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THE CONVERGENT CHURCH: Missional Worship in an Emerging Culture

This is the title to the new book co-written with Ethics prof (which is in itself a convergence!) Mark Liederbach. Here is the back cover info FYI:

Countless followers of Christ find themselves restless. They wonder if there is more to Christian faith than compulsory church attendance and rigid moral standards, and they wander in search of what they hope will be a better form of Christianity—if such a thing exists. The Convergent Church, brings together conventional Christianity and the emergent church, moving beyond the antipathy that has developed between the groups and urging Christians to honestly consider the best that each has to offer. Liederbach and Reid analyze conventional Christianity and the emerging church’s reaction to it, and show how one might live out the faith as a convergent Christian who is committed to missional worship. The Western church will thrive when doctrinal conviction and cultural relevance converge.

“The spiritual landscape of our world is changing; tens of thousands of people leave the church and thousands of churches close their doors every year. For the sake of the gospel and for the honor of Jesus we must refocus our hearts, retool the local church, and recharge followers of Jesus to accomplish the Great Commission. The Convergent Church does just that. This book is essential for the seminarian, the barista at Starbucks, the computer programmer at IBM, and everyone in between.”—Tyler JonesPastor of Preaching,Vintage21 Church

“The Convergent Church tells us where we are, explains how we got here, and offers a vision for where we need to go. Biblically and theologically faithful, culturally and missionally relevant, this is a must read for those who care about the church of the Lord Jesus in the twenty-first century.”—Daniel L. AkinPresident, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“This is a hands on, tour de force assessment of the emerging church movement through the hands of veteran churchmen and scholars. They understand what Jesus is up to in our time.” —Steve SjogrenAuthor and mentor, ServeCoach.com

MARK LIEDERBACH is associate professor of Christian ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has contributed to several books.
ALVIN L. REID is professor of evangelism, associate dean of proclamation studies, and the Bailey Smith Chair of evangelism at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has authored more than ten books.

Ed Stetzer wrote the Foreword for which we are grateful, and said: 
“For decades the church in North America has poured all of its energy intogetting people to fill its pews, hoping those who hear the gospel would cometo faith in Christ. Now, we’ve spruced up the buildings and sharpened theservices, yet fewer and fewer unchurched people are making decisions forChrist. Slowly but surely we’re learning something. We can fix up the barn,but the wheat won’t harvest itself.

The statistics are overwhelming. We’ve never spent so much money andhad so little evangelistic success to show for it. Increasingly, the outsideworld looks at the church as irrelevant, politically motivated, and callous. They’d rather trust afternoon talk-show hosts and eastern gurus with theirspiritual skepticism than the body of Christ on earth. If we sit back and wait for the lost to find their way into our church pews, we may wait them into a godless eternity.

Unless we want these depressing trends to continue, something has to change. Instead of letting the lost come to us, we’ve got to go to them. The come-and-see, attractional approach must be replaced by a go-and-tell,missional one. The lost may not enter our churches, but, if asked, they just may allow us to enter their lives, as they look for truth and hope that can only be found in the gospel.

But we can’t stop there. The issues that face the church go much deeper than our evangelistic strategies. We must reexamine our basic understanding of the church and its mission. In The Convergent Church Mark Liederbach and Alvin Reid have done just that. They’ve taken a look at the philosophical underpinnings of both the church and today’s culture. From there, they’ve built a missional framework for the church that trades in our more introverted tendencies of the recent past for a future that actively engages our surrounding culture with the hope of the gospel.

If we’re going to take hold of the future envisioned by Liederbach and Reid, we must share our faith in new places. If we primarily share our faith within the four walls of our church, we might capture a few church swappers,but the vast majority of unchurched people will remain unreached. After laying out the foundational framework for their vision, Liederbach and Reid offer practical suggestions for building a missional evangelism focus into the very core of our ministry.

The missional approach outlined in this book is vigorously biblical. Neither Jesus nor the early church was satisfied to just let the lost come to them. They took every opportunity to take the good news to those ready to hear it. Wherever they went, they were prepared to talk about the kingdom of God and the hope it represented for those without God.This holistic approach will compel readers to a missional view of evangelism that springs from meaningful worship. Should we continue to invite our lost friends to church services? Of course. But we must also engage the surrounding culture as passionate, worshipful missionaries to those around us.The lost are waiting. Will we have the courage to go to them?”

Here is the table of contents:
Foreword, by Ed Stetzer . 7
Preface: Meeting the Authors . 9
Introduction: What Is the “Convergent Church”? . . . . 17
Part 1: Where We Are and How We Got Here
1. The Way We Were: Worldviews and Modernity 31
2. Where We Are: A Primer on Postmodernity . 49
3. The Christian Church in the New Postmodern Context:Understanding the Emerging Church Movement 74
4. The Contours of the Christian Church in the New PostmodernContext: Evaluating the Emerging Church Movement . 99
Part 2: Converging on Missional Worship
5. Converging on Worship: Life as Worship . 117
6. Converging on Mission: Join the Movement 138
7. Converging on Doctrine: Unchanging Truthin a Turbulent World . 157
Convergent Christianity Part 3: Living Out Missional Worship
8. Converging on Ethics, Part 1: The Right and the Good 185
9. Converging on Ethics, Part 2: Who’s Afraid of the Social Gospel? . . . . . . . . . . 204
10. Converging on Evangelism: Advance a Movement! 226
11. Converging on Discipleship: Living What We Say 250
12. Converging on Culture: Acts Revisited . 274

Published by Kregel Press, this could be a helpful guide for church leaders to understand issues related to the gospel inside the church fellowship and without.I will be writing and including some excerpts in the days to come. What a joy to write such a book with a capable theologian, a great classroom teacher, and a man of God like my brother Mark.

Today–Perspective on 2009

Today I start life anew.

Today.

Today I will live my life to the glory of God, for the sake of the gospel and the good of others. I will seek to live less today for myself.

Today.

I cannot change the past: my sins though many, my failures though frequent, or the many times I have hurt others,

But I can rest in the promise that the blood of Jesus has cleansed me, that though my sins are as scarlet, they have been made white as snow.

I cannot undo anything I have done. But I can rest in the grace of God, that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I can remember the work of God in salvation and will do so daily.

I can recall how God used a murderer who was a poor spokesman like Moses to set Your people free;

An insecure young man like Joshua to take Your people to the Promised Land;

A persecutor like Paul to spread the gospel across the Roman Empire,

And a fisherman who too often abused the use of language (how often am I like this one) like Peter and build Your church on disciples just like him.

I also cannot expect the things I have done for good and for God to do for today, but I can stand with Paul and forget the things behind me, choosing to press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

I cannot let the fear of past failures and my own sinful flesh keep me from living passionately for Jesus today.

Today I start life anew.

I cannot focus on the past, or let its shadow spread its darkness on the light He gives me to live this day. I cannot let any good thing I have done distract me from living this day as if it were my only, my best, my last day.

Today. Today I start life anew.

I cannot focus too much on the future, for I have little to no control over it. I can claim God’s Word with boldness that He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it, that it is less about me and so much more about Him.

I can glance at the future as a driver glances ahead at the horizon ahead: too much focus there could bring harm at my present location, but no awareness of the horizon keeps me from seeing the amazing destination at the end.

But I have this day. Today.

Today I start life anew.

Today I will seek to live life for Jesus and for others.

Today I will redeem the time–I can earn more money and even make more friends, but I cannot reclaim the time that has gone by.

Today I will take care of the temple of flesh God has given me.

Today I will seek to be an encourager to my wife and my children first, and then to others God places in my path.

Today I will seek to speak much of the gospel to any who will hear.

Today I will walk by faith not by sight.

Today I will advance the movement of God in my generation.

Today I will choose to love more than to be loved, to give more than receive.

And whether I do this today will be seen not in the words I write but in the life I live.

May it so be, Lord.

Today.

Betweenthetimes.com

If you have not seen this outstanding website led by several of my colleagues I encourage you to do so. I just had an article posted there today entitled “Do We Truly Want Revival? A Look at a Great Commission Resurgence Through the Lens of the Great Awakenings.” Check it out if you get a chance.  Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Wish (i.e. PRAYER) List

This time of year my children like to ask me what I want for Christmas. This year I asked for two things: to go and visit my aging parents who cannot come to see us, and for some great time together as a family. Of course we enjoy those two things every year, but that is what I want.  I think I also asked for some new socks. Well, and an iphone J.

I really do not need anything, blessed with an amazing wife and the two greatest children a dad could ever want.  But there are some specific things for which I am praying. Perhaps at this Christmas season you can join me in my prayer.

1. I pray for a Great Commission Resurgence to sweep across the American church, fueling a passion for a witness that is both biblical and effective.  I pray we will see that following Jesus and telling others about Him is indeed a Wonderful Life.

2. I pray for a generation of young adults to be ignited with a passion for Jesus and a willingness to go, do, and be anything to which He calls them. I pray that God will raise up leaders who like young Rudolph and his red nose will lead both old and young to new days of effectiveness in ministry.

3. I pray for the cities of the West and the nations of the world, that our best and brightest will spend their lives there for the glory of God and the sake of the gospel. If Elf can walk from the North Pole to New York City, perhaps our children can go to the cities and the nations.

4. I pray for the unborn babies and the sexually confused among us (homosexuals, lesbians, transgenders, etc) that God will rescue them from a premature death on the one hand or the blindness of satan on the other. I also pray the Church will love all caught up in bondage, including young ladies who are cutters and young men in great despair. I pray the Church will not treat those caught in sin like the outcast toys in Rudolph’s story, but as precious people for whom Christ died.

5. I pray for families, so many in such disarray, to once again see the home as a place of worship rather than a place of selfish desire. I pray for Dads to be lovers of their wives and leaders of their children, and for moms to emulate a life bound up in Christ.  I pray the attitude of Timmy in A Christmas Carol–”God bless us everyone”–will mark families more than the disposition of Scrooge.

6. I pray for the Lottie Moon Offering (SBC) and other missions offerings, that in a tough economic period believers will give more to the cause of missions than to any individual in their life. I pray for missionaries around the world separated from their biological families, that God will give them special fellowship with the family of God. I pray the obsession with stuff, where believers fight in malls for toys like scenes from a cheesy Christmas movie (like Schwarzenegger’s “Jingle All the Way”), will be replaced by an “Advent Conspiracy” giving to things that matter.

7. I pray for the young adults in high school and college who prepare to be butchers and bakers and candlestick makers (or other professions), that in every vocation they will live their lives as missionaries in a lost culture, and for God to call even more to vocational ministry to lead the church. I pray for church planters to be called and for current pastors to lead their churches to plant new churches. I pray for a missional resurgence.

8. I pray for new eyes, for me and for all to whom God gives influence. I pray we would not be like the Grinch, constantly complaining and griping about what we do not like, but instead be like the little Drummer Boy, giving our lives in service to the King. I pray we would see the world as Jesus does, and that our paradigms that may have worked in another time will be replaced by an understanding of how to take timeless truth to our world in a timely way.

9. I pray for an awareness of the urgency of the time, and that we would not waste our lives on trivial things when God has given us the greatest news ever told.  I pray our urgency for the gospel would far surpass the urgency to get toys to children in Christmas shows like Rudolph and Elf.

10. Finally, I pray for peace.  “Peace on earth, good will to men,” the angels promised. Too many of us who ought to know better seem intent on giving our lives to the five percent with which we disagree.  Peace does not mean unity at all costs, or surrendering truth. But peace does come from the Prince of Peace. I pray for a 2009 that will be marked by Christlike affection and charity, by humility, and by a desire to honor God above people.  Our God who spared not His only Son deserves from His children such sacrificial love for one another.

For what are you praying at this Christmas season? I would love to hear.  And pray.

Buy This Book

I love books. I have written eight over the past ten years (and am now ready for a break). Most have to do with my main passions of spiritual awakening and evangelism. But a few years back I ventured out a bit to write the book Raising the Bar: Ministry to Youth in the New Millennium (Kregel, 2004). I have been pretty amazed at the response to the book, particularly by veteran youth pastors. I was just in Orlando with some very sharp youth pastors at large churches, and was humbled and grateful to hear several speak of how RTB had blessed their ministries.

I do not claim to be a youth expert. But I do have a little historical and biblical perspective (and a 20 and 15 year old) and particularly love my family. So, I wrote RTB actually to help me think through how better to be a parent. I followed that book up with Join the Movement: God Is Calling You to Change the World (Kregel: 2007), a book for students to challenge them to live radically for Christ. And since it is Christmas time (warning: shameless self-promotion alert) either would make a great gift, and any proceeds I receive help underprivileged children–MINE.

Seriously, I wrote these books as an outsider to youth ministry. I still sometimes feel like a voice crying in the wilderness. Then I bought a book you must read, you must buy for every teenager you know, a book every parent and youth pastor must read. I am referring to the book DO HARD THINGS by Alex and Brett Harris. Younger twin brothers of better known Joshua Harris, these 19 year olds offer a stirring challenge to how we see youth best summed up in the book’s subtitle: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations.

The authors coin the term REBELUTION, a revolution of students who want to rebel against the video game culture of youth. By the way, they note the term “teenager” is only decades old, but you can read the book to find out more.

I speak to many students and to increasing numbers of youth pastors and parents each year. What I hear from students more than anything else is “CHALLENGE ME: SHOW ME JESUS IS MORE THAN A LEADER OF AN INSTITUTIONAL RELIGION.” I am giving the rest of my life to them, or at least to those under 30, in particular those who will lead churches as pastors, church planters, missionaries, and artists.

I hope you, regardless of your age, will join the rebelution.