What is the nature and purpose of the church for a twenty-first-century world? What is the church's calling in an age of globalization? Twenty-one pastors and theologians in the Reformed tradition offer insightful perspectives by bringing into conversation the treasures of liturgical and missional theology. These authors see the church's essential character to be as worshipping-witnessing communities, gathered and sent by the triune God. Topics that are explored include the relationship between worship and mission, baptism and the Eucharist, the formative role of community, the catholicity and ecumenicity of the church, multiculturalism, and hymnody.
Missiologist and church planter JR Woodward offers a blueprint for the missional church--not small adjustments around the periphery of the infrastructure but a radical revisioning of how a church ought to look that entails changing how we think about leadership and what we expect out of discipleship.
Building on the works of David Bosch, Lesslie Newbigin and others, Ross Hastings delivers a comprehensive theology of mission founded on the trinitarian doctrine of God and a great optimism about the possible re-evangelization of the Western world.
Evangelicals, Simon Chan argues, are confused about the meaning and purpose of the church in part because they have an inadequate understanding of Christian worship. He calls evangelicals to develop a theology of worship that is grounded in a theology of the church. He guides the reader through worship practices and their significance for theology, spirituality and the renewal of evangelicalism in the postmodern era.
Missiology "A robust and practical theology that integrates worship and mission into a seamless whole." Anglican & Episcopal History "A very useful and insightful text. . . . A remarkable synthesis of most of the best insights liturgical scholars and missiologists have gained regarding the relationship between mission and liturgy over the last decades." George R. Hunsberger — Western Theological Seminary "Ruth Meyers brings a deep grasp of what's at stake in the rediscovery of mission as the essence of the church, together with a generous mastery of liturgical traditions, to provide vision for seeing these two dimensions of the church's life as one. . . . This is the handbook that should accompany every Christian community on its worshiping, witnessing journey." Stephen B. Bevans, SVD — Catholic Theological Union "A wonderful, faith-filled meditation on the missional heart of worship. . . . A new classic in liturgical studies and in missiology as well." Todd E. Johnson — Brehm Center, Fuller Theological Seminary "Ruth Meyers's approach to the issues surrounding worship and mission is spot-on. Instead of approaching worship from a missional slant, or mission from a liturgical perspective, she takes both topics back to their biblical and historical roots — the nature of the church. . . . In practical and insightful ways Meyers demonstrates how a church's ministry in the world and its regular offering of worship reinforce one another. Her careful, direct, evenhanded approach is a breath of fresh air to much of the current theological discourse." Taylor W. Burton-Edwards — Worship Resources, Discipleship Ministries of The United Methodist Church "Seminarians, pastors, deacons, and worship leaders seeking to understand, articulate, or imagine how the basic and most enduring structures of Christian worship `engage worshipers in the mission of God' will discover in these pages both Meyers's wise and challenging counsel and many wonderful companions for the journey." International Bulletin of Missionary Research "A helpful and timely new resource. . . . In Missional Worship Meyers does excellent work developing the notion that mission and worship are inseparably and integrally related." Anglican and Episcopal History "A very useful and insightful text, particularly for those just beginning to explore the field of liturgical studies. The book is a remarkable synthesis of most of the best insights liturgical scholars and missiologists have gained regarding the relationship between mission and liturgy over the last decades." Church Times "[Myers] deserves to be read, because we need to hear this message in all parts of the Church of England today."
How many ways can your church’s worship equip the congregation for its mission? Worship changes through the seasons, from Christmas, through Lent and Easter, and beyond. The way worship relates to your church’s mission should change, too. This book explores those seasonal changes by examining both worship and mission as aspects of union with Christ. Just as we are to follow Christ through the various stages of his life and work in worship during the church year, we can follow him in our mission through these same stages of his life and work.
Modern missional movements have often viewed the historic Christian traditions as too insular, focused on worship and the interior life of the church rather than evangelism and good works. Winfield Bevins argues that liturgy and sacramental life are in fact deeply missional and offer a holistic framework for everyday discipleship and mission.
Reggie McNeal's bestseller The Present Future is the definitive work on the "missional movement," i.e., the widespread movement among Protestant churches to be less inwardly focused and more oriented toward the culture and community around them. In that book he asked the tough questions that churches needed to entertain to begin to think about who they are and what they are doing; in Missional Renaissance, he shows them the three significant shifts in their thinking and behavior that they need to make that will allow leaders to chart a course toward being missional: (1) from an internal to an external focus, ending the church as exclusive social club model; (2) from running programs and ministries to developing people as its core activity; and (3) from professional leadership to leadership that is shared by everyone in the community. With in-depth discussions of the "what" and the "how" of transitioning to being a missional church, readers will be equipped to move into what McNeal sees as the most viable future for Christianity. For all those thousands of churches who are asking about what to do next after reading The Present Future, Missional Renaissance will provide the answer.
Jean-Jacques von Allmen’s work was animated by three key insights: the Church both learns and becomes what it truly is when it gathers to worship; worship tells the story of God’s salvation history and invites God’s people into it; and by doing so, the church offers the world both a stern warning and a hopeful promise. The Swiss Reformed pastor and professor is among the most admired liturgical theologians of the twentieth century, but his work is largely and lamentably unknown to most worship leaders. In Church at Church, Ron Rienstra provides an introduction to this important thinker. He offers methodological and biographical context and then explores von Allmen’s most generative insights concerning the church as it engages in its most foundational activity: worship. Viewed through the lens of the Nicene marks, Rienstra’s exploration yields the outlines of a ‘liturgical ecclesiology’, a way to help the church think more deeply about its identity and to help its leaders shape the worship they prepare and lead today.
What happens when two bishops known for their liturgical sensibilities travel to study alternative Christian communities on two continents? Bishops Mary Gray-Reeves and Michael Perham traveled throughout the U.S. and U.K. to study fresh expressions of church and identify the principles that link these new forms of worship and community. The Hospitality of God captures their practical and inspiring findings and builds a bridge between fresh new voices and the institutional church.
