Bolger, The Gospel After Christendom

Ryan Bolger, The Gospel After Christendom: New Voices, New Cultures, New Expressions. Baker Academic, 2012.

Referenced in: Missional Church Philosophy, Trends

LifeandLeadership.com Summary

The missional and emergent conversations are constantly evolving. This is an excellent 2012 update on this evolution from a global perspective, with chapters from over twenty-five authors.

Publisher’s Description

“The broadest and most accessible global survey of emerging missional churches available today. It is filled with good analysis and insights as well as challenges to the imagination.”—David Fitch, Northern Seminary

Emerging and missional church movements are an increasingly global phenomenon; they exist as holistic communities that defy dualistic Western forms of church. Until now, many of the voices from these movements have gone unheard. This volume assembles some of the most innovative church leaders from around the world to share candid insider stories about how God is transforming their communities in an entirely new era for the church.

The Gospel after Christendom continues the themes that Ryan Bolger and Eddie Gibbs established formally in their critically acclaimed Emerging Churches and situates new church movements within this rubric. It explores what is happening today in innovative church movements in continental Europe, Asia, and Latin America and in African American hip-hop cultures. Featuring an international cast of contributors, the book explores the changes occurring both in emerging cultures and in emerging and missional churches across the globe. Professors and students in college and seminary courses covering church and mission, contemporary ecclesiology, congregational studies, emerging churches, and missional churches will value this work.

Contents

Introduction Ryan K. Bolger

• I. Peoples
  1. Iglesias Emergentes in Latin America Osias Segura-Guzman
  2. Emerging Churches in Aotearoa New Zealand Steve Taylor
  3. Emerging Missional Churches in Australia Darren Cronshaw
  4. New Expressions of Church in Scandinavia Ruth Skree
  5. New Expressions of Church in the Low Countries Nico-Dirk Van Loo
  6. Fresh Expressions of Missional Church in French-Speaking Europe Blayne Waltrip
  7. Emerging Christian Communities in German-Speaking Europe Peter Aschoff
• II. Cultures
  1. New Monastic Community in a Time of Environmental Crisis Ian Mobsby
  2. Mission within Hybrid Cultures: Transnationality and the Glocal Church Oscar Garcia Johnson
  3. Distinctly Welcoming: The Church in a Pluralist Culture Richard J. Sudworth
  4. Our P(art) within an Age of Beauty Troy Bronsink
  5. Mission Among Individual Consumers Stefan Paas
  6. Mission in a New Spirituality Culture Steve Hollinghurst
• III. Practices
  1. Rethinking Worship as an Emerging Christian Practice Paul Roberts
  2. Formation in the Post-Christendom Era: Exilic Practices and Missional Identity Dwight J. Friesen
  3. Towards a Holistic Process of Transformational Mission Tobias Faix
  4. Leadership as Body and Environment: The Rider and the Horse MaryKate Morse
• IV. Experiments
  1. The Underground: The Living Mural of a Hip Hop Church Ralph C. Watkins
  2. Bykirken (The City-Church), Pray and Eat Andreas Østerlund Nielsen
  3. House of Sinners and Saints Nadia Bolz-Weber
  4. L’Autre Rive (the Other Bank or Shore) Eric Zander
  5. With: An Experimental Church Eileen Suico
  6. The Jesus Dojo Mark Scandrette
  7. St. Toms: From Gathered to Scattered Bob Whitesel
  8. Urban Abbey: The Power of Small, Sustainable, Nimble Micro-Communities of Jesus Kelly Bean
• V. Traditions
  1. Indigenous and Anglican: A Truly Native Church Emerges in the Anglican Church of Canada Mark MacDonald
  2. Turning the Ocean Liner: The Fresh Expressions Initiative Graham Cray
  3. On the Move: Towards Fresh Expressions of Church in Germany Markus Weimer
• Conclusion Ryan K. Bolger
• Afterword Eddie Gibbs
• Index

Endorsements

“Here’s proof that the emerging missional conversation is transcending the traditional ecclesial and cultural boundaries that so often limit the church’s ability to speak to itself and have an impact on the world. Featuring voices from Latin America, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, and North America, The Gospel after Christendom is a compendium of ideas, warnings, inspirations, and suggestions that will move this important conversation forward.”—Michael Frost, author of The Road to Missional, coauthor of The Shaping of Things to Come, and vice principal, Morling College, Sydney, Australia

“Ryan Bolger’s The Gospel after Christendom is the broadest and most accessible global survey of emerging missional churches available today. Reading it encouraged my soul. It is filled with good analysis and insights as well as challenges to the imagination. Between its covers lies a glimpse into the future of the church.”—David Fitch, author of The End of Evangelicalism? Discerning a New Faithfulness for Mission and B. R. Lindner Professor of Evangelical Theology, Northern Seminary

“The Gospel after Christendom is a deluge of lived imagination. It is what the ‘church planetary’ looks, feels, and acts like now that life as we have known it has been utterly swept away.”—Sally Morgenthaler, author of Worship Evangelism

About the Author

Ryan K. Bolger (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is associate professor of church in contemporary culture at the School of Intercultural Studies and academic director of the master of arts program in global leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. His research focuses on the emerging and missional church movements, and he is the coauthor of Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures.

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