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Fostering Local Eucharistic Communities
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April 11, 2024
**The synopsis and table of contents of the book are included at the end of my review**
Fostering Local Eucharistic Communities (LECs) is a book that details what it means to be a healthy community in the Orthodox Church. It is based on research of early churches in the first few centuries as well as healthy church communities today. The characteristics of a healthy church are broken into eight essential attributes.
I really enjoyed reading this book, and was both challenged and encouraged by it. While it can be difficult to realize how far many of our communities are from what God intended us to be, many of us already feel that something is wrong yet don’t know what exactly, or where to start change. With this book we can begin to form a vision for what we should be, and figure out specific steps we need to take in different areas. I would encourage both clergy and lay people who are interested in what God intended the Church to be to read this. I personally am an introvert, and am neither a leader nor an influential person in my parish. However, this book has motivated me to take small steps towards helping my community become an LEC, such as bringing food to coffee hour (where we usually have little to no food) to encourage people to stay, talking to people I don’t know well, or vacuuming after church, and I plan to do even more outside my comfort zone. I am motivated to invest my time, money and energy into my small church community because, rather than a fruitless effort, it feels like I am slowly helping to create the kind of beautiful community that is written of in this book. My husband and I have also been explaining its contents to our priest and fellow parishioners and encouraging them to read it so that we can all have a shared vision.
The book was originally written as a doctoral thesis, but that should not discourage you. I would simply tell everyone to be aware that it’s an academic book, so don’t feel like you have to absorb everything the first time through. If you don’t have time for all the details right away, Chapter 7 is a summary of the biblical, historical and field research from the previous chapters along with an explanation of each of the eight attributes. Chapter 8 is a description of the author’s plan to implement these attributes in the communities of the Church of Albania, which is where he has worked as a missionary for the Orthodox Church of America since 1998. If you are someone who appreciates visuals, Chapter 5 contains charts of the data gathered from the field research of contemporary church communities.
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Synopsis
This study argues that the local Eucharistic community (LEC) is an essential unit of life in the Orthodox Church. The LEC is understood as the community of people who are bound together by weekly participation in the Divine Eucharist around the same altar, in which they are united to Christ and one another, and who choose to live in deep intentional community, growing in the life of Christ together, caring for one another, and witnessing to the world. The author presents a framework for the study and nurture of LECs based on eight attributes which are: Eucharistic life, community life, Christian formation, stewardship, governance, evangelism, philanthropy, and cultural incarnation.
To gain a deeper understanding of LECs, their life is studied in the first century with some attention to the trajectory of their later development. Field research in the United States provides contemporary experience to supplement the understanding of healthy LECs. This research is supplemented by study of Eucharistic ecclesiology, Orthodox missiology, and the Church Growth Movement to better understand how LECs should function and thrive in the twenty-first century. The new model of ministry presents a vision of healthyLECs as it has been developed in Albania and a practical plan for sharing this vision in other ecclesial contexts in the twenty-first century.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Abstract
Introduction
Part One: The Historical Foundation
Chapter 1: Eucharistic Life in the First Century and Beyond
Chapter 2: Community Life in the First Century and Beyond
Chapter 3: Christian Formation, Stewardship, and Governance in LECs of the First Century and Beyond
Part Two: The Contemporary Context
Chapter 5: Lessons from the Current Practices in the US — Field Research
Chapter 6: LECs in Eucharistic Ecclesiology, Orthodox Missiology, and the Church Growth Movement
Part Three: Practical Application
Chapter 7: The Attributes of Healthy Local Eucharistic Communities
Chapter 8: A Roadmap for Fostering LECs in Albania
Conclusions
Bibliography
Fostering Local Eucharistic Communities (LECs) is a book that details what it means to be a healthy community in the Orthodox Church. It is based on research of early churches in the first few centuries as well as healthy church communities today. The characteristics of a healthy church are broken into eight essential attributes.
I really enjoyed reading this book, and was both challenged and encouraged by it. While it can be difficult to realize how far many of our communities are from what God intended us to be, many of us already feel that something is wrong yet don’t know what exactly, or where to start change. With this book we can begin to form a vision for what we should be, and figure out specific steps we need to take in different areas. I would encourage both clergy and lay people who are interested in what God intended the Church to be to read this. I personally am an introvert, and am neither a leader nor an influential person in my parish. However, this book has motivated me to take small steps towards helping my community become an LEC, such as bringing food to coffee hour (where we usually have little to no food) to encourage people to stay, talking to people I don’t know well, or vacuuming after church, and I plan to do even more outside my comfort zone. I am motivated to invest my time, money and energy into my small church community because, rather than a fruitless effort, it feels like I am slowly helping to create the kind of beautiful community that is written of in this book. My husband and I have also been explaining its contents to our priest and fellow parishioners and encouraging them to read it so that we can all have a shared vision.
The book was originally written as a doctoral thesis, but that should not discourage you. I would simply tell everyone to be aware that it’s an academic book, so don’t feel like you have to absorb everything the first time through. If you don’t have time for all the details right away, Chapter 7 is a summary of the biblical, historical and field research from the previous chapters along with an explanation of each of the eight attributes. Chapter 8 is a description of the author’s plan to implement these attributes in the communities of the Church of Albania, which is where he has worked as a missionary for the Orthodox Church of America since 1998. If you are someone who appreciates visuals, Chapter 5 contains charts of the data gathered from the field research of contemporary church communities.
********
Synopsis
This study argues that the local Eucharistic community (LEC) is an essential unit of life in the Orthodox Church. The LEC is understood as the community of people who are bound together by weekly participation in the Divine Eucharist around the same altar, in which they are united to Christ and one another, and who choose to live in deep intentional community, growing in the life of Christ together, caring for one another, and witnessing to the world. The author presents a framework for the study and nurture of LECs based on eight attributes which are: Eucharistic life, community life, Christian formation, stewardship, governance, evangelism, philanthropy, and cultural incarnation.
To gain a deeper understanding of LECs, their life is studied in the first century with some attention to the trajectory of their later development. Field research in the United States provides contemporary experience to supplement the understanding of healthy LECs. This research is supplemented by study of Eucharistic ecclesiology, Orthodox missiology, and the Church Growth Movement to better understand how LECs should function and thrive in the twenty-first century. The new model of ministry presents a vision of healthyLECs as it has been developed in Albania and a practical plan for sharing this vision in other ecclesial contexts in the twenty-first century.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Abstract
Introduction
Part One: The Historical Foundation
Chapter 1: Eucharistic Life in the First Century and Beyond
Chapter 2: Community Life in the First Century and Beyond
Chapter 3: Christian Formation, Stewardship, and Governance in LECs of the First Century and Beyond
Part Two: The Contemporary Context
Chapter 5: Lessons from the Current Practices in the US — Field Research
Chapter 6: LECs in Eucharistic Ecclesiology, Orthodox Missiology, and the Church Growth Movement
Part Three: Practical Application
Chapter 7: The Attributes of Healthy Local Eucharistic Communities
Chapter 8: A Roadmap for Fostering LECs in Albania
Conclusions
Bibliography
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