As we enter a Community of Faith for the first time, we are naturally drawn to a shared spirituality. It may be a congregation, synagogue, mosque, or temple. It is shared spiritually of the people at prayer which attracts us and draws us to unite with others in prayer. There are three shared stands of any Community of Faith: their shared faith tradition, the culture of the community, and the personalities of the members.
This book examines the elements of tradition, culture, and personal temperament to determine how the three become spiritually integrated at the moment of prayer. The conclusion is that through an explicit assessment of these three elements, members of the faith community can enrich their personal spiritual life, resulting in spiritual growth and can ultimately revitalize the spiritual prayer life of the community of faith.
The books is a spiritual intervention of a Presbyterian congregation in Central New York in the 1980s. I'm grateful for the prayer group that committed there Wednesday nights during 1986. This is their story of how they were able to revitalize the spiritual life of a 150-year-old three-hundred-member Presbyterian congregation.