The Book That Launched a Movement The first installment of Brian D. McLaren's trilogy recounts a lively and intimate conversation between fictional characters Pastor Dan Poole and his daughter's high-school science teacher, Neil Oliver. They reflect together about faith, doubt, reason, mission, leadership, and spiritual practice in the emerging postmodern world. A New Kind of Christian offers a tale of hope and spiritual renewal for those who thought they had to give up on faith, God, and church.
There is no shortage of books these days on new ways of "doing church." New church models have been both warmly embraced and roundly criticized. What are church leaders and others concerned about the state of the church to make of all this? Does the Bible prescribe a standard model for doing church? Or is there freedom within certain guidelines? In A New Kind of Church, respected church consultant Aubrey Malphurs addresses these important questions and suggests that there is room for new ways of doing ministry while being true to Scripture. In the process, he offers a theological and interpretive framework for evaluating any church model, new or old. He also offers suggestions for implementing change in the local church.
There's a growing desire among believers to reach beyond the walls of their churches to impact communities for God. But when the average church size hovers around 150 members and the problems of even midsized cities seem insurmountable, how can we hope to make a difference? A New Kind of Big tells the inspiring story of how Perimeter Church in suburban Atlanta started a partnership called Unite! with other area churches in order to increase its reach in a community that desperately needed God's light and aid. This partnership has grown to a network of nearly 150 churches that are bringing kingdom transformation to Atlanta. For instance, on just one weekend in 2007, 6,000 volunteers from over 60 churches in metro Atlanta gathered to work on 250 service projects inside the ten-mile radius around Perimeter Church. Thirty welcome baskets were delivered to refugees, a dozen homes were repaired, a thousand Bibles were given away, 750 "encourage a teacher" gift bags were distributed. And that's not all: volunteers orchestrated 20 block parties in low-income apartment communities and 65 neighborhood food drives that collected 25,000 pounds of food. Chip Sweney shows Christian leaders how they too can discover the power of this "new kind of big" to pool their resources, energy, and time to minister to their communities, no matter how long or short their membership rolls.
What is the overarching storyline of the Bible? Is God violent? What is the Gospel? Can we find a way to address sexuality without fighting about it? At the opening of the twenty-first century, Christianity in the West is more fractured and beleaguered than ever. Groundbreaking author Brian McLaren suggests that if we are to get beyond doctrinal statements towards the life to the full that Jesus promised us, we need new paradigms for thinking and believing - and he invites us on a radical quest for a new kind of faith. Using ten key questions, McLaren boldly proposes what a future Christianity could look like. Radical yet orthodox, outspoken yet generous. This is a wise, compassionate book for all who are looking for an authentic, loving faith.
The latest clarion call in the never-ending cavalcade of "what's new" in the evangelical world is the confident assertion from some quarters that the church needs to embrace "postmodernism" if it is going to engage postmoderns effectively. Pastors trying to break down the often indigestible subject matter of postmodernism into bite-size chunks in order to equip their people to engage it, and teachers who are aiming at giving their students a working knowledge of the way postmodernism is impacting the church will find a good deal of help from Smith. -J. Ligon Duncan III, Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Scott Smith and I agree on a lot. We share a deep commitment to Jesus Christ, a love of the Bible, and a passion for the church. We also agree that we're currently living in a liminal time, and it's those "boundary times" when people look most closely at the beliefs that underlie their practices. So, we've all got some things to figure out right now, including what we can really know and the certainty with which we can state our claims in a pluralistic society. I appreciate Scott's voice in this conversation. He is a careful reader of my work, and he writes with a gracious and generous tone. Interlocutors like Scott will be a helpful challenge to all of us in the "emerging church." I consider him a friendly critic and a brother in Christ. -Tony Jones, author of Postmodern Youth Ministry and National Director, Emergent Scott Smith is uniquely suited to enter the Emergent conversation with this helpful volume. Not only is he an analytic philosopher with a razor-sharp mind who has specialized in analyzing postmodernistic views on the relationship between language and the world, but he is also a man who cares for the lost, loves the church, and has an ability to communicate complex truths to people in the pew. -Justin Taylor, Executive Editor, Desiring God Every leader in the new Emergent Movement will want to read this fascinating book. They simply will not find a more engaging, knowledgeable, balanced, and kind treatment of their concerns, ideas, and practices. -Craig J. Hazen, Professor of Comparative Religion, Biola University Scott Smith's study challenges us to take seriously the truth claim of the gospel both in how we proclaim it in words and in how we manifest it in our personal and community lives. -Gary Inrig, Senior Pastor, Trinity Church, Redlands, California
You probably have a short list of people who impacted you during your childhood and teenage years. When those individuals intersected with your world, they became a new kind of leader for you. They were not new in the sense that they had never led anything before or they were radically different from other leaders. They were new because … their influence gave you a new direction. their belief in you gave you a new sense of worth. they showed up at a new phase of your life, and their faith helped you solidify your faith in a new and authentic way. If someone showed up for you, then the question is, “How will you show up for someone else?” A New Kind of Leader, by Reggie Joiner, explores seven beliefs and practical applications that will cause you to reimagine how you influence the next generation. Because when you hold the door open for a kid, you hold the door open for the future.
Starting a church from scratch? Start here! Launch offers specific strategies for beginning a church with no members, no money, and no staff. Readers get clear, practical how-to strategies for quickly raising funds, creating a team, planning services, effective evangelism, and rapidly developing a growing membership. Specific advice is included for reaching that often difficult-to-target demographic, the 20- to 40-year-old. Now thoroughly revised and expanded to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of church planting.
A New Kind of Apologist, edited by Sean McDowell and with contributions from more than 20 leading apologists, is the go-to resource for effectively defending the Christian faith in our changing culture. In it you'll discover: important topics often ignored by apologists, such as transgender issues, religious freedom, and the intersection of economics and apologetics a new kind of apologetics that is relational, gracious, and holistic interviews with both seasoned apologists and skeptics, providing insights into how to do apologetics effectively in today's culture A New Kind of Apologist addresses the latest issues, including "Connecting Apologetics to the Heart" "Teaching Apologetics to the Next Generation" "Apologetics in our Sexually Broken Culture" "Apologetics and Islam" "Apologetics and Religious Freedom" and adopts fresh strategies for reaching those who are outside the church with the truth of the gospel.
Biblical scholar Robert Wall and pastoral leader Anthony Robinson here join forces to bring the Acts of the Apostles forward to our time as a resource for congregational renewal and transformation.Featuring both careful exegetical study and exciting contemporary exposition, the fifteen chapters of Called to Be Church each first interpret the text of Acts as Scripture and then engage Acts for today's church. The book dives into many of the most vexing issues faced by the church then and now -- such issues as conflict resolution, pluralism and multiculturalism, sexuality, money, church and state, the role of the Holy Spirit, and more.Enhanced by study questions at the end of each chapter, Called to Be Church will lend itself especially well to small-group study within congregations. Pastors, lay readers, students, and ordinary believers alike will find the book helpful and inspiring.
Written by church consultant Will Mancini expert on a new kind of visioning process to help churches develop a stunningly unique model of ministry that leads to redemptive movement. He guides churches away from an internal focus to emphasize participation in their community and surrounding culture. In this important book, Mancini offers an approach for rethinking what it means to lead with clarity as a visionary. Mancini explains that each church has a culture that reflects its particular values, thoughts, attitudes, and actions and shows how church leaders can unlock their church's individual DNA and unleash their congregation's one-of-a-kind potential.
