Just as addicts never outgrow their need for a 12 step group, we do not outgrow our need to be together in diverse community and face up to our condition as addicts of the culture, who have lived in isolation and fear. There is no limit to the benefit that can be derived from the practice of sharing our true Continue Reading

One of our temptations when we talk with others is to stay on the surface of ideas and theories, never taking the risk of sharing from the heart. So in this group we gently draw each other again and again to the heart. We challenge one another to move out of our heads and to go deep sea diving in Continue Reading

We understand the concern that to talk about spiritual things in an insensitive way can be off putting, creating a barrier of religiosity. However, we have found that most people are eager to talk about themselves and what really matters to them. When we have a conversation with someone new, we easily can say something simple like, “Tell me about Continue Reading

Finding those who are our so called “opposites,” and talking about spiritual things, can feel even more intimidating. Basically we get tripped up by fear. We fear seeming arrogant and disrespectful. We fear being ridiculed. We fear being swallowed up by the pain of seeing so directly into the dismal face of poverty or privilege. We fear being paralyzed by Continue Reading

The compelling desire to be with others in more authentic ways, ways that will foster diversity and reconciliation and help us to act for justice, often presses in on us long before we find others who share that desire. We can feel very alone. We long for something more, but don’t know how to find others who might be willing Continue Reading

The Church of the Saviour churches have always been open to diversity, Yet despite seeking welcoming ways to worship, pray, study and work together, most have not become fully diverse. We have had meaningful relationships with people of different races and economic classes, for example, and sometimes we also have been church members together, but generally we have not been Continue Reading

There aren’t a lot of rules for how we function in these groups, but the following patterns have guided our time together: We meet once a week for one hour. Leadership rotates so that all who desire to do so will have the opportunity to lead. The leader begins the session on time and facilitates the sharing, often beginning with Continue Reading

KEEP IT SIMPLE The greatest challenge for most of us who want to go deeper spiritually, and to do so in community, is to find ways that are simple enough to hold the complexity. Just as Jesus is a gate where the sheep can come in and go out and find pasture [John 10:7 9], we too want to be Continue Reading

The items in Authentic Church are lifted entirely from the Booklet, and my comments will be set apart with a different format, like this , for instance from p.10ff Some of us have loved the church for as long as we can remember. We have given ourselves fairly faithfully to seeking the risen Christ in community, and we see things Continue Reading