Faith in Community

Brian Stiltner knows that the Christian faith is inherently communal: Jesus Christ saves us as a group. After carefully studying six diverse, vital congregations, Brian has written a compelling, research-driven, wise book for pastors and church leaders. He vividly shows how churches can be gifts of God to a culture suffering from great fragmentation, division, and vast loneliness. Here’s a practical, encouraging book that’s matters right now for those who are called to lead the church into the future – Will Willimon * Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry, Duke Divinity School, United Methodist Bishop, retired, author of The Church We Carry: Loss, Leadership, and the Future of Our Church *
Essential reading for Christians looking for ways to build community in their churches. Based on original field research, this accessible book offers a theologically rich why and a sociologically informed how for churches to become significant third spaces that nurture belonging, deepen engagement, and strengthen neighborhoods. – Julie Hanlon Rubio * author of Hope for Common Ground *
Stiltner gives us a critical argument for the role of the neighborhood congregation as a community builder. When the world feels as if it is coming apart, the antidote is to come together. A critical aspect of faith is to develop the practices of love for God and for neighbor. This is what congregations do. Worthy reading for both leaders and students of congregations, showing the important work for our congregations to do – GIl Rendle * author of Countercultural: Subversive Resistance and the Neighborhood Congregation *
So often in the church we focus on what we’ve lost instead of appreciating the treasure we still have. This practical book reminds us that the church is still one of the few places where people sit next to people they disagree with, to worship something other than themselves and serve the stranger before themselves. That unique community is a treasure churches should steward. – Lillian Daniel * author of Defrocked: Good News from a Bad Pastor for a Better Church *

Brian Stiltner is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Sacred Heart University, USA. He is the author of Toward Thriving Communities: Virtue Ethics as Social Ethics and Religion and the Common Good, and coauthor of Faith and Force: A Christian Debate about War. He has published articles and books chapters in Christian ethics and numerous posts at the “Go, Rebuild My House” Substack.

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