The awareness that the churches shaped out of the European Reformations are in an advanced process of unraveling is becoming increasingly sensed by many. This book proposes a way of addressing this unraveling based on the experiences and knowledge of people who have always had to struggle with the unraveling of their own communities and worlds. It takes us outside the circular conversations of the Euro-tribal churches into dialogue with people who have been marginalized to see how they have learned to reenter their formative stories to discover ways of remaking themselves in the unraveling. The book then turns these discoveries into ways the churches can engage their own massive unraveling.

This book offers a historical assessment and balanced critique of contemporary church movements, especially in light of missional ecclesiology. An expert on Lesslie Newbigin and an expert on contemporary church models show how Newbigin's ideas have been developed and contextualized in three popular contemporary church movements: missional, emergent, and center church. In addition, the authors explain that some of Newbigin's insights have been neglected and need to be retrieved for the present day. This book calls for the recovery of the missionary nature of the church and commends church practices applicable to any congregation.

Exhausted with trying to “fix” the church? It’s time to turn in a new direction: back to the Holy Spirit. In this insightful book, internationally renowned scholar and leader Alan Roxburgh urges Christians to follow the Spirit into our neighborhoods, re-engage with the mission of God, and re-imagine the whole enterprise of church. Joining God, Remaking Church, and Changing the World can guide any church—large or small, suburban or urban, denomination-level or local parish — to become a vital center for spirituality and mission.

Following the work and presence of God’s Spirit into communities across North America, the authors find stories of people—ordinary, humble, and faithful people—in the Christian Reformed Church in North America who are sharing themselves with those they meet. We believe stories we tell reflect these questions: What is the Holy Spirit’s invitation to the church today and what is the implication for the future? Our answer is to go local, to look at what is set before us, to admit we are disconnected from our neighbors—the person right next door or the person in front of us. We realize we need to find ways to connect with them and stay put by remaining faithfully present. More broadly, the ministries we feature illustrate that the job of the church is to trust God and not to make things happen by ourselves. Don’t be afraid of the changes around you. Listen to the Spirit’s prodding. Embrace your place and love the people in the tangible, ordinariness of life. Inspired by an incarnational theology that emerges from an imaginative, missional reading of Luke 10, in which Jesus sends out disciples to every town and palace, the authors visit workers who labor in the harvest fields of the Lord’s uncommon, upside down kingdom. A kingdom that—at this point mostly under the radar—has already come.

Transforming Work offers a radical re-orientation of the nature and future of work and implications for mission. In conversation with David Bosch’s Transforming Mission and other global and ecumenical voices, 21 leaders offer their vision for transforming the world of work and revisioning work to offer a transforming gift to the world. Writing from biblical and historical perspectives, with case studies and cultural exegesis, they explore work and leisure, ethics and economics, technologies and Artificial Intelligence. It is time to discern where God is transforming work in our cities and farms, shops and classrooms, politics and agencies.

A joy-filled expedition into experiencing God’s majestic, everywhere presence. DNA, the Danube River, and deep-sea life. Knees and trees. The Swiss Alps, songbirds, and supernovas. God speaks though His creation. And you don’t have to be naturally gifted at biology, chemistry, or physics to be awakened to His wisdom and majesty. Pastor, teacher, and non-scientist John Van Sloten invites us to know God more deeply as we marvel at the complexities of His amazing creation. Knowing God through His written Word enables us to know Him more clearly through His creational Words. How does God speak through His creation, and what is He saying? Each chapter includes interviews with leading scientists and connects creation to its Creator. With the primary foundation that Jesus is the mediator of both salvation and creation, Van Sloten fields questions such as: Why are things beautiful and how can beautiful things be engaged? How does the doctrine of the Trinity teach us about the nature of tree branches and wound healing? What do the doctrines of creation, incarnation, and the resurrection tell us about phenomenon of supernovas? How do we engage God’s providence through knees and fossils? We were made to wonder. To marvel. To know and live in awe of God. God Speaks Science expands our hearts and minds so that we might delight in the wisdom, beauty, and awesome power of our triune God!

The wisdom of tribal peoples has often been overlooked, both within the church and outside of it. However as the ideologies of consumerism, free market individualism, and nationalism grow more and more dominant across the globe, with devastating implications for our planet’s shared future, it has become ever more urgent to make space for voices from the margins – voices offering alternative frameworks for understanding the nature of existence, spirituality, and what it means to be human. This book draws together contributors from diverse tribal and denominational backgrounds to reflect on the future of Christianity in Northeast India, a region rich in ancient myths, oral traditions, and a vibrant awareness of both the spiritual realm and the embeddedness of humans within creation. Joining a wider conversation regarding the integration of Christianity and primal traditions, the authors wrestle with crucial questions surrounding identity and the challenges of contextualizing the gospel in relation to their own languages, cultures, and traditions. Looking both backwards and forwards, they provide insight into the history of Christianity in tribal contexts, while exploring the vital significance of recovering and transmitting indigenous knowledge and the profound perspective it offers the church into the significance of Christ and his gospel.

Congregations today exist in an in-between, or liminal, time. The customary answers about what it means to be and do church and strategies for renewal based on those answers no longer work. But there is no certainty about the new answers. It is a time of searching—of letting go of the old and experimenting with the new. This means facing the reality of death, which may come as institutions die or as established ways are abandoned. This book addresses this reality while maintaining a constant focus on the Christian promise of resurrection. It offers three images that recognize the differing contexts of congregations and help them shape their future as they seek to discern God’s work in their midst. Congregations shaped by each of the three images (remembering, letting go, and resurrecting) have the potential to faithfully engage in God’s work in their setting. For each of the three there are suggestions for helping a congregation move toward an even more faithful expression of the image. The book includes Bible studies and other resources that congregations will find helpful in this process. Some congregations may continue in traditional ways, while others seek a new way of being church. But all can join in God’s work in their time and place with a new and deeper understanding of the ministry that is theirs. This book helps them do that. Because a different kind of leadership is needed the book offers an approach to leadership that is grounded in a spiritual process of inward reflection and outward involvement.

A unique introduction to the developing field of Theology and Qualitative Research In recent years, a growing number of scholars within the field of theological research have adopted qualitative empirical methods. The use of qualitative research is shaping the nature of theology and redefining what it means to be a theologian. Hence, contemporary scholars who are undertaking empirical fieldwork across a range of theological subdisciplines require authoritative guidance and well-developed frameworks of practice and theory. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Theology and Qualitative Research outlines the challenges and possibilities for theological research that engages with qualitative methods. It reflects more than 15 years of academic research within the Ecclesiology and Ethnography Network, and features an international group of scholars committed to the empirical and theological study of the Christian church. Edited by world-renowned experts, this unprecedented volume addresses the theological debates, methodological complexities, and future directions of this emerging field. Contributions from both established and emerging scholars describe key theoretical approaches, discuss how different empirical methods are used within theology, explore the links between qualitative researchand adjacent scholarly traditions, and more. The companion: Discusses how qualitative empirical work changes the practice of theology, enabling a disciplined attention to the lived social realities of Christian religion and what theologians do Introduces theoretical and methodological debates in the field, as well as central epistemological and ontological questions Presents different approaches to Theology and Qualitative research, highlighting important issues and developments in the last decades Explores how empirical insights are shaping areas such as liturgics, homiletics, youth ministry, and Christian education Includes perspectives from scholars working in disciplines other than theology The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Theology and Qualitative Research is essential reading for graduate students, postgraduates, PhD students, researchers, and scholars in Christian Ethics, Systematic Theology, Practical Theology, Contemporary Worship, and related disciplines such as Ecclesiology, Mission Studies, World Christianity, Pastoral Theology, Political Theology, Worship Studies, and all forms of contextual theology.

Learn how to "unravel the lie-knot!" All of us are products of our upbringing and experiences, and, whether we realize it or not, have come to believe things that aren't actually true. Those false beliefs hold us back. They are like recordings that constantly play in our minds, condemning us, accusing us, shaming us, and blaming us. Is it possible to silence these thoughts in our heads that have tied us in knots for so long? Can we ever find peace? Yes! The Bible promises we can be transformed by renewing our minds. In Unraveling the Lie-Knot, Sheryl Giesbrecht Turner offers encouragement and hope for those who are ready to search out the truth in the Bible. She equips you with practical ways to uncover and dispel lies, even those you may have believed since childhood. She shows how, with the Holy Spirit's help, you really can untangle knots of deception, discover the lies behind fears, dispel depression, and defeat the effects of trauma. Discover how to identify and unravel the lie-knots so that you can move forward and become a fruitful disciple of Jesus!