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Community is a place of belonging, a place where people are earthed and find their identity. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Community is a place of belonging, a place where people are earthed and find their identity. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you have not read Community and Growth, cancel your next weeekend and get down to it. If living with other people is part of your life - or you want it to be - you have to read this book.
It comes not from a management guru but the founder of L'Arche, a style of living that brings together people of all abilities and disabilities in communities all over the world. Coming from a philosophical and military French-Canadian background, Jean Vanier began his new way not with a book or a focus group but the experience of living with two adult men with learning disabilities in the French countryside. From them and from his Christian prayer life he fostered a new outlook. In L'Arche communities there was to be equality of esteeem and a common awareness of our shared broken humanity. Each person was to help in the 'repair' of each other.
Community and Growth is not just about L'Arche communities. It is about the mystery of being yourself with people you love and hate, knowing yourself as a person you both love and hate. There is no starry romanticism about the community life.
Read it slowly. If you want to complete it in that weekend you might have to cancel your sleep. It's not a long book but it's a meditation, a conversation which waits page by page for your response.
If you never live with a community or with another person even after you've read it, you will will live better with yourself.
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Despite its dry title, this is one of the most illuminating books I've ever read. Quite simply, it changed my outlook completely in a number of ways with its combination of compassionate psychological insight and its prophetic vision for the renewal of the church through the pain of the marginalised.
Considering the vast amount of mumbo-jumbo pedalled in certain "self-help" books I could mention, I've never come across anybody who writes about human nature - the different stages of a person's life, our weakness and tendency to fail, our own intrinsic "deep wounds" which need to be healed, and the need to set our lives together as human beings on the twin foundations of forgiveness and celebration - with such clarity. Jean Vanier's recognition of the hurt in human society and his vision that that hurt can only be healed through listening, ministering to and respecting the most vulnerable, the most marginalised, those on the fringes of our communities, is nothing short of prophetic. He builds this vision, of course, on his own very deep faith as a Roman Catholic Christian - but please don't let that deter you from reading this book if you happen not to share his particular flavour of faith. This is a man with something to teach the world. Respect!
Considering the vast amount of mumbo-jumbo pedalled in certain "self-help" books I could mention, I've never come across anybody who writes about human nature - the different stages of a person's life, our weakness and tendency to fail, our own intrinsic "deep wounds" which need to be healed, and the need to set our lives together as human beings on the twin foundations of forgiveness and celebration - with such clarity. Jean Vanier's recognition of the hurt in human society and his vision that that hurt can only be healed through listening, ministering to and respecting the most vulnerable, the most marginalised, those on the fringes of our communities, is nothing short of prophetic. He builds this vision, of course, on his own very deep faith as a Roman Catholic Christian - but please don't let that deter you from reading this book if you happen not to share his particular flavour of faith. This is a man with something to teach the world. Respect!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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10 reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
A Rich Resource for the Christian Community
9 May 2000
Format:Paperback
Jean Vanier's Community and Growth sheds such light on the topic of community. The richness flows from years of keen observation, experience, reflection, and prayer on this issue. Vanier has lived and breathed community, not just studied it. Humility and grace flow from each page. Vanier's servant leadership in the l'Arche communities is a wonderful living witness to the world of what Christian love looks like fleshed out. A real strength in this book is Vanier's insight into human nature. Even as Christians we are a mixture of light and darkness. But God's grace shines through when we accept others as they are. Yet at the same time, the community beckons each individual member to grow more Christlike. This book teaches us how to live in any kind of community: the home, church, small group, or any gathering. Vanier writes that a true community "provides a sense of belonging and an orientation of life to a common goal and common witness" (p.10). With such clarity and perception Vanier paints a vivid picture of community for us: the importance of unity, forgiveness, mission, selflessness, communication, celebration, humility, and respect for authority. Community and Growth helps us along the journey of "life together." There are some books that are to be read once. And there are others to be read and reread. This book invites us to return to it over and over--like an old friend.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Exhortative and Realistic Look at Community Life
17 July 2002
Format:Paperback
The profound wisdom in this book is born out of a lifetime of growth in the context of Christian community with the poor that Jean Vanier has been immersed in for almost 40 years. This book is not only interested in giving structural and personal tips for creating a healthy and God-centered community; it actually is like Jean Vanier's manifesto in terms of his paradigm of why community life is important and how God teaches special and beautiful things in the context of communities. He is such an effective writer. He is able to exhort the reader to want to pursue community life, but without being overly idealistic and ignoring the many complex difficulties that arise. Jean exhorts the reader to pursue community life not because it will be easy and always meet all our needs, but because it brings tremendous growth and because God's love and calling are bigger than the problems that come up in community. This is the best book I have ever read on community, and I will likely read it again.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Excellent Christian Community Text
1 Jun 2002
Format:Paperback
Vanier takes an in-depth look at community life and living through his experiences with the L'Arche community in France.
This Biblically-based book offers excellent insights, tips, rules and suggestions for how to build a healthy community.
The book is a wonderful primer for anyone considering the possibility of living in Christian community.
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