Missional

Joining God in the Neighborhood

by: Alan J. Roxburgh

series: Allelon Missional Series

• Format

  E-Book

  ISBN

  9781441214591

  Pub. Date

  Mar 2011

  SRP

  $20.00

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About

You can transform your community

The missional church movement is a sign that we increasingly feel the call to impact our communities, which is a good thing. But, says Alan J. Roxburgh, these conversations still prioritize church success over mission--i.e., how can being missional grow my church? But to focus on such questions misses the point.

Missional calls you to reenter your neighborhood and community to discover what the Spirit is doing there--to start with God's mission--and join in, shaping your local church around that mission. With inspiring true stories and a solid biblical base, this is a book that will change lives and communities as its message is lived out.

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Endorsements

"The term 'missional' is in serious danger of becoming all things to all people and thereby signifying nothing. In this book, Alan Roxburgh offers an important corrective to this situation by providing a concrete, practical, and theologically sophisticated conception of the term in conjunction with a fresh imagination around the idea of joining God in the neighborhood for the sake of the world. This is the best book yet from one of the leading voices in the missional conversation."--John R. Franke, Theologian in Residence, First Presbyterian Church of Allentown; general coordinator, the Gospel and Our Culture Network

"Many books are worth reading but few worth absorbing. This falls into the latter category, and if you allow it to, this book will take you into a new world and give you eyes to see what God is doing all around you. It will put 'mission' into your understanding of 'missional.'"--M. Scott Boren, pastor; author, Missional Small Groups

"I've read Al Roxburgh over the years and, taking nothing away from his previous work, this is Roxburgh's finest to date. His take on Luke 10 is compelling. Filled with stories and theological precision, this book takes us to new places for the future of Christ's church in North America. It is sure to be a tour de force for the missional conversation. I am not being excessive when I say this book is brilliant."--David Fitch, B. R. Lindner Professor of Evangelical Theology, Northern Seminary; author, The End of Evangelicalism?

"Missional may well be the best yet from author Alan Roxburgh as he prophetically reclaims the Newbigin engagement of gospel and culture as the key to rediscovering what it really means to be church. This engagement is compellingly framed in theological terms from the Luke-Acts texts as readers are deeply challenged and creatively invited to 'join God in their neighborhoods.' A must-read for anyone who takes seriously the challenge and opportunity facing the church in the West in light of it having lost home field advantage."--Craig Van Gelder, PhD, Professor of Congregational Mission, Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, MN

"Many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of things called 'missional,' but Roxburgh deconstructs our modern strategic orderliness, claims we often ask the wrong questions, and lures us into Luke's narratives. Roxburgh posits that our 'language house,' our whole imagination about what God is up to and how we might participate, needs to be upended through some rather odd activities like listening to neighbors and rehearing some biblical narratives."--Rev. Mark Lau Branson, EdD, Homer Goddard Associate Professor of Ministry of the Laity, Fuller Theological Seminary

"Roxburgh daringly puts the church in its place . . . literally. Missional invites us to relocate the center of missional life from churches to our places and neighborhoods. Drawing on a lifetime of missional practice and study, Roxburgh brings together missional theology with real world stories of missional practitioners. A must-read for any community seeking to live even more missionally."--Dwight J. Friesen, Associate Professor of Practical Theology, Mars Hill Graduate School, Seattle; author, Thy Kingdom Connected

"Missional is a must-read for pastors and church leaders who want a biblical framework and practical process for being the church in our time, not just doing church in the cookie-cutter style of other churches. Because Missional begins by asking the right questions and not giving the right answers, we are drawn into our own conversations about what it means to be sent, to move back into our neighborhoods, and to spark the missional imaginations of our church members for the sake of the gospel."--Mike McClenahan, senior pastor, Solana Beach Presbyterian Church; board member, Presbyterian Global Fellowship and Amor Ministries

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