Chapter 11 Discussion Questions

Chapter 11:  Finding a Holy People

This chapter begins Part 3 of the book.  We have examined “The Thirsty Christian” (Chapters 1 – 5) and “The Living Water (Chapters 6 – 10), and we now move to “Satisfying the Thirst” (Chapters 11 – 15).

Chapter 11 proposes that our spiritual community, while it is not the well of living water itself, can help us “shape our identity closer and closer to the image of Jesus Christ.”

Barnes begins by discussing our “true” identity (who God created us to be in Christ), our story, and our “family” (both biological and our faith family).  Thoughts?

On page 160, Barnes says, “So, while the church can never satisfy our thirst to encounter God, it can nurture the thirst, point us to the thin stream that flows from heaven, and even remind us of who we are in Christ.”  Have you ever considered that the purpose of the church is to “remind us of who we are in Christ?”  How does that alter your vision of the “business” of the church?  Could this vision also “free us to finally enjoy the community for what it is rather than to despair over what it is not?”  (p. 160).

Despair over what the church is not can sometimes lead to “rabble-rousing.”  What do you think of Barnes’ point that God had a role for the rabble-rousers in scripture.  “He had a role even for them, which was ultimately to present his people with a choice – whether to trust God, or to listen to the voices that were making them anxious.”  (p. 161).

Barnes describes communion as a feast that unites all believers – a multicultural language.  And, he defines the community of believers (the neighborhood of God) as those in need of mercy, in essence, all of us.  What do these interpretations imply about our search for a holy community, a “Holy People?”