The Gospel After Christendom: New Voices, New Cultures, New Expressions
Edited by Ryan Bolger
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In this festschrift honoring Dr. Eddie Gibbs, Dwight was invited to write about what he perceived as the greatest threat (aka opportunity), presented to Christ’s church through the post-Christendom turn.
Dwight chose to focus on discipleship.
Imagining formation in the Way of Jesus to be a whole life endeavor, he rejects any notion suggesting that Christianity is a religious add on to life. Rather, Dwight helps us hear Jesus Christ inviting all humans to discover a new way of living, loving, and welcoming; the Way of Jesus. Loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself… reconciled relationship with every aspect and facet of creation… Dwight often refers to this a living with a “Shalomic imagination.” The Shalom of God invites one to discover faithful presence in all relationships with God, other, self, creation, systems, histories, cultures, narratives, etc.
For all of its problems–and there were many–within the Christendom era the church played a significant role in nearly every sector of life. That meant that in some ways the church had partners in formation. But as sectors like education, government, governance, health-care, economics, and many other areas rejected the church’s influence, the church was left with very few allies in spiritual formation. Until in our post-Christeom era, the church’s formation was reduced to a few voluntary hours on Sunday mornings. Essentially the post-Christendom turn and the rise of secularism go hand in hand.
Dwight is interested in formational spirituality and practices grounding a person in the real world and inviting Shalomic living. After walking through the “threat” as he sees it, he highlights five formational practices for post-Christendom era grounded in real stories of whole life discipleship from parish churches he’s visited.
“Emerging 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. In this volume, Ryan Bolger assembles some of the most innovative church leaders from around the world to share their candid insider stories about how God is transforming their communities in an entirely new era for the church. The book explores what’s happening now in innovative church movements in continental Europe, Asia, and Latin American and in African American hip-hop cultures.”
From the Book’s back cover
Dwight leads workshops, retreats, and speaks about Christian formation, discipleship, and opening to an ever more holistic Shalomic imagination.
Published by Baker Academic 2012.
What others are saying about The Gospel After Christendom…
“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
“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
“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
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