Here’s a great post from the Christianity Today blogsite entitled The Brutal ‘Burbs: how the suburban lifestyle undermines our mission, about the challenges of living in the burbs and genuinely connecting with people.

I think a lot of people see the burbs as the ‘easy’ option for church and mission, but while people may be happy to bring their kids to church for a bit of religion and might like a pleasant Sunday morning with other (apparently) nice people, actually arcing up authentic discipleship is another matter altogether.

Here’s the lead in:

A surge of new books have hit store shelves about the challenges facing followers of Christ who live in the suburbs. Many voices are beginning to say that the lifestyle of the affluent suburbanite, while heralded for 50 years as the fulfillment of the American dream, may actually be detrimental to the Christian life and mission. In this post David Fitch, a pastor and professor in suburban Chicago, and a regular contributor to Out of Ur, addresses the difficulty of practicing the biblical discipline of hospitality in the isolation of the ‘burbs.

Hmmm… how could it be that the ‘American Dream’ or the Oz dream for that matter hasn’t delivered?… It should have worked…