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Title: On the Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church By: Alan Hirsch, Dave Ferguson Format: Paperback Number of Pages: 208 Vendor: Zondervan Publication Date: 2011 | Dimensions: 8.50 X 5.50 (inches) Weight: 14 ounces ISBN: 0310331005 ISBN-13: 9780310331001 Series: Leadership Network Exponential Stock No: WW331000 |
How the Church can recover her original, apostolic ways and become a high-impact Jesus movement again in the West.
The church is on the verge of massive, category shifting, change. Contemporary church growth, despite its many blessings, has failed to stem the decline of Christianity in the West, and we are now facing the fact that more of the same will not produce different results.
We are already seeing this new form of the church emerge in our dayan apostolic, reproducing Movement that's driven by a desire to see Biblical Christianity reestablished. Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson call this the "apostolic movement" because it's more resonant with the form of church that we witness in the New Testament and in the great missional movements of history.
And we are on the verge of a new apostolic movement...
In this book, Christian thought-leaders Hirsch and Ferguson share a rich array of theology, theory, and best practices, along with inspiring stories about leaders who have rightly diagnosed their churches' failure to embrace a biblical model of mission and have moved toward a fuller expression of the gospel.
On the Verge will help church leaders:
Many of the best and brightest leaders in the contemporary church are now making shifts in the way they think, lead, and organize. On the Verge will help church leaders discover how these forerunners and their insights are launching a new apostolic movement?and how any church can get involved.
Dave Ferguson is a spiritual entrepreneur and the lead pastor of Community Christian Church, an innovative multi-site missional church with eleven locations in Chicago. Dave is the movement leader for NewThing, an international network of reproducing churches. He is also the coauthor of The Big Idea. Check out the latest from Dave on his blog (www.daveferguson.org) or follow his everyday adventures on twitter @daveferguson.
These are the thoughts and questions that Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson attempt to address in their book On the Verge. Written in part as a missiological handbook for church planters of missional churches, the authors attempt to craft a guide for church leaders to help them establish and maintain an "apostolic" vision for their congregation. While created by and for church planters, this book has excellent insights to think about and ponder for pastors of established churches as well.
Alan Hirsch is one of the leading voices in the missional church movement. As he has grown in influence, he has become less of a practitioner of congregational ministry, and more of a scholar/leader/visionary for missional churches as a whole. This is why he writes with Dave Ferguson, who is a church planter and currently trying to lead his congregation to continue their thrust toward reaching and influencing their communities for the Kingdom of God. The blend of consultant and practitioner, theory and hands on ministry is ingenious, and a good reason why this book is not only inspirational, but has the possibility of presenting a vision that actually works.
At the heart of the book is a four-step system for establishing a continuing culture of innovation for churches that want to maintain their missional integrity within their ministry context (pp. 46-47). The first step involves imagining what could be. The next step is shifting one's thinking to accommodate and understand the new vision and paradigm the imagining process discovers. After that, one needs to take action. Then, as the church takes the steps to reach out and take action, they need to move and grow to both accommodate the new world the missional community is living in, and to also repeat the process of innovating once again. This sounds pretty basic, but harder to actually create this momentum in a congregation one is leading.
The text is fun, and thought provoking. As a pastor of a more historic church, I think creating this kind of culture would be more difficult for me than for a church leader who is beginning a new congregation. Nevertheless, moving congregations from being institutionally focused to mission-focused is something we all must do in our own way, and help our churches continue to do long after our ministry is through. On the Verge helps people like me think through ways we might do just that. Clint Walker, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com
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