On the Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church
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On the Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church  -     By: Alan Hirsch, Dave Ferguson

On the Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church

Zondervan / 2011 / Paperback

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Product Description

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. We are now facing the fact that more of the same will not produce different results. Our times require a different kind of church--an apostolic, reproducing, movement where every person is living a mission-sent life.

Many of the best and brightest leaders in the contemporary church are now making the shift in the way they think, lead, and organize. Motivated partly by a vision of the church as ancient as it is new, and with a driving desire to see Biblical Christianity establish itself in Western cultural contexts, we are indeed seeing a new form of the church emerge in our day. Hirsch and Ferguson call this "apostolic movement" because it is more resonant with the form of church that we witness in the pages of the New Testament and in the great missional movements of history.

In this book, 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 discover how these forerunners and their insights are launching a new apostolic movement--and how any church can get involved.

Product Information

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

Publisher's Description

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 day—an 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:

  • Imagine the contemporary Church from the apostolic perspective—how we got from there to here.
  • Shift our mindset from technique (how to "do church") to embodiment (how to live as Christ's Church)
  • Learn how to value, approach, and understand innovation.
  • Move whole-heartedly toward the apostolic, missional movement.

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.

Author Bio

Alan Hirsch is an award-winning author on various aspects of missional Christianity and co-founder of Future Travelers, an intentional learning journey for contemporary churches seeking to transition to becoming authentic movements

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.

ChristianBookPreviews.com

What is the future of the church? How is the church going to reach coming generations for Christ? And what does that mean for the congregations we see today?

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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