ChurchMorph
Format: Paperback
Vendor: Baker Academic
Publication Date: August 01, 2009
ISBN: 080103762X ISBN-13: 9780801037627 Number of Pages: 224 Series: Allelon Missional Series |
Weight: 0.58 lb Dimensions: 8.5 × 5.5 (inches) |
This stimulating and encouraging book will appeal to pastors, church leaders, and students interested in ministry, the emerging church, Christianity and culture, and mission.
EXCERPT
The morphing of the church relates to the church transitioning to a new identity as a missional presence in the West. There is a growing realization among leaders committed to mission that the challenge will not be adequately met by adding new programs to ensure the local church, or a denomination\'s, institutional survival. Such leaders are talking about an unfettered re-imagining of the church, resulting in a comprehensive change in its self-understanding and its reconfiguration.
Frequently the term \"deconstruction\" is used by radical voices within the emergent church. But this technical term is often misunderstood, being perceived as too threatening and confrontational. It is heard to imply demolition and destruction, which is not what is intended. Deconstruction refers to a particular method of literary criticism that seeks to get behind the text to reveal the embedded assumptions. Among Emerging Church leaders, \"deconstruction\" signifies, not destruction, but a breakthrough. It means to undo or take apart in order to arrive at a deeper understanding, allowing for a creative re-reading. However, in order to avoid the negative implications of the term, and its highly technical explanation, I prefer to speak of the re-imagining of the church, and of the transformation process as the morphing of the church.
Wikipedia defines morphing as a special effect in motion pictures and animations that changes (or morphs) one image into another through a seamless transition. The term has a much more ancient usage however. It is derived from the Greek word morphe, which appears in the New Testament in a significant context.
Author Info
Eddie Gibbs (DMin, Fuller Theological Seminary) is director of the Institute for the Study of Emerging Churches at the Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts and a senior professor in the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He is the author of numerous books, including Emerging Churches and the critically acclaimed ChurchNext (winner of a Christianity Today book award), and is cohost of the popular Church Then and Now Web site.