Recent Reads: Thin Places by Jon Huckins

What the book's about: Thin Places by Jon Huckins explores six postures for creating and practicing missional community. Here, the word, "posture" is significant as it blends action with contemplative practices that teach dependence on the Spirit. 

Why I read this book: As a youth worker, I believe in the power of community and am constantly trying to learn how to better form and strengthen it.

My favorite quotes from the book:

- "We are to be missional people because we serve a missional God." 

- "Mission is the work of God that the church participates in, not the work of the church that we ask God to bless." 

- "It is easy to think we know God's will for our lives when we are trying to discern it from a purely individualistic perspective." 

- "When we submerge into our context, we see that the story we have been told to believe about our neighbors, politics, and economy is far from reality." 

- "The whole created order is designed to function in a rhythm of communal interdependence." 

- “The vast number of Christians in the West are terribly bored... Our faith has become so domesticated that followers of Jesus really don't know what it means to follow Jesus.”

- “The church ceases to be the church by definition when it is shaped around an organization rather than its members.”

- “Being sent isn't just the action we take, it's the posture we adopt in our everyday interactions.”

Thumbs up or thumbs down? Thumbs up!

Who I'd recommend this book for: Anyone interested in the formation of community would benefit from this book. In particular, I'd recommend it for church workers as well as for those interested in becoming part of an intentional community. The discussion questions found at the end of each question would also make this a great book to read and discuss in community.