a crucial difference between a crowd and a community. That is where a number of would-be models for twenty-first-century Christianity get it wrong, and that is one of the key themes of this book. For many churches, the main goal is to build a big crowd, and community is tacked onto the bargain (usually in the form of a small group), the way that medical benefits and vacation days are tacked onto a job offer. But while crowds come and go, true and enduring Christian community is a foretaste of heaven,