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. This book ties with that one for first place. I feel like there is so much that speaks to me in this book that I need to read it again. My spirit was captivated by the concept of living in the upper room. I can relate to the constant dwelling in the lower room, but there is a Hope in me that keeps desiring more of Him, keeps wanting to dwell longer in the upper room. I want to experience community life. Where we all have the same desire...to point each other to Christ, to jump up and down for joy when we see Christ revealed. I'm going to pray that my family and I may experience true community living.

Larry Crabb's vulnerbility is refreshing. He shares his pilgrimage, not his arrival, his thoughts, not his dogmatic conclusions. Life is a process, confusing, disappointing, but hopeful as we learn to live in the Upper Room and envision that experience for others. Charts are a helpful addition to the fresh approaches to old struggles.

For those of us who are unable to hide our sin and pain behind smiles, Crabb proposes a startling "new" model: a spiritual community that offers a higher level of acceptance and love, and a chance develop stronger, healthier passions to replace the sinful passions of our old nature. Underlying his message is the belief that we can't really change our sin nature-- all we can do is let Christ's love and the support of truly, non-judgementmal friends help us replace the bad with the good. This book challenges modern counseling in some ways-- but maybe it should be challenged. The author admits to idealism in his proposal of a spiritual community that gives us a place to be real... but it is an idealism toward which we must reach. For anyone frustrated with "churchianity" and desirous of true Christian community, this book is amazingly thought provoking.

I am in the habit of adding notes and references in the front of the books I read so I can return to specific passages when writing or researching issues. I can measure their impact on my thinking by the number of them, and the flyleaf of my copy of this book has little room left. A Psychologist by training, but more, a devoted follower of the Lamb who understands the disciple's journey into the shadow of the valley well, Dr. Crabb shares insights about the nature of the church that bring us back to consider what spiritual community means in real life terms. Larry's writing has the humility and the scars that come from being genuinely engaged in walking with God.

This is a timely book, combining an understanding of the intended intimacy of the church with the freshly awakening desire across Christendom for spiritual formation and direction in the church. In my notes I find definitions for things like: love; life and death; brokenness; mysticism; community; the church. He offers observations about what is lacking Psychology and in psychological theory, and he offers workable models for the church to develop the intimacy, love and community our Triune God intended in both our and the church's design.

If you are considering small groups, and wondering whether they should be evangelistic, or bible studies, or project based, Larry offers an alternative: building genuine community, intertwining lives in functional and useful ways that further our development and transformation. If you are working to develop an understanding our dual natures of flesh and His life within, Larry speaks clearly and usefully to these issues. Dr. Crabb's book is useful for an individual to study, giving us insights into deeper truths in practical and understandable ways. It is equally useful for a group to work through together in understanding the dynamics of community and in living together in ways that produce authentic change. But, most importantly, this is a book that speaks like the voice of a prophet to a floundering church, calling us back to a simple plan: community... I think this is the single most important book (outside the scriptures, of course) I've ever read. I can't make a stronger recommendation.

This book was really helpful to me. I have recently been through a difficult church situation, and it helped me to see that my experience is not the way it's supposed to work. The book encouraged me not to give up on relationship with other Christians. It's not going to be easy, but it's worth the effort. The book gave me something to shoot for in my life and relationships.

"The Safest Place on Earth" provides keen insight into our need to know and be known by others in a "spiritual community". Crabb brilliantly describes the beauty of this kind of connection with other and also adeptly outlines the many roadblocks which stand in the way of our entering into this type of community which is marked by "turning our souls toward one another". The book balances theory and theology with practical application. This book will certainly not do the work of community for you, but it will help to identify many of the issues and categories that will help you to get there. This book about Spiritual Community is a timely vision for the church in North America in an era when anonymity, consumerism, and individualism are closely guarded idols.

With Dr. Crabb's books, Connecting and Safest Place, you begin a new journey with him. He lets you know that he no longer regards himself as the expert, but rather a learner. One idea that we grasped in "Safest Place" has made a major impact on our lives and the lives of others with whom we are in relationship. That idea is this: sometimes we can get so down on ourselves because we still struggle with the old nature. We feel like we haven't grown or we should be "beyond" some things. He simply reminds us that we do have an old nature. But if we will learn to see the new nature in each of us and encourage that part, we can actually help each other live in our new nature more than in our old nature. It is time that the church learn to be a healing community, a real place where we truely build one another up in the Lord. This book will help us get there.

This is a great book which addresses something all of us long for and don't find often enough - a community of people who love us and care about us. Larry Crabb contends that we can only develop true community by allowing the Holy Spirit to direct and influence our interactions with each other.

If you're looking for formulae, a list of to-do's or prescibed answers, then this is not the book for you. But if you're willing to begin a journey to be a person who creates spiritual community around you, then this is a great place to start.

Several months ago, a group from our church began a small group together. We wanted it to be a place where we could be vulnerable and honest with each other and be supported and nourished in our spiritual growth. We chose this book as our first area of study. As we have struggled and discussed and debated the ideas Crabb presents, we have been contronted with our weaknesses and challenged and encouraged by a new vision of who we can be. Many of us have shared our deep struggles and very personal experiences as we have explored this book together. It has helped us develop trust and honesty with each other and I think we would all say (4 months later) that we now feel the group is a safe place for us.

I have found this book tremendously useful personally in creating better relationships and community around me. I think it's essential material for all authentic Christians to struggle with.

Take the plunge!!

I was excited to read Larry Crabb's concept of creating safe places for people to grow and develop into the creations God made them to be. Although I didn't agree with everything Crabb had to say, I think he has some very scriptural and Biblical principles at work here. This book is a call to Christian counselors and our Christian churches to become places where people grow...not where they can go and interact with their masks on. I found this book to be a breath of fresh air in a world where our churches have become a breeding ground as elitist clubs. As a Christian counselor in training, I found some things that will help me with my relationships now and for when I'm working with clients. Thank you Larry Crabb for having the courage to be a voice in the desert.

I just finished the book. It has stirred my heart. Larry Crabb has always been able to do that with me. I have read Finding God, Inside Out, and Connecting - all of which are excellent. But, this book, perhaps as the culmination of the previous, has offered a picture of what spiritual community, spiritual relationships could be. I found it riveting.

Larry has incredible perception into the human heart and that is the center of spiritual community. In this book, Crabb deals with what he calls the lower room and the Upper Room - what Paul would call the flesh and our new identity in Christ in Romans. Crabb goes on to share stories and principles of how we live and try to rearrange our lives in the lower room, which only increases our infatuation with the lower room. He sees that our job in spiritual community is to move from the lower room to the Upper Room - where we begin to see in clear view God's redemptive work in our life.

He also has an interesting section on managing our spiritual lives versus becoming mystics that I found absolutely engaging.

This book found me craving something, and trying to satisfy that craving in all the wrong places (mainly the lower room). And as Crabb put it, I felt like the solution was to rearrange the furniture in that room hoping to cure my problems. Instead, this book invited me to a place I hoped existed...not that going there eliminates the problems.

If you are searching for a compelling way to live your life in pursuit of Christ, and in the context of human relationships - then I highly recommend this book.

May it bring rest, reward, hunger, and a vision of what God could do in your life - as it has for me.