Addresses "belonging before believing" and other new patterns for remaking congregations As we move beyond the "emergent" or "missional" church paradigm, pastors and other church leaders are discovering a new reality: people (especially younger generations) are coming to church not as believers, but to find a place to belong-with or without faith. This book describes the dilemma and the distractions that currently prevent congregations from being the place where that sense of belonging can unfold and guide newcomers in the discovery of faith. The authors argue that despite elaborate talk of change, spirituality, transformation, and conflict resolution, congregations are still mired in old patterns of belonging. Using broad-based career experiences, surveys of religious life, historical precedent, and insights from social psychology about what it means to belong today, the book suggests new and effective approaches to help churches make vital connections.

Must adversity erase your purpose? The experience of Tim Hightower demonstrates that it is possible to recover when all that one has is pursued suddenly vanishes. Tim's story, on and off the football field, encourages everyone who faces crippling challenges. A Dream Worth Fighting For conveys determination and resilience. Anyone who has suffered injury or loss will find their experience illuminated. A Dream Worth Fighting For helps readers regain hope and the confidence to dream again. Tim's story is the building block to regaining strength physically and spiritually. In the midst of chaos, lasting purpose can be embraced.

Anglicanism is one of the largest and most widely dispersed of all religious traditions. How it reached this status is replete with irony and with conflict. The origins of Anglicanism lie in the Church of England, still its largest branch and arguably its defining center. But the majority of Anglicans now reside in sub-Saharan Africa and do not speak English as their primary language. Given Anglicanism's roots, and its integration into British colonialism, the expansion of this branch of Christianity seems puzzling. Moreover, intramural Anglican conflict, from the end of colonialism onward, seemingly has torn the fabric of Anglican life. It seems problematic that this tradition, and the church bodies that represent it, will remain intact. By looking at the Church through the lens of the biblical theme of promise, this book seeks to offer neither lament for a tattered tradition nor facile hope for an expanding one. It considers the key phases of Anglican history, each defined by clear intentions, from securing English national life, to mission, to finding contextual roots in various locales. Whilst not denying that the ongoing contestation about the proper shape of Anglican faith and practice has become central, the book highlights the emergence of fresh consensus among Anglicans, centered on grassroots initiative and innovation, creating informal patterns of collaboration that can transcend context and overlook divergence.

The Oxford History of Anglicanism provides a global study of Anglicanism from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first. The five volumes in the series look at how Anglican identity was constructed and contested since the English Reformation of the sixteenth century, and examine its historical influence during the past six centuries. They consider not only the ecclesiastical and theological aspects of global Anglicanism, but also the political, social, economic, and cultural influences of this form of Christianity that has been historically significant in Western culture, and a burgeoning force in non-Western societies since the nineteenth century. Written by international experts in their various historical fields, each volumes analyses the varieties of Anglicanism that have emerged. The series also highlights the formal, political, institutional, and ecclesiastical forces that have shaped a global Anglicanism; and the interaction of Anglicanism with informal and external influences which have both moulded Anglicanism and been fashioned by it. Volume five of The Oxford History of Anglicanism considers the global experience of the Church of England in mission and in the transitions of its mission Churches towards autonomy in the twentieth century. The Church developed institutionally, yet more than the institutional history of the Church of England and its spheres of influence is probed. The contributors focus on what it has meant to be Anglican in diverse contexts. What spread from England was not simply a religious institution but the religious tradition it intended to implant. The volume addresses questions of the conduct of mission, its intended and unintended consequences. It offers important insights on what decolonization meant for Anglicans as the mission Church in various global locations became self-reliant. This study breaks new ground in describing the emergence of an Anglicanism shaped more contextually than externally. It illustrates how Anglicanism became enculturated across a broad swath of cultural contexts. The influence of context, and the challenge of adaption to it, framed Anglicanism's twentieth-century experience.

The Anglican conflict over homosexuality has drawn worldwide interest and divided the church. However, conflict within Christianity is not new. This book traces the steps by which the crisis emerged, and reveals the deeper debates within the church which underlie both the current controversy and much earlier splits. William L. Sachs contends that the present debate did not begin with opposition to homosexuality or in advocacy of it. He argues that, like past tensions, it originates in the diverging local contexts in which the faith is practised, and their differing interpretations of authority and communion. In the aftermath of colonialism, activists and reformers have taken on prominent roles for and against the status quo. The crisis reveals a Church in search of a new, global consensus about the appropriate forms of belief and mission.

This book examines the various contexts - historical, social, cultural, and ideological - which have shaped the modern efforts of the Anglican tradition at self-understanding. The author’s thesis is that modernity and world mission have changed Anglicanism in ways that are deep and pervasive, just as other Christian traditions have also been profoundly affected by worldwide extension. In the case of the Anglican tradition, however, a distinctive way of relating Christianity to local culture and a distinctive kind of indigenous leader produced a church identity different from other forms of Christendom. Dr Sachs’ aim is to contrast Anglicanism both with the style of Roman Catholicism and with the characteristically Protestant emphasis upon individual conversion apart from concern for the Church and its tradition.

This book examines the various contexts - historical, social, cultural, and ideological - which have shaped the modern efforts of the Anglican tradition at self-understanding. The author's thesis is that modernity and world mission have changed Anglicanism in ways that are deep and pervasive, just as other Christian traditions have also been profoundly affected by worldwide extension. In the case of the Anglican tradition, however, a distinctive way of relating Christianity to local culture and a distinctive kind of indigenous leader produced a church identity different from other forms of Christendom. Dr Sachs' aim is to contrast Anglicanism both with the style of Roman Catholicism and with the characteristically Protestant emphasis upon individual conversion apart from concern for the Church and its tradition.