Reaction; From Civil Rights to Megachurches (Part 2)
The birth of a great community was the basis of this next section and there are some valuable lessons to take away from it. Community isn’t a given, its formed and created through passion, connection, and determination. Rick Warren is the founder of one of the largest megachurches in America and it became that way through big and small acts of community. As Warren states, “You have this big crowd to remind you why you’re doing this in the first place, and a small group of close friends to help on how to be faithful”(98). This goes along with strong and weak ties, as mentioned earlier in the text, that strong ties keep you faithful and weak ties keep you motivated. Being in small group, with your strong tied people, give you a sense of passion and togetherness. Being in apart of a big group though, implements the weak ties which keep you motivated and peer pressured into being apart of what you are doing. This is similar to Epstein’s social cohesion method, in that it accomplishes the same goal. Epstein maintains, “[S]ocial cohesion- the tendency of people to talk openly with one another and form trusted relationships”(116). Both Epstein and Duhigg accomplish the same end goal, but with two different ways of achieving it. The formation of community has a multitude of ways to complete it.