Formativefriendships.org serves as a forum for anyone who is interested in understanding and encouraging the development of solid connections among believers in today’s churches. John Wesley described the Anglican congregations (as well as Dissenters) as “ropes of sand”–no real personal connections among the attenders; no evidence of spiritual community even among neighbors who had lived side-by-side for lifetimes.
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A word about me. I am Bill Dean, co-pastor (with my wife, Joan) of Zoar Community Church, and (my day job!) professor of European and world history at Olivet Nazarene University. I have written two books on the spiritual dynamics of God’s work in the world through the church. A Church at Risk: the Encroachment of Western Culture on the Church is a study of the book of Hebrews as a primary source for the challenges facing a first-century Hebrew Christian pastor. Relationships that Transform is a forthcoming book about the essential role of deliberate relationships as the foundation for spiritual growth.
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