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See all 37 books that Steven is reading…
Book cover for Learning to Walk in the Dark: A Study of Spiritual Growth Through Darkness
The problem is this: when, despite all my best efforts, the lights have gone off in my life (literally or figuratively, take your pick), plunging me into the kind of darkness that turns my knees to water, nonetheless I have not died. The ...more
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“Over the years, Midtown has remained present in the neighborhood, learned how to serve its neighbors, and exists for the neighborhood. However, with the demographic pressures facing many congregations, urban and otherwise, this does not seem to be enough. Shrinking budgets and aging members beg another question: Can Midtown learn presence with the neighborhood? This remains a critical question, not only for Midtown, but also for the broader field of missiology. When congregations remain within the neighborhood they seek to serve, they will find themselves shaped by the neighborhood in a variety of ways. Learning to live “in” and “for” an urban neighborhood necessitates presence with. Mission precipitates a crisis for congregations, where they learn to bear witness to the gospel not only by serving the neighborhood, but also by suffering in solidarity with it.”
Scott Hagley, Eat What Is Set Before You: A Missiology of the Congregation in Context

Lesslie Newbigin
“The reign of God that the church proclaims is indeed present in the life of the church, but it is not the church’s possession. It goes before us, summoning us to follow. The practical implications of this will be discussed in a later chapter. Here it is enough to say that the picture given us in the Acts is one that is constantly being reproduced in the missionary experience of the church. It is the Holy Spirit who leads the way, opening a door here that the church must then obediently enter, kindling a flame there that the church must lovingly tend.”
Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission

“In the postmodern West, people want to know more than how big the church is. They want to know whether the church has anything of substance to offer. They want to know whether the Christian God is impotent or indifferent. They want to know whether Christians are truly different; whether we are the called-out ones, sanctified and made perfect in love for God and ministry to one another and to the world. They want to know whether the church is a place of spiritual stagnation or genuine spiritual growth.”
Jason E. Vickers, Minding the Good Ground: A Theology for Church Renewal

“As Jürgen Moltmann puts it, In the movements of the Trinitarian history of God’s dealings with the world the church finds and discovers itself, in all the relationships which comprehend its life. It finds itself on the path traced by this history of God’s dealings with the world, and it discovers itself as one element in the movements of the divine sending, gathering together and experience. It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfill in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church, creating a church as it goes on its way.”
Jason E. Vickers, Minding the Good Ground: A Theology for Church Renewal

“We need to put as much time and energy into thinking about why people should come to church as we do into thinking about how to get them to come. In other words, we need to think carefully about what the church actually has to offer people who come to worship or who become members. If we are not clear about why people will be better off for the trouble of getting out of bed on Sunday morning, then we may succeed in boosting attendance for a season, but we will fall short of the long-haul renewal that we so desperately need and desire.”
Jason E. Vickers, Minding the Good Ground: A Theology for Church Renewal

25x33 Central Church — 10 members — last activity Aug 13, 2022 02:14PM
The Central Church of Christ in Little Rock, AR has plenty of folks that read. Sometimes we read good books. Sometimes we read good books together. So ...more
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