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Gardens in the Desert: How the Adaptive Church Can Lead a Whole New Life
Your church can thrive in this strange new world!
Many church people and leaders feel like exiles in their own land. We are facing tremendous challenges. And, just as for those who came before us, the challenges are also opportunities. If we adapt to our new environment, as people and as the body of Christ.
Gardens in the Desert offers local and denominational church leaders a practical, inspired, scripture-rooted vision for how we can do this—how we can become God’s church now for God’s intended future.
Michael Adam Beck and Ken Carter draw from Jeremiah 29 to provide wise guidance for leaders and churches seeking to adapt and thrive. Jeremiah’s imperatives resonate deeply today, compelling us to experiment, cultivate new relationships, prioritize faith-sharing with people of all ages, interact with others in humility, to “seek the wellbeing of the other,” and to move forward with confidence.
The chapters are brief and packed with practical ideas and instruction. The authors include ideas from leaders inside and outside the Church, offering multiple ways for leaders to see and understand what it means to be an adaptive leader and how to shape an adaptive church. The book is rich with lists, diagrams, illustrations, clarifying questions, and frameworks, making the material easy to grasp. It is an excellent resource to share with leadership teams at every level of the local church and in denominational settings.
Gardens in the Desert is for laity, leaders, and clergy who have been feeling lost, immobilized, powerless—as exiles—and who are ready to do something new.
Many church people and leaders feel like exiles in their own land. We are facing tremendous challenges. And, just as for those who came before us, the challenges are also opportunities. If we adapt to our new environment, as people and as the body of Christ.
Gardens in the Desert offers local and denominational church leaders a practical, inspired, scripture-rooted vision for how we can do this—how we can become God’s church now for God’s intended future.
Michael Adam Beck and Ken Carter draw from Jeremiah 29 to provide wise guidance for leaders and churches seeking to adapt and thrive. Jeremiah’s imperatives resonate deeply today, compelling us to experiment, cultivate new relationships, prioritize faith-sharing with people of all ages, interact with others in humility, to “seek the wellbeing of the other,” and to move forward with confidence.
The chapters are brief and packed with practical ideas and instruction. The authors include ideas from leaders inside and outside the Church, offering multiple ways for leaders to see and understand what it means to be an adaptive leader and how to shape an adaptive church. The book is rich with lists, diagrams, illustrations, clarifying questions, and frameworks, making the material easy to grasp. It is an excellent resource to share with leadership teams at every level of the local church and in denominational settings.
Gardens in the Desert is for laity, leaders, and clergy who have been feeling lost, immobilized, powerless—as exiles—and who are ready to do something new.
162 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 6, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 9, 2026
It’s a good book overall.
I think the authors spend a bit too much time diagnosing the ‘problems’ that hinder churches.
Additionally, I think they commit too often the sin of antisemitism (unintentionally) by comparing ‘the Jews’ of John and opponents of Jesus to problems which Jesus wins over in order to make Jesus look good and fit their model of ministry.
They don’t need to do this as Jesus’ ministry on its own displays the model they are promoting
I think the authors spend a bit too much time diagnosing the ‘problems’ that hinder churches.
Additionally, I think they commit too often the sin of antisemitism (unintentionally) by comparing ‘the Jews’ of John and opponents of Jesus to problems which Jesus wins over in order to make Jesus look good and fit their model of ministry.
They don’t need to do this as Jesus’ ministry on its own displays the model they are promoting
January 12, 2025
Read this one for school—Dr. Beck is my professor this term. He has such radical & reviving things to say about the reality of the church and its mission in the modern world! I can’t wait to keep learning from him and learning more about the fresh expressions movement. (Note: it did feel a bit redundant in the last few chapters)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews