A guide to the diverse forms of Christian community that are needed today.
Throughout its history, the church thrived when it embraced diverse organizational and cultural forms. In this volume, Dwight Zscheile and Blair Pogue argue that as American culture shifts away from voluntary association and toward individual self-expression, most existing congregations are bound to inherited forms of church that are not designed to connect with neighbors or form disciples. Taking the Church of England’s efforts over two decades to engage its deeply changed missionary context as an example, the authors build on historical and contemporary precedent to argue that the renewal of the church requires a new paradigm where inherited and innovative forms of church coexist and thrive together. Examining numerous innovations—including fresh expressions of church, megachurches, microchurches, church plants, digital churches, and more—the authors show how a mixed ecology is central to church renewal.
Despre autor
Blair Pogue is canon for vitality and innovation in the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. She is an Episcopal priest with over two decades of ordained ministry experience in rural, suburban, and urban congregations, including 16 years as rector of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Blair is a graduate of Whitman College (BA), Yale University (M.Div.), and Luther Seminary (D.Min., congregational mission and leadership) and is ABD in American religious history from the College of William and Mary. She has extensive experience cultivating discipleship and innovation at the congregational and diocesan levels. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.