Have you ever wondered why your church and family relation-ships seem so fragmented? Or why every Sunday people you haven't seen before come to spend an hour in worship at your church-people whose hopes and needs remain a mystery to you? Or why the family in which you have invested so much time and effort and money seems always on the verge of falling apart?

According to the author, you are not alone. The reason? It is very difficult to sustain long-term relationships-that is, com-munity in the modern world. Belonging not only is an attempt to explain why this is so, but also offers counsel for those who wish it were otherwise.

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Two forms of community are discussed: the church (the "faithful community") and the family (the "intimate commu-nity"). Gaede argues that those wishing to develop genuine Christian communities of either kind will have very little success unless they are able to cope with the forces of "modernity." Such forces include the desire to move, the inclination to discard old relationships in favor of new ones, and the tendency to fashion communities around the values of efficiency and relevance. This book offers both a greater understanding of the power of these forces and some idea of how to deal with them more successfully.

The world we live in is increasingly filled with people who have no roots or dependable human relationships. It is a frightening phenomenon that demands Christian understanding and action. This book is dedicated to both.