Together: Community as a Means of Grace

by Larry Duggins

Community as a Means of Grace addresses the concept of community as an avenue to a deeper relationship with God. Using an ecumenical Wesleyan approach, Duggins explores the concept of "God as community" to conclude that bringing people together in almost any setting allows them to grow in God's image. He frames this idea using the historical concept of the "means of grace": the ordinary ways in which people encounter God.
Drawing heavily on the work of the Missional Wisdom Foundation, Duggins begins with a reflection on the community-building aspects of traditional church. He then uses storytelling to introduce four common forms of community through work, community through food, community through children's schools and activities, and community through shared recreational activities.
Together is intended to help Christian people embrace the freedom to experiment with alternative forms of Christian community. Duggins nudges the missional imagination of people who long for spiritual connection and growth, but for whom traditional church is not the answer. Using a "yes, and" approach, he shows that traditional church can empower and stand alongside new forms of community, each of which can act as a means of grace.

"We have a deep desire for community and a correspondingly deep thirst for grace. As Larry Duggins develops a practical theology grounded in scripture and Wesleyan tradition, he encourages us to become more faithful disciples of Jesus and to join God's transformative work in the world."
--Ken Carter, Resident Bishop, Florida Area, The United Methodist Church

"One of the most pressing needs for congregations today is to learn how to foster genuine community within the church for the sake of neighbors beyond the church. Together offers an accessible and compelling theological rationale and practical wisdom for the formation of community, within and beyond the traditional church. Ideal for a small group study, this book opens missional imagination in ways that are sure to help both established congregations and newly forming missional communities."
--Elaine A. Heath, Dean, Professor of Missional and Pastoral Theology, Duke Divinity School

Larry Duggins is a Leader and Executive Director of the Missional Wisdom Foundation, which experiments with and teaches about alternative Christian community. Duggins is an elder in full connection in the United Methodist Church.

100 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 22, 2017

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Missional is one of those plastic terms and it can mean anything depending on who's saying it (the way Emergent used to mean that people had couches and candles in their megachurch-GenX-service). So when I picked up Larry Duggins's Together: Community As a Means of Grace, I wasn't sure what I would get. I mean, I knew it was part of the "Missional Wisdom Library," and that Duggins was the Executive Director of the Missional Wisdom Foundation. I also knew that Duggins was an elder in the United Methodist Church. But I felt like these facts didn't tell me all that much. I hadn't heard of the Missional Wisdom Foundation and Methodists are all over the map.

What did Missional mean when Duggins said it? Was it just a strategy or a formula for outreach? Was it a "whole new way of ministry?" Did it just mean pub church and community gardens? Or was Duggins pointing to a more robust theological understanding of what it means to be missional?

Duggins does like community gardens but there is, indeed, rich theological reflection here. Duggins sets to work casting a vision in which to root mission. He does this through the concept of community.

In chapter 1, Duggins discusses the  perichoretic community of the Triune God—and the relational dance of God. Chapter 2 explores the nature of humanity. Duggins posits that humans were created with a need for community. Genesis 1:27 describes the mutual Divine image bearing of female and male persons(9), whereas Genesis 2 underscores how it was "not good" for man to be alone:

It is noteworthy that the first thing that God points out as "not good" is the lack of community, not original sin! God sees that humans need other humans to be "good" as God intended (10).

So, Duggins argues, community with other people is an integral part of what it means for us to be human.

In Chapter 3, tells the story of Grace— human fallenness (beginning in Genesis 3) and God's loving action and presence in effecting our deliverance (culminating in Jesus' life, death and resurrection). However, using a Wesleyan understanding of 'means of grace,' Duggins describes the ways Jesus lived in concert with God's grace in daily life, commending Christ's example to us (18-22).

At the close of chapter 3, Duggins describes  John Wesley's understanding of prudential "means of grace" as activities, that is activities that bring us deeper into communion with God's grace but "are not drawn directly from the life of Christ" (22). For Wesley, these were class and band meetings, love feasts, and covenant renewal movements. In chapter 4, Duggins digs deeper into Wesleyan's communal examples of prudential grace and suggests implications for mission today:

Imagine Christians joined with others in communities that are important to people of this day and age, living as followers of Christ ready to be the hands and feet of Christ in the lives of those who do not yet know how to express their "spiritual but not religious feelings. Christians sharing their stories and experiences with people who are truly their friends, not to push them into conversion or membership, but because, as a friend, they want to share what is important to them. Christian people who model love & inclusion in community. Christians who are willing to help others see the presence of Christ in their midst." (30-31)

In the remainder of the book, Duggins connects these theological understandings of community (community rooted in Trinity, the Imago-Dei, and Wesleyan Spirituality) and describes the variety of ways communities form today. Duggins doesn't indicate a particular strategy or format(so no push for pub-church in particular) but he gives examples of theological-rooted communities in: traditional church contexts, in workplace communities, in communities that are centered around food, children's schools or various affinity groups, and  he commends creative re-imagining discipleship and evangelism.

While I appreciated this latter part of the book, and Duggins's refusal to prescribe just one form of community but instead describe the variety and experience of communities he's known, for me, it is the theological visioning stuff at the front that I really liked. I found as I read on, I underlined less and less; yet, it is the latter half where we hear contemporary stories of missional community today and the practical outworking of theology.

This is a short book, less than 90 pages, without a lot of footnotes and extraneous references. It is accessible enough for lay leaders. This is the kind of book that a church leadership team or elder board could read together without feeling bogged down in anything too heady. While it starts with a Trinitarian, biblical, and theological reflections on community and means of grace, this is, in reality, for only 30 odd pages. The rest of the book gives practical examples of what this may look like in different contexts. This could be good fodder for discussion. I give this book four stars. - ★★★★

Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from SpeakEasy in exchange for my honest review.REVIEW FORTHCOMING

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ordinary Holiness Everywhere

Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from The Speakeasy in exchange for an unbiased review. As always, my opinions are my very own.

Author Larry Duggins is co-founder and Executive Director of the Missional Wisdom Foundation. Missional wisdom?! Missio / mittere = send. In the power of the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, God sends all of us out into the world to proclaim the gospeled good news. Wisdom = knowledge, discernment, insight. Everyone may be sent, but is everyone wise?

In the church we affirm God's grace frequently comes to us through tangible, earthbound, physical "means" rather than nebulous, free-floating spiritual currents. In the Reformation traditions we refer to (Preaching (and reading) of the) Word and Sacraments as ordinary means of grace. The Westminster Catechism describes sacraments as "sensible," or accessible via our five physical senses. Duggins writes Together from a Wesleyan perspective that distinguishes instituted and prudential means of grace. Instituted would refer to the dominical sacraments or ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper we celebrate because Jesus commanded or instituted them them; in addition, they employ stuff of creation, and are available to all people. John Wesley being the well-ordered, methodical guy he was, thought through and more-or-less codified many aspects of life you might call sacramental if not technically a sacrament—not far at all from Martin Luther's insistence we find God hidden yet apparent in, with, and under the commonest, most mundane activities and things that became a means or a vehicle of grace. From page 22: "...prudential means of grace includes activities and actions that lead to interactions with God's grace that are not directly attributable to examples from the life of Jesus." In the church we confess grace came to earth in a unique way through God's embodiment or incarnation in the human Jesus of Nazareth. By definition, Christianity is incarnational, celebrating God's presence on earth, in a body, in Jesus of Nazareth and also in the church he founded that bears his name.

Together leads to community that leads to God's presence and action in unique ways that otherwise would not happen. Community: "a group of people gathered together under some unifying principle or for some particular purpose" (page 28). The book's basic premise is look around, use your imagination and you'll discover ways grace, hope, and life are making inroads into previously unhappy and unpromising settings. Use your imagination! Your church, school, or other organization may be able to renovate and restore an unused room or space that in its turn and time will help restore and renovate lives. But as important as a place to meet can be, it's not only about physical locations. It's about wisely perceiving the needs to receive and needs to contribute of people in your midst. You get the idea! Together the book is packed with real-life ideas and examples the author knows have worked. It's short and not theologically overwhelming, so it even could help a church outsider realize how down to earth and real-world Christians and Christianity can be.

I often explain sacraments as models that help us recognize God's everyday activity in everyday lives and events. In the power of the Spirit of Pentecost, ideas in Larry Duggins' small book can help all of us – wise or not – become a part of community whose everyday, ordinary body together becomes holy in the world, for the world. That's incarnation! That's God with us!

[Craig Bergland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Larry Duggins has written a short but insightful book about different forms of community that are springing up in struggling Methodist churches across the country, largely through the efforts of the Missional Wisdom Foundation within that denomination. There aren't any suggestions in the book that you won't have heard of before, but there are interesting combinations of community being formed in these churches.

The promo material for the book mentions the author's "ecumenical Wesleyan perspective." To be honest, I'm not sure what that phrase means. I do know that the author spends quite a bit of time describing the many ways in which Wesleyans parse grace, which I found rather tedious - and which I doubt would have much relevance in ecumenical settings. Perhaps the phrase means that Wesleyans of every camp would share his perspective. If so, that's not the biggest audience in the world.

Duggins also spends quite a bit of time establishing the biblical argument for Trinity, at times stretching the evidence in my opinion. His point is that since God exists in community, community is a worthwhile endeavor for the church. Regardless of one's position on the Trinity, I believe that community as a positive in the church - and society - is a given. My point here is that while the first twenty-five to thirty percent of the book seems not to make progress toward a discussion of community, it is worth persevering. Also, while you may not find splitting grace like a hair in a forensics lab, your understanding of grace ultimately won't change the value of the author's discussion of community. This is a good read!


#together
#speakeasy

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Speakeasy in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.