Community: The Structure of Belonging

This book has become a staple in my life and in my work as a coach and community leader. What I love most about this book is that it translates and transcends personal transformation and gets into how to transform a community of people.This is a book about powerfully creating ownership amongst a group of people. I keep revisiting the book because it a) translates the views I have accumulated regarding power, gifts, inclusion, belonging, and leadership from an individual perspective into what the application of that would look like when leading our communities.Heads up: the book can be dense at times. I listed on audio and had to relisten to sections - not because of poor quality, but because I really wanted to capture and absorb what was said. As I'm writing this, I'm actually realizing that it isn't dense, it's full of radically different perspectives that cause my to pause to truly digest.I revisit the practical approaches often to create spaces of transformation and change. Most communities, gatherings, and leaders in my world start from a different fundamental vision of who to affect change together - this book helps ground me in what creates true inclusion and empowerment amongst individuals.I have gifted this this book over 10 times, and I'll continue to do so for any client and leader who willing to approach things differently to create a future distinct from the past.I can honestly say without exaggeration that this has been one of the most influential books I have read and I get excited with the new insights I gain each time I read it. Mainly because, it's an actionable book - so each time I come back, I've grown in my leadership and in shaping my community through the conversations and approaches suggested here.Buy it, Read it, share it, and then Read it again. It's worth it.

I believe this book is a must-read for those of us who work to transform community:It gives us a common language for talking about what makes community transformation different from human service/government planning and programs.It integrates many important strands of transformation thinking, making transformation feel more accessible.It helps us see what transformation looks like and connects that vision to concrete practice.Community: The Structure of Belonging is divided into two sections. The first is titled The Fabric of Community and is for me what makes this book so important. In this section Peter provides the "why" and the "what" of community transformation. (Those of us who normally skip straight to the "how" should read Peter's previous book, The Answer to How is Yes.) In this section, we learn to not continue repeating the program, system, service problem solving that keeps us from really restoring community. We learn what transformation is, what it means to be a citizen. If we really get the message of this section, we start to BE community transformer, not just DO community building.The second section is The Alchemy of Belonging. This is the tool kit for doing community transformation. Convening, invitation, small groups, forming the questions, holding the conversations of possibility, ownership, dissent commitment and gifts are covered here. This section expands the information that has been available on Peter's website that was developed and used in Cincinnati by A Small Group (as in Margaret Mead's axiom, "Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. In fact it is the only thing that ever has.")In the back are two extra gifts: Book at a Glance, a 10-page sentence outline of the entire book, and Role Models and Resources, which expands the concept of an annotated bibliography and offers countless opportunities for further reading and learning.The gift of this book is a strong set of principles and usable instructions for restoring community. The challenge is to our willingness to stop what we are doing and learn what will lead us to the communities we desire.

In the world today people speak of work, social media, gym, sporting, communities. All the while not realizing that they are missing the essence of community and are falling further into isolationism. This is a great read to combat that, bring about transformation to communities and spiritual, emotional, and physical care to individuals.

This is a wonderful book. It is a very thourough handling of community (simply, people being together and interacting in a meaningful way), and not only the need for it in society, but also how to get it and strengthen it. It can be a little technical at times- he could do a better job “putting the cookies on the bottom shelf”, but it is well worth the read. He also discusses a rich selection of resources that influenced him, for anyone who wants to go deeper. I may yet do that.I would particularly recommend this book for pastors. I strongly feel every pastor should read this. Church should be a community, not an event, and to put it bluntly, the wonderful picture this author paints of what community should look like is only possible in the Church, and the Church has a responsibility to live into that.

Community: the structure of belonging is a great resource for organizations interested in building community. A sense of community is the core of a strong organization. In a day and age where overload is the norm, time and commitment is rare and valuable. Individuals will not give of their time and commitment easily. The sense of belonging is key to engaging organizational members. This is particularly true of organizations that rely on engaged and active members to meet their goals, fulfill their purpose and grow their membership. This book is an essential resource for organizational survival and thriving. The book I ordered was a hard bound edition that was advertised as good. I just fact this edition was in near new condition. That is great because I plan on using this book as road map in building our organization. The hard bound edition will last longer and take more use/abuse. The price for this used edition was lower than a new paper bound version. This was a great value.

This was a very well presented argument for building community in all sorts of situations.

Listened to audiobook first. But wanted to review key concepts and summary of research. Some underlying values are Christian based and are not well substantiated, however it offers a good synthesis of existing research and a valuable lens for collaboratuve change.