The Good and Beautiful Community: Following the Spirit, Extending Grace, Demonstrating Love

by James Bryan Smith

Publisher:

IVP Formatio

, 2010

Overview

In this third book in the Apprentice Series, James Bryan Smith helps us know how to live in relationship with others as apprentices of Jesus. “Apprentices of Jesus are not part-time do-gooders,” he writes, “They live in continuous contact with the kingdom of God, and are constantly men and women in whom Christ dwells. They do not sometimes tell the truth, sometimes live sacrificially or sometimes forgive. There are myriad opportunities for us to impact the world in which we live.” Yet many times we’ve gotten it wrong, tending to emphasize personal faith over social justice or vice versa. In these pages Jim Smith shows us how to bring spiritual formation and community engagement together, and then once again offers spiritual practices that root new, true narratives about God and the world in our souls. His insight and humility as a fellow learner with us will lead us to live in authentic ways as a good and beautiful community of Christ-followers, shining the light of the Spirit into every relationship.

Contents

Top Highlights

“The community exists to shape and guide my soul. The community has a right to expect certain behavior from me, and can provide the encouragement and accountability I need.” (Page 129)

“The problem comes when the most important consideration, the dominant desire and the main focus of a community is its own success. Just as an individual whose whole life is focused on meeting his or her own needs becomes narcissistic, self-centered, ineffective and ultimately unhappy, so also communities can become so focused on themselves that they lose their souls.” (Page 68)

“Christ-followers do not have exclusive rights to the virtues. The difference is in how and why we live this way. We do so because we are following the example of Jesus, our teacher, and are being led by the Holy Spirit, our strength and comforter. And we are living in the strong and sustaining kingdom of God. We have from the very beginning.” (Page 28)

“If you do not look, act, worship or believe as I do, but your heart beats in love for Jesus, then regardless of our differences, we can and must have fellowship with one another.” (Page 89)

“But the key is that identity comes before behavior” (Page 52)

Product Details

• Title: The Good and Beautiful Community: Following the Spirit, Extending Grace, Demonstrating Love
• Author: James Bryan Smith
• Series: The Apprentice Series
• Publisher: IVP Formatio
• Print Publication Date: 2010
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Communities › Religious aspects--Christianity; Christian life
• ISBNs: 9780830861255, 9780830835331, 0830835334, 0830861254
• Resource ID: LLS:GDBTFLCMMNTYFLL
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-05-03T00:53:39Z

About James Bryan Smith

James Bryan Smith is the author of The Good and Beautiful God and the Apprentice series. He earned his MDiv at Yale and his DMin at Fuller and is a theology professor at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. He also serves as the director of the Apprentice Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation at Friends University. A founding member of Richard J. Foster's spiritual renewal ministry, Renovaré, Smith serves as a teaching pastor at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church. He is the editor of A Spiritual Formation Workbook and Devotional Classics (with Richard Foster), and the author of Embracing the Love of God, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven, and Room of Marvels. His most recent books are The Magnificent Story and The Magnificent Journey.