Welcome to Chapter One of our Summer Read in preparation for hosting Shane Claiborne at this fall’s diocesan convention! For each chapter we will post some quotes and questions—feel free to respond to those or add your own questions.

Claiborne says Christianity appears to be about the “dont’s” rather than the “do’s.” What are the “do’s” of Christianity as you understand them?

“I remain convinced to this day that if we continue to lose young people in the church, it won’t be because we made the gospel too hard but because we made it too easy. We will lose them not because the foosball table was broken or we didn't have the latest Xbox game in the youth room but because we didn't dare them to take Jesus seriously and connect the gospel to the world we live in.” How is your church daring young people to take Jesus seriously and connect the gospel to the world?

“I found that I was just as likely to meet God in the sewers of the ghetto as in the halls of academia. I learned more about God from the tears of homeless mothers than any systematic theology ever taught me.” What have you learned about God through relationships with people? Claiborne quotes Mother Teresa, “In the poor we meet Jesus in his most distressing disguises.” Where you have met Jesus in a distressing disguise?