The urgent question for Christian mission in North America today has to do with churches and congregations and the crisis of their identity in the culture of modernity. According to Alan J. Roxburgh, the church has shifted from the center of culture to the margins. This text examines this shift and explores Victor Turner's work on liminality (a term describing the transition process that accompanies a change of state or social position).

Alan Hirsch's paradigm-shifting classic remains the definitive statement of the church as dynamic missional movement. The bestselling first edition ignited a conversation about how to harness the power of movements for the future growth of the church. In this major update, Hirsch shares significant insights gained along the way, provides fresh new examples of growing churches, and reflects on the last ten years of the missional movement. The new edition has been thoroughly updated and revised throughout and includes charts, diagrams, an expanded glossary of terms, new appendices, an index, a new foreword by Ed Stetzer, and a new afterword by Jeff Vanderstelt. Known for his innovative approach to mission, Hirsch is widely acknowledged as a thought leader and mission strategist for churches across the Western world. He considers The Forgotten Ways the guiding work to all of his other writings. The book explores the factors that come together to generate high-impact, exponentially explosive, spiritually vibrant Jesus movements in any time and context. This extensive update to Hirsch's influential work offers a system of six vital keys to movements that will continue shape the future of the missional movement for years to come.

The Missional Church and Denominations utilizes the missional church conversation as a lens for engaging an important dimension of church life in the United States -- denominations and denominationalism. Denominations have been studied from a wide variety of perspectives, including historical, sociological, and theological, but they have yet to be engaged in light of a missional church understanding. Here each essay helps to bring further clarity to the word "missional" and contributes to the ever-widening conversation. Contributors: Daniel R. Anderson Marion Wyvetta Bullock David G. Forney Wesley Granberg-Michaelson Todd Hobart Alan J. Roxburgh Kyle J. A. Small Craig Van Gelder Dwight Zscheile

"Church-going in most Western societies has declined significantly in the wake of the social and cultural changes that began in the 1960s. Does this mean that people in these societies are losing any religious dimension in their lives, or is it being expressed in other forms and places? This study begins by looking at comparative data on how church-going patterns have changed in five countries--Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand--examining reasons for the decline, how churches have responded to these changes, and why some churches have shown greater resilience. It then explores some of the particular challenges these changes pose for the future of churches in these societies and some of the responses that have been made, drawing on both sociological and theological insights. The conclusion is that, despite the loss of belonging, believing persists and religion continues to play a significant role in these societies, mediated in a variety of diffuse cultural forms. Cases illustrating these changes are largely drawn from New Zealand, which as the country most recently settled by Europeans has always been ""secular"" and thus provides helpful insights."

This volume deals with the varied forms of shame reflected in biblical, theological, psychological and anthropological sources. Although traditional theology and church practice concentrate on providing forgiveness for shameful behavior, recent scholarship has discovered the crucial relevance of social shame evoked by mental status, adversity, slavery, abuse, illness, grief and defeat. Anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists have discovered that unresolved social shame is related to racial and social prejudice, to bullying, crime, genocide, narcissism, post-traumatic stress and other forms of toxic behavior. Eleven leaders in this research participated in a conference on The Shame Factor, sponsored by St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Lincoln, NE in October 2010. Their essays explore the impact and the transformation of shame in a variety of arenas, comprising in this volume a unique and innovative resource for contemporary religion, therapy, ethics, and social analysis.

This Reader presents a diverse and ecumenical cross-section of ecclesiological statements from across the twenty centuries of the church's existence. It builds on the foundations of early Christian writings, illustrates significant medieval, reformation, and modern developments, and provides a representative look at the robust attention to ecclesiology that characterizes the contemporary period. This collection of readings offers an impressive overview of the multiple ways Christians have understood the church to be both the 'body of Christ' and, at the same time, an imperfect, social and historical institution, constantly subject to change, and reflective of the cultures in which it is found. This comprehensive survey of historical ecclesiologies is helpful in pointing readers to the remarkable number of images and metaphors that Christians have relied upon in describing the church and to the various tensions that have characterized reflection on the church as both united and diverse, community and institution, visible and invisible, triumphant and militant, global and local, one and many. Students, clergy and all interested in Christianity and the church will find this collection an invaluable resource.

Robert Muthiah believes a deepened theology of the priesthood of all believers is essential for answering the crucial questions of what shape the church should take in the twenty-first century, and how this theological query relates to the lived experiences of congregations. Emerging churches, which tend to develop vibrant practices of the priesthood of all believers, need to develop more fully their ecclesiological underpinnings, while historic churches, with a well-developed theology of the priesthood of all believers, need a renewed vigor to allow this theology to shape their congregational lives. With recourse to relevant New Testament texts and theological conversations, The Priesthood of All Believers in the Twenty-First Cenutry argues for a fresh understanding and embodiment of the priesthood of all believers by setting ecclesiology, postmodern culture, and congregational practices in dialogue. Elements of the discussion include ecumenical and Free church perspectives, Trinitarian correspondence, postmodern social structures, the relevance of Alasdair McIntyre's social practices for congregations, and forms of congregational leadership.

Western societies are experiencing a series of disorientating culture shifts. Uncertain where we are heading, observers use "post" words to signal that familiar landmarks are disappearing, but we cannot yet discern the shape of what is emerging. One of the most significant shifts, "post-Christendom," raises many questions about the mission and role of the church in this strange new world. What does it mean to be one of many minorities in a culture that the church no longer dominates? How do followers of Jesus engage in mission from the margins? What do we bring with us as precious resources from the fading Christendom era, and what do we lay down as baggage that will weigh us down on our journey into post-Christendom? Post-Christendom identifies the challenges and opportunities of this unsettling but exciting time. Stuart Murray presents an overview of the formation and development of the Christendom system, examines the legacies this has left, and highlights the questions that the Christian community needs to consider in this period of cultural transition.

Missiology permeated with theological reflection. This volume is the culmination of Van Engen’s teachings, but takes us to an even deeper level. Since mission is first and foremost God’s mission, theological reflection must be permeated by missiological understanding and our missiology must be permeated with theological reflection. Mission theology is an activity of the Church of Jesus Christ seeking to understand more deeply why, how, when, where, and wherefore the followers of Jesus may participate in God’s mission, in God’s world.

Appropriate Christianity consists of 28 chapters by 18 authors approaching contextualization in three dimensions: truth, allegiance and spiritual power. Over the years, there have been quite a number of helpful discussions of the contextualization of theological truth. Though we have been helped greatly by them, it is high time we began to deal also with allegiance and spiritual power, two additional dimensions that Jesus considered of great importance. Any adequate and appropriate treatment of the contextualization of biblical Christianity needs to deal with all three of these "crucial dimensions." For allegiance to Christ is the basis for all we do that makes us Christian, and Jesus was very much into spiritual power. If we are to be truly biblical, we must deal also with these areas. This book is not a festschrift even though it is dedicated to Dr. Dean S. Gilliland, who joined the faculty of Fuller's School of Intercultural Studies in 1977 and has since been developing an emphasis on teaching and research concerning contextualized theology. This is a new textbook aimed at expanding our understanding of contextualization and better enabling us to effectively and appropriately communicate biblical Christianity.