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A Vision for how we become God's church now for God's intended future. Picture a forest full of strong, old-growth trees with bright new saplings dotting the gaps between. This is one vision for the church we are becoming. A church ecosystem where established churches nurture new congregations, even congregations that look quite different. Ken Carter writes of this rich ecosystem with Michael Adam Beck, showing how the Methodist Church can be old and new, traditional, and unconventional. More importantly, they demonstrate why this mixed ecology is necessary and biblical. The book is practical and immediately useful. The chapters are short and pithy. The authors use frameworks, diagrams, metaphors, and lists throughout the book. This material provides the reader with 'handles' to grab onto so that they can digest the ideas and see how they work. Readers will begin to see their challenges in a new light. They'll learn to shift their thinking away from disillusionment (the desert), toward innovation and hope (the gardens). Pastors and others will be equipped to do the work required to become adaptive leaders and to lead the UMC into a new life.
About the author
Michael Adam Beck is the Director of Fresh Expressions for The United Methodist Church and a lecturer and program director at several seminaries, including the Fresh Expressions House of Studies at United Theological Seminary. He is senior pastor of St. Mark's UMC in Ocala, FL, and has served as co-pastor with his wife Jill, directing addiction recovery programs, a jail ministry, food pantry, and racial justice movements. He is the author of several books, including
Doing Justice Together and
A Field Guide to Methodist Fresh Expressions.
