Joseph R. Myers > Quotes

“Yet the four spaces are not an assembly line for growing community.”
― Joseph R. Myers, The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups (Emergent Ys

“+   Small groups are not necessarily the most significant way to help people grow in relationship to God and to one another. +   People connect in all four spaces, not in just one or two. +   Community happens spontaneously. +   We can facilitate environments that help people connect.”
― Joseph R. Myers, The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups (Emergent Ys

“Many belonged to Jesus in different spaces. The Bible mentions the multitudes, a room full, a crowd of seventy, twelve apostles, the inner circle of Peter, James, and John. All experienced community with Jesus.”
― Joseph R. Myers, The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups (Emergent Ys

“People may want anonymity, but they do not want to be strangers.”
― Joseph R. Myers, The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups (Emergent Ys

“To effectively create a front porch experience, there cannot be any expectations that the group”
― Joseph R. Myers, The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups (Emergent Ys

“would, should, or could move from social space into a different relational space.”
― Joseph R. Myers, The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups (Emergent Ys

“Let people move themselves. Don’t insist on doing it for them.”
― Joseph R. Myers, The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups (Emergent Ys

“How do we help with this dating relationship? One way may be to provide the appropriate space for dating. In days gone by, the primary space for dating was the front porch. This is because it provided a space that was far enough away from the rest of the family that the couple could get to know one another. Yet it was close enough to the family that the relationship was kept in check. It is also true that the front porch provided a space where the neighbors could see but could not interrupt. This median space was an appropriate space to date.”
― Joseph R. Myers, The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups (Emergent Ys

“In other words, the servants may not know the difference between wheat and weeds. The servants are told that the decision will be made at the harvest.”
― Joseph R. Myers, The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups (Emergent Ys

“It is simply not true that people who belong only in public space are “on the fringe.” Nor is it true that we somehow need to get them to move “closer” to get them to be committed.”
― Joseph R. Myers, The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups (Emergent Ys

“As Kennon Callahan so aptly states, “only you can grow you.”6”
― Joseph R. Myers, The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups (Emergent Ys

“I wish for a front porch. I am not alone. In our time people have a hunger for a significant “median space.” This may arise from the recent history of minimizing the importance of these relationships. Median spaces are the spaces that include our social and personal connections.”
― Joseph R. Myers, The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups (Emergent Ys