Belong

We are saved not just into an individual relationship with Christ but into the gathered community of his church. In an age of extreme individualism and profound loneliness, Barnabas gives us a glimpse into the church’s purpose and beauty, her shared values and challenges, inviting us to take our place in something greater than ourselves: the communion of saints. Here is good help for all who long to belong. | Our local churches, despite their flaws and imperfections, are purposed by Jesus to be a taste of heaven on earth. With pastoral warmth and biblical wisdom, Barnabas paints a picture in these pages of what our experience in the church is meant to be. This book is deeply refreshing and grounded with helpful application. | In our time, when loneliness is at epidemic proportions, something proactive must be done. As Barnabas shows, the local church is the epicenter for belonging to be experienced in the richest, most life-giving and sustainable ways. I cannot recommend this book to you highly enough. | Most Christians really want to connect with and to serve their local congregations. They often just don’t know how or where to start. Barnabas Piper does away with hectoring or manipulation and offers accessible and wise counsel on how to find that kind of love and belonging within the community of Christ. | In an age of isolation, individualism, and loneliness, the church has a wonderful opportunity to remind people that they were made for community—made to belong to the family of God, the church. Belong is a book that can help Christians retrieve the priority of the local church. I am praying this book gets a wide reading. | Jesus is inviting us to truly belong to a church community full of humility, honesty, and honour. Part of the value of this book is that its author has experienced the pain of churches where belonging was hard and the attempt to belong left him weary and wary. Whether you are loving church life, scared of stepping through the doors of another church, or somewhere in between, this book will be valuable to you. | Barnabas Piper helpfully reminds us about what it really means to belong to a church family in a way that is full of heart and life. I highly recommend this book—it will challenge and inspire you to think differently about your church and love your church family more deeply and authentically. | This book is a welcome and needed vision for creating church cultures that warmly reflect the gospel. It is an encouragement for each of us to be the church we hope to be a part of—loving one another, encouraging one another, bearing with one another, and serving one another. | The church of Jesus Christ is designed by God to be a celebration of the miracle of belonging. Because of the grace of Jesus, we belong to God and to one another. In a way that I have never read before, Barnabas Piper not only defines that belonging but also helps us to understand how to live with one another in a way that always reflects that, by grace, we together belong to God | For too long, we have viewed church (whether consciously or not) as consumers. Barnabas provides a much-needed corrective to help us see and value what it means to belong. Here is wise counsel and radical yet biblical therapy for us all. | Barnabas Piper is on staff at Immanuel Nashville. He is also an author and speaker and the father of two daughters. He cohosts the Happy Rant podcast and blogs at BarnabasPiper.com.