The Once and Future Church Collection

by Loren B. Mead

In 1991 The Once and Future Church by Alban Institute founder and former director Loren B. Mead created an instant sensation in congregational circles with its prophetic insights into the life of the church in a post-Christendom era. Still often-quoted and in demand, the book stands as Alban's all-time best seller. Two subsequent titles, Transforming Congregations for the Future and Five Challenges for the Once and Future Church, extended Mead's original vision with similar success. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the publication of The Once and Future Church, Alban released all three of these books as a single, special edition hardcover. In addition to these classic texts in beautiful, newly designed formats, this collection features an interview with Loren Mead discussing how his views have changed since the books' first publications and his current thoughts on directions for the church in the twenty-first century. This hardcover volume is the perfect gift for graduating seminary students, new congregational leaders, or for pastors whose original editions of these three books may be dog-eared or missing--and a wonderful addition to every church library. All who love the church and pray for the future of our congregations will value this opportunity to have Loren Mead's seminal works in a single, long-lived edition.

370 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Richard Brand · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work simply observes that as the Christian religion and the churches find themselves being abandoned by culture and the political structure (no more prayer in school, no Christmas decorations at City Hall, no more ten commandments in the court room, no prayers in Jesus name at government or school functions, no Christmas pageants at school) that it is time to rejoice and lift up your heads in joy for our salvation draws near. We will return to the situation of the first century church where only those who are believers are willing to be members (no more insurance agents joining the church to get the names of the directory), where those who really want to be Christian will, like the Jewish community, teach their children their faith, where choices and decisions will have to be made by faithful people in opposition to the culture. (My child will be in church and not at soccer practice on Sunday morning). It was a time of great excitement and challenge for Christians. It is the same now with Christians in China, India, Africa and other parts of the world where the Christian faith is vibrant.