It’s not finding cheap and reliable high speed internet. No, I spent two hours on that yesterday, and that’s still not the worst.

It’s not signing on to an electric company that literally pledges on their home page to fight EPA regulations.

It’s not finding a good co-op or farmer’s market.

We used shipping containers, so I don’t have to drive a truck to Columbus.

The part of moving that I really, really dislike is finding a new church.

It’s like crashing a party you haven’t been invited to. Sometimes you’ve dressed up when everyone else got the text about wearing flip flops and shorts. Sometimes you stick out like a red shirted communist at a Tea Party rally in your liberal Birkenstocks that cower before smartly polished leather shoes.

I’ve been on both sides of this. It’s natural to expect that a group of people will create a certain culture and group identity when they gather together. I think it’s natural to have a hard time breaking into such groups.

I still don’t like it.

However, the pay off is excellent. We visited exactly one church during our time in Connecticut, and after enduring two pretty horrible Sundays, we started meeting people, joined a small group, and developed some great friendships. As we grew in our church, I watched a bunch of people step forward to reach out to visitors. That gave me a lot of hope.

The hard part about visiting a church is that it forces you to consider what really matters most to you and what you’re willing to give up in order to be in a healthy community. One couple visited our church in Connecticut, and they left because we let women teach and don’t give an altar call each Sunday.

I scoffed at his closed-mindedness, but then I thought about our upcoming church hunt.

I really want to belong to a community that values the leadership and wisdom of women as God-intended equal partners with men.

I really don’t want to belong to a community that ends each service with drizzles of piano and an impassioned plea to flee the fires of hell and commit yourself to the Lord right this very moment because you are in danger of the fires of hell if you die tonight, yes, this very night… friend.

Hooray for Christian unity.

I’m both trusting God and nervous about this, which means I need to work on trusting God a bit more in this area.

All of this brings up questions for me about how the body of Christ works, where we draw our lines for unity, and the role of personalities and culture in our worship. I appreciate the diversity of traditions because in some ways they represent different ways of connecting with God. Simple church, contemporary music church, traditional church, and liturgical church all have their places.

Where will we end up? That is a question that I both want to avoid and desperately hope to answer.

I should first of all state that using my book for a Sunday school class or small group isn’t my idea alone. Here are a few reviews/endorsements:

"This is the ideal text for adult Sunday school classes and home discussion groups." -William Dyrness, Fuller Theological Seminary

“Cyzewski navigates hefty topics with care and, in the process, shows why our language about God must include a wide understanding of the world we inhabit. I would recommend the book to almost any member of my church.”- David Swanson in Leadership Magazine

The Offer…

I have a limited number of copies of Coffeehouse Theology available to send out to pastors and small group leaders who are willing to consider using it for a small group or Sunday School for a free 15-day review. My friends read the whole book in two hours, so you can just read it and send it back. No hard feelings—you just need to chip in $1.40 for media mail.

However, if you want to keep it, just send me a check for $10, which means you got a great deal on a $15 book with free shipping.

You can also pick up either of the book’s two discussion guides. The Bible Study Guide walks readers through the theological method presented in the book with a series of reflections on scripture. The Contemporary Issues Guide applies theology to many of today’s pressing issues.

NavPress offers bulk shipping for Coffeehouse Theology, The Bible Study Guide, and The Contemporary Issues Discussion Guide, so it should be a breeze to get a good deal on books for your class or group.

Sample chapters of each book are available on their respective pages at the NavPress web site.

The Bonus…

I wrote Coffeehouse Theology in order to start conversations, and so your class is welcome to chime in here on my blog while you’re processing the book, and to even drop me a question. We’ve tried out some interaction with classes, and anything more than a few questions is a bit much to handle. But so far as I’m able, I welcome interaction on my web site as I continue to develop the ideas presented in my books.

To Sign Up…

Drop me an e-mail at edcyzewski (at) gmail (dot) com with “Pastor/Small Group Offer” in the subject line. Include your mailing address and name. If I have enough copies, I’ll drop it in the mail for you pronto with a note telling you when the book is due back if you don’t want to cough up the ten bucks.

Happy Reading!