Currents: In Search of Spiritual Community
A converstation with Carmen Renee Berry
October 1, 2003
Carmen Renee Berry wants to help those who, like her, once dismissed the church in cynicsm, but are now reconsidering it in their search for spiritual community. In The Unauthorized Guide to Choosing a Church (Brazos, 2003), she offers an easy-to-use, sometimes irreverent, hitchhiker's guide to the mottled landscape of American Christianity. She examines some 30 denominations, describing in simple terms each tradition's heritage and habits so that the curious can "sort through the liturgy, lingo, and lunacy" of choosing a church. When you were distanced from the church, what prompted your return? A good friend committed suicide. Though he attended church, he had grown cynical. I shared his attitude, but his death moved me from feeling cool and clever in my cynicism to admitting I have failings. I didn't want to be spiritually isolated like my friend. Over several months I purposely developed relationships with people of faith. A phrase in my mind changed me: "You've been living in doubt and visiting your faith; it's time to live in your faith and visit your doubts." You wrote that you felt compelled back to "spiritual community." What's the difference between that and "church"? A spiritual community is a place where fallible people find relationships that are accepting and encourage them to grow. Not all churches do that. But many churches, through small groups, ministry teams, recovery groups, and so on, do contain these spiritual communities. I was active in a church of 2,000, but only because I found spiritual community in a smaller subgroup. I was on a team that ministered during our Sunday night contemporary service. We arrived early, set up, prayed with the band members, and afterwards prayed with attenders. By working on ...
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