The Lonely Crowd: Churches Dying Due To Friendlessness, by Mike Frost suggests that churches might be pretty bad at helping people find genuine friendships. Interactions can be friendly but superficial.
It is not only churches. People feeling that they have few or no friends is increasingly common in our societies.
Frost offers his reflections under four headings:
- Church people aren't good listeners
- Church people struggle to be vulnerable
- Church people need to be less busy
- The onus shouldn't be on the newcomer
It might well be that we can do much for the growth of our churches by encouraging deeper relationships and teaching members how to be friends. Some people are leaving churches because of the inability to make friends there. Could the church model something that is being lost in our world but we all crave?
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