This page includes the video, audio, and text resources mentioned in the Study Guide. We also envision this page being a living document. As you encounter new resources that are useful to your study group, please pass along your recommendations. We’ll add some of those resources to this page too!
The Characteristics of a Good Conversation
We suggest beginning the first session by collectively identifying the characteristics of a good conversation: vulnerability, confidentiality, active listening, assuming the best of each other, and so on. Then craft a set of “agreements” that participants will make with one another. For example, John’s church has developed a list of 13 agreements over several years of embracing conversation as a formative practice. These agreements are often read out loud, and they are always open to revision. They are:
- We will embody the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control
- We will practice empathy
- We will seek to understand above being understood
- We will wear a thick skin so others may express their authentic thoughts and feelings
- We will actively listen in love
- We will be prepared to agree to disagree if necessary
- We will try not to ramble
- We will not play the role of know-it-all
- We will look for opportunities to find common ground
- We will acknowledge Christ’s presence among us and in each one of us
- We will lay down the need to persuade
- We will try not to be defensive, nor will we posture ourselves for the offense
- We will not be afraid of silence
Study Guide Resources
Session 1. A Theological Vision for Slow Church
Facilitator Prep
Carl Honoré, “In Praise of Slowness” (TED Talk)
David Fitch, “A Slow Church Ecclesiology” (audio)
Welcome
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, “Trust in the Slow Work of God” (poem)
Session 2. Terroir: Taste and See
Facilitator Prep
Blog Post: David Fitch’s alternative criteria for measuring church success
Alan Roxburgh, “Why Join God in the Neighborhood?” (video)
Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens, and Dwight Friesen, “The New Parish Movement” (short video series)
Welcome
Wendell Berry, “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” (poem)
Session 3. Stability: Fidelity to People and Place
Facilitator Prep
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, “The Wisdom of Stability for Churches” (video)
“What Are the Instruments of Good Works?,” The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter IV
Welcome
Wendell Berry, “A Poem on Hope” (text). Berry reading “A Poem on Hope” on Moyers & Company (video)
Session 4. Patience: Entering into the Suffering of Others
Facilitator Prep
Kahn Academy, “Crash Course World History: The Industrial Revolution” (video)
Renovaré, “The Jesus Way Conference Preview” (video)
Welcome
Over the Rhine, “All I Need is Everything” (song)
Session 5. Wholeness: The Reconciliation of All Things
Facilitator Prep
Howard A. Snyder, preface and introduction, Salvation Means Creation Healed
Jo Bailey Wells, “On the Psalms of Lament and Resources for Healing” (video)
Parker Palmer on Clearness Committees (video)
Welcome
Liberty Hyde Bailey, “Brotherhood” (poem)
Session 6. Work: Cooperating with God’s Reconciling Mission
Facilitator Prep
Christianity Today, This Is Our City (short video series)
Leadership Journal, Redeeming Work Conferences (short video series)
Session 7. Sabbath: The Rhythm of Reconciliation
Facilitator Prep
Eugene Peterson, “Prayer Time,” Working the Angles
Norman Wirzba, “A Sabbath Way to Lead”
Wendell Berry, This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems (book)
Welcome
Wendell Berry, “I go among trees and sit still” (poem)
Closing Thought
Andy Crouch, “Why Should I Observe the Sabbath?” (video)
Session 8. Abundance: The Economy of Creation
Facilitator Prep
Walter Brueggemann, “The Liturgy of Abundance, the Myth of Scarcity”
William T. Cavanaugh, “When Enough Is Enough” (Sojourners article, unfortunately behind a paywall)
Christine Pohl, “An Economy of Gratitude and Hospitality” (audio)
Session 9. Gratitude: Receiving the Good Gifts of God
Facilitator Prep
David Steindl-Rast, “Want to Be Happy? Be Grateful” (video)
Tim Soerens, “Gratitude as Resistance: An Ancient Idea for Our Collective Anxiety”
Jim Diers, The Seven Principles of Asset-Based Community Development (video)
Introduction to Appreciative Inquiry (video)
Welcome
Mary Oliver, “Messenger” (poem)
Session 10. Hospitality: Generously Sharing God’s Abundance
Facilitator Prep
Interview with Christine Pohl, “Grace Enters with the Stranger” (video/text)
Elizabeth Newman, Untamed Hospitality (book)
Jean Vanier, “Belonging” (video)
Session 11. Dinner Table Conversation as a Way of Being Church
Facilitator Prep
Michael Pollan, Cooked (pp. 7-10)
St. Lydia’s Dinner Church (video)
Dan Merica, “Washington Gridlock Linked to Social Funk” (CNN article)
John Howard Yoder, “Disciples Break Bread Together,” Body Politics (book)
Welcome
Joy Harjo, “Perhaps the World Ends Here” (poem)