Call to Commitment : The Story of the Church of the Saviour, Washington, D.C.

by Elizabeth O'Connor

Book by O'Connor, Elizabeth

Genres: Nonfiction

205 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1975

About the author

Elizabeth O'Connor worked for the ecumenical Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C. since 1953 and directed its residence and support group for elderly low-income persons.

Miss O'Connor wrote a number of books about church renewal and community service. The first was "Call to Commitment," describing the founding and development of Church of the Savior, which works toward racial integration through small groups.

Miss O'Connor began and facilitated the Compassion Group counseling program at the church, where she was also a lay leader, a teacher and a workshop leader.

She was founder in 1983 of Sarah's Circle, a program for the elderly in Adams-Morgan. The residential facility has 34 apartments and a community center serving 200 people. Miss O'Connor originated the idea and raised money for the facilities. Miss O'Connor was born in New Jersey and raised in the Bronx, N.Y. She attended New York University and the New School for Social Research. She did publicity work for the company that produced "America's Town Meeting of the Air" for radio and worked for the American Bankers Association before moving to Washington in 1949.

Miss O'Connor, who was a public speaker and leader of retreats, was given an honorary doctorate from Virginia Theological Seminary.

Reviews

[Joey]

Amazing book of Christian communal living! I want and need to read this book every year to remember the price one must pay to obtain genuine Christian community. I encourage anyone who may be interested to read this book.

[Bill Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the classic book about the life of the Church of the Saviour, based in Washington, DC. Published in 1963, which was still relatively early in the life of the Church. However, the basic principles remain the same.

The book gives the history, approach, characteristics, and information about some of the work in the community that has been an outgrowth of the Church. Because the Church is in many ways different in how it operates from most churches, this book has long been used by those seeking insight on having a deeper church with more impact. The root of this is that all members are disciples doing ministry. There is no laity.

It is an interesting and challenging read. It reports that faithfulness can be met by what seem to be miracles. It does not downplay how hard the work of a disciple is, and the challenges a true church faces that is filled with essentially ordinary people with their own weaknesses and eccentricities.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in deeper Christian life in community. If you can, I would recommend you supplement the reading of this book with a visit to the Church of the Saviour as it exists today in 8 member faith communities and dozens of missions.

[Steve Penner · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a snapshot it time. It tells the story of one of the first post-WWII church plants. Church of the Savior became a groundbreaking church in Washington, D.C. as it sought to have a totally committed community that would do ministry through their work, through missions groups, through ministries targeted to various needs. It demanded high levels of commitment and rigorous disciplines. One of its ministries was the Potters House which was one of the first coffee house ministries after which many were later modeled. I think I visited it when I was in Washington for a semester, but the memory is vague. The book was written almost 60 years ago and describes a time almost 75 years old. Much has changed in the intervening years. Not sure how helpful their story is. Might be time to write some new stories for the 21st century.