Transforming any group of individuals into a cohesive community takes energy, passion, and desire. It also takes planning, strategy, and a process, and that is what author and consultant Peter Block offers here. Block’s discussion takes readers through an inductive process that includes topics such as what it means to belong, what community is, what community does, how community works, and even how physical meeting space can help or hinder cohesion and the formation of community. Block further defines leadership, addresses conflict, considers the importance of questions, reflects on hospitality, and discusses the role that small groups play in forming community. Block writes from a secular context, but congregational leaders from a variety of traditions will recognize themselves and their congregations and gain insight, methods, and inspiration for leading people from fragmentation to community.

Reviewed by Janet Hoover