Joining God, Remaking Church, and Changing the World : The New Shape of the Church in Our Time(Paperback) - 2016 Edition

by Alan J. Roxburgh

Exhausted with trying to fix the church? It s time to turn in a new 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. Distills the best of mission wisdom for laity and clergy today Roxburgh is a leading voice shaping church life ecumenically and globallyAlan Roxburgh offers deep hope and concrete steps forward for churches struggling with life in a post-Christian culture. By entering more deeply into the stories of the Bible, our own stories, and the lives of our neighbors, we join God s life in the world. This is one of the most helpful books I have read, full of clear analysis and practical wisdom. Dwight Zscheile, associate professor of congregational mission and leadership at Luther Seminary and author of People of the Way and The Agile ChurchJoining God invites you to embark on the journey you always wanted to take. In this book you will Alan Roxburgh is unafraid to admit the unraveling of what we ve been and calls us to move into new places. The Spirit is going ahead of us into our neighborhoods. Ancient/ The answer isn t flashy promotions but deeper discipleship and community. When we dare to move outside our walls, we ll find work to do and our calling renewed. Philip Clayton, scholar, activist and author of Transforming Christian Theology Drawing on his years of experience with missional church theology and practice, Roxburgh outlines our attempts to end church decline and opens up fresh What if the unraveling of the church is God s way of leading us out of bondage to American culture into God s new Exodus? What if God is inviting us to shift our focus and to discern and join God s presence and work in our neighborhoods? This book outlines practical steps congregations can embrace to experiment with this new/old way of living the Gospel locally. Engaging these practices will not be easy. And learning from God and neighbors how to participate in local missional experiments might actually transform both congregations and society. Don t just read this book gather a group to experiment with this way in practice! Gordon Scruton, Retired Bishop of the Diocese of Western MassachusettsDrawing on his work as a consultant, researcher, sociologist and teacher, Roxburgh invites congregations to build bridges between their churches and their neighborhoods. He outlines a way for congregations to reclaim their apostolic roots, a process that is rooted in scripture and grounded in prayer. His is a challenge to be faithful to the Gospel and to reap the benefits of commitment and creativity. Mark Beckwith, Bishop of the Diocese of Newark"

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction, Christian, Christianity

Paperback

First published July 1, 2015

About the author

Alan Roxburgh is a pastor, teacher, writer and consultant with more than 30 years experience in church leadership, consulting and seminary education. Alan has pastored congregations in a small town, the suburbs, the re-development of a downtown urban church and the planting of other congregations. He has directed an urban training center and served as a seminary professor and the director of a center for mission and evangelism. Alan teaches as an adjunct professor in seminaries in the USA, Australia and Europe. In addition to his books listed here on Amazon, Alan was also a member of the writing team that authored "Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America".

Through The Missional Network, Alan leads conferences, seminars and consultations with denominations, congregations and seminaries across North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the UK. Alan consults with these groups in the areas of leadership for missional transformation and innovating missional change across denominational systems. Along with the team at TMN, he provides practical tools and resources for leaders of church systems and local congregations.

When not traveling or writing, Alan enjoys mountain biking, hiking, cooking and hanging out with Jane and their five grandchildren as well as drinking great coffee in the Pacific North West.

Reviews

[Cameron Roxburgh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never stopped thinking that my uncle has the best insight into the whole missional movement. He has written extensively on it and of course was part of the original GOCN. This book is worth the price for the first 55 pages alone. His understanding of where God is leading the church is always ahead of where we are at... and I have not found many examples where he has been off base.

Let me strongly urge you to read the first half of this book, and of course that will propel you through the second half which is filled with practical steps to becoming a church for the next age.

[Seth Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished my second read through this fantastic book in preparation for a day-long listening retreat with our church Session. I feel excited by the invitation to practicing a life together with our congregation that is grounded in the faith that God is out ahead of us in the neighborhood, acting and calling us to come along. I feel hopeful that we can step into some very simple practices and begin to pick up the "scent" for how we're being called to embody the Good News in the years to come as a church.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this slim volume, Alan J. Roxburgh seeks to reorient churches away from the default to "consistently make the church the subject and object of practically all our attention and energy." He first shares what he calls the Great Unraveling as the socio-cultural-religious changes of the 1960s unfolded and churches developed for another time were fraying, stretched, and torn. He writes, "People are yearning to believe in something, but the churches have little power to capture their attention. In broad brush strokes he shows how the church reacted with calls for renewal from the Charismatic Movement to Missional Church efforts, but all were misguided in placing the church as an institution in need of tweaking to get back to its "normative location at the center of society." He says that none of this is what the Spirit seems to be up to.

Instead, he charts five practices to join God in the neighborhood through listening, discerning, experimenting, reflecting, and deciding. The course he charts is designed to end up with highly contextual results rather than a one size fits all solution. The book is a quick read and offers a helpful outline for how to do the work. I found it most helpful for de-centering clergy and the church to center being the Body of Christ on what God is already doing.

[Sagely · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Roxburgh's JGRCCW for a DMin course (taught by the author). This is an incredibly practical book, with an engaging first section followed by a second section that offers a roadmap for experimenting in your congregation.

This reads as "leaflet" theology. It does not fend off every counterargument, it does not chase down every implication. I many ways, I wish it would. I'd like to see this proposal developed more fully (yet in the "leaflet" format--I'd like to have my cake and eat it too).

I'll forego a full outline of the text. Instead I'll encourage you to order a (relatively inexpensive) copy for yourself.

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little, encouraging primer on ways that Christians can join God in what He is already doing at work in our local communities. If you're like me, you're one of those Christians that can get too caught up in the culture wars and who thinks they need to have an extensive arsenal of rhetoric and persuasion to combat the New Atheists, the "spiritual, but not religious," and gender revisionists. Alan J. Roxburgh reminds us that we can gently follow the way of Jesus and become missional "field researchers" who attentively observe what is going on in our neighbourhoods. We can join community groups dedicated to gardening or bird-watching, we can participate in book clubs and soup kitchens, we can chat with our neighbours on our walks and invite them into our homes. Roxburgh makes the "other" an opportunity rather than an adversary. This is a good reminder. This brief book contains helpful suggestions for how committed and thoughtful laity can be on mission outside the walls of the church building and the bureaucracy of the clergy (Christians with a strong sense of ecclesiology will no doubt grimace at Roxburgh's move from "ecclesiocentrism" to "God-centered" mission).

[Fran McHugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Church in North America Cannot Continue (As It Is)

Coming from a fundamentalist evangelical background, I had some issues with language (Eucharist for example). The book is clearly written for church leaders and comes from a top-down corporate ecclesiastical perspective.
That said, the recognition of where the Church in North America stands today and where God may be leading is worth considering. My mind and heart were continually drawn back to “Experiencing God”, an older similar program directed to individual members of the body.

[Diane Perrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring and certainly challenging. We did this with a group and it inspired good conversation and desire to move outside into the neighborhood.

Inspiring and certainly challenging. We did this with a group and it inspired good conversation and desire to move outside into the neighborhood.

[Trey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roxburgh has a neat idea of making the church more relevant in her neighborhood. The key is getting the neighborhood to talk with you so that you can listen and discern what God is actually doing in the neighborhood around you. I am interested in seeing if this works for my congregation and it's setting.

[Linda Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent insights!

As a pastor of 37 years, I think Alan has hit the nail on the head. The second section is filled with excellent exercises and strategies. Board and Sunday school classes would benefit greatly, if they are serious about changing the direction of their ministry.

[Cherie Konyha Greene]

Very worthy ideas. I liked his emphasis on trying to see what God is already doing instead of thinking we have to do it all ourselves. I was hoping for more specifics, however, about implementing the principles in the book.

[Elliott Foss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Training

New info to me on reaching Millennials. I hope to put hands and feet to what I read. Check it out!

[Chasen Robbins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful and practical steps on how to create a more incarnational, resilient, and ultimately start seeing where the spirit is leading church.

[Patrick Funston · Rating 5 out of 5]

A re-read and a good one. One of the best and most challenging books on the future of the church and the perils of continuing to manage and “fix” our way out of an inevitable decline.

[Brandi Diamond]

Practical and helpful.

[Bryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Roxburgh's basic premise that we should stop trying to build the church, stop trying to make it more attractive to young people, and start being the church - out there in the neighborhood.

However, the author seems like a liberal Christian who needs a few good conservative friends. A couple of examples:

After quoting some interesting statistics about the decline of church attendance since the 60s, Roxburgh dismisses mainline denominations' drift toward liberal secularism as a cause. It's not because we are embracing the culture more, he says, even though every denomination that has drifted this way has declined dramatically. And he dismisses the growth of conservative congregations by saying that they aren't attracting new believers, it's just that believers are shifting from one type of church to another. But, they are still growing, because they talk about Jesus. And I'm not sure it's true that the conservative churches aren't attracting new believers.

He also talks about "Dwelling in the Word" as if it is a new concept that he has coined a phrase for. But actually, people have been doing this for millennia. Perhaps it is new for a congregation that hasn't focused much on the Bible for a few generations, or where the people leave Bible reading to "the professionals", but if you join a BSF group (that's Bible Study Fellowship, and there are chapters everywhere) you will be dwelling in the Word.

I have several more bones to pick with this book, but I think the bottom line is this:
Christian congregations exist as places for believers to come together every week to be together, to worship God, and to re-root ourselves in the truth of His love, SO THAT we can be sent back out into our neighborhoods to love our neighbors. To do this well, I need to be learning about God, Father Son & Holy Spirit - not ethics, not morals, not social justice, not cultural issues, and not politics.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let's give it one star for how I really felt and two stars for good intentions. Net: 1.5.

A book for Sunday School class, suggested by the minister, who also led the class, while maintaining that he had not read the book -- just reading along with us. Book says churches and "church" unraveling, i.e., failing, and thus something new is needed -- "going lightly into the neighborhood, being with people, not doing 'for' people." Book spends first half making the case, then second half telling how to "go lightly," but in such sketchiness that it's hard to take seriously. And conclusion is that the effort can't be clergy-led. Guess the minister really hadn't read the book.

So, can you say "waste of time"?

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I cannot see any other place on this earth from which the fresh future of God's remaking of the world will emerge, except from congregations. . . There is no other way."

This is brief and up-to-date treatment on the missional church by one of its leading proponents and thought leaders, Alan Roxburgh.

[Becca Feldhacker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating. Concise but packed full of history and critique as well as ideas (little holy experiments) for joining with God in what the author poses - in a Jonah-like, thought-experiment kind of way - as a purposeful unraveling of the American church.