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In a time when the old answers about being church no longer work and new answers are not yet clear, this book offers a way forward to help congregations live more faithfully. It suggests three guiding images that help congregations both understand their current reality and deepen their engagement in the ministry to which God has called them.
List of contents
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
How to Read This Book
Final Thoughts Before We Begin
Chapter 1 - A Reality Check: Living in the In-Between
A New Thing
The End of Christendom
The Parable of the Sower
An In-Between Time
Chapter 2 - Possibilities for the Future: Discerning an Image of the Congregation
Discerning the Right Thing
Three Images
When the Images Combine
Remembering - Main Street Church
Letting Go - Trinity Church
Resurrecting - Faith Church
The Inevitability of Loss
Chapter 3 - Remembering: A New Way of Seeing What Was
Endings
Paradox
Addiction
Chapter 4 - Letting Go: Insights from Hospice
Chapter 5 - Resurrecting: Spirituality and Ethics Revisited
The Parable of the Yeast
A Tiny Part of the Whole
Big Effects
A Transforming/Corrupting Presence
A Time-Consuming Process of Change
Nurturing Spirituality
The Examen Prayer
The Rule of Life
Spiritual Direction
Claiming the Ethic of Jesus
Chapter 6 - A New Model of Leadership: Inwardly Directed and Outwardly Focused
A New Model of Leadership
Envision the Productive Community
Look Within
Embrace the Hypocritical Self
Transcend Fear
Embody a Vision of the New Community
Disturb the System
Surrender to the Emergent Process
Entice Through Moral Power
Strength, Sensitivity and Faith
Conclusion
Index
About the Authors
About the author
Jeffrey D. Jones is the author of a number of books on congregational life and leadership, including: Traveling Together: A Guide for Disciple-Forming Congregations (Alban) and Facing Decline, Finding Hope (Rowman and Littlefield). He has served as the pastor of three churches, the interim pastor of two churches, and twice as a national staff person for the American Baptist Board of Educational Ministries. He retired as the Director of Ministerial Studies and Associate Professor of Ministerial Leadership from Andover Newton in 2015.
David Fredrickson is a native Coloradan. He has served as the Assistant Rector to Trinity Church in Buckingham, Pennsylvania, Rector to the Church of the Good Shepherd in Wareham, Massachusetts, Rector to Christ Church Parish in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and is currently the Priest-in-Charge to Zion Episcopal Church in Manchester Center, Vermont.
