Heather Webb, Small Group Leadership as Spiritual Direction

I picked up this book to help me in my training efforts for the new congregation. Since finishing, major paradigm shifts have helped to form more of these ideas. I also wanted to read a book written by a woman. That's good for me. Webb doesn't prescribe a church-wide or church based programmatic approach. Instead, she develops various kinds of groups, models and describes the influences of postmodernity and spiritual direction on small group dynamics.

Here's some flak for your jacket:

Webb opens with a discussion of a clip from Dogma. I will be using this clip to ramp up the new congregation leadership team. Then she follows with:

p.22 "These characters ask the crucial question, 'Does the church do anything for us?' There is a sense that both Bethany and the Angel with the answer were yes."

p.23/4 "Gen-X-ers can hold two opposite concepts of something with equal validity, not either/or but both/and. Reality needn't be defined in black and white."

p.29 "Imagine life in the early church: offering all you've earned to the communal pot, living by a code of behavior that defies everything you've been taught. Community life demands that we live in ways that go against our human nature."

p.104 "...there is an increasing need for small groups to expand their reach and become places with no agenda but to draw people closer to God and each other."

At the conclusion of the book, Webb discusses 3 models of small groups. They are defined by being story, text or prayer centered. Each is different and each has great merits.