Exhausted with trying to “fix” the church? It’s time to turn in a new direction: back to the Holy Spirit. In this insightful book, internationally renowned scholar and leader Alan Roxburgh urges Christians to follow the Spirit into our neighborhoods, re-engage with the mission of God, and re-imagine the whole enterprise of church. Joining God, Remaking Church, and Changing the World can guide any church—large or small, suburban or urban, denomination-level or local parish — to become a vital center for spirituality and mission.

Church has changed-this book shows how to follow the Spirit out into the community, and reimagine our mission for the 21st century. The decline in mainstream religious denominations is palpable. For years, the question has been: How can we "fix" the church' With thirty years of experience pastoring congregations in small towns, suburbs, and urban neighborhoods in renewal, Alan J. Roxburg knows that the answer is to instead, embrace the church, reinvigorate communities with the Holy Spirit, and re-engage our neighbors with the mission of God. In this timely perspective on the role of the church in today's environment, he shows how each one of us can become a leader in that mission. Roxburg distills the best missional wisdom for both clergy and laity alike, and offers concrete steps in transforming individual congregations and society. He sheds light on the troubling history that brought us to this point, and how ecumenically and globally we can implement the simple but necessary steps to build from it. An urgent call for Christians to guide any church-large or small-to becoming a vital center for a new spirituality, Joining God is an invitation "to embark on the journey you always wanted to take" (Philip Clayton, scholar, activist and author of Transforming Christian Theology)

The awareness that the churches shaped out of the European Reformations are in an advanced process of unraveling is becoming increasingly sensed by many. This book proposes a way of addressing this unraveling based on the experiences and knowledge of people who have always had to struggle with the unraveling of their own communities and worlds. It takes us outside the circular conversations of the Euro-tribal churches into dialogue with people who have been marginalized to see how they have learned to reenter their formative stories to discover ways of remaking themselves in the unraveling. The book then turns these discoveries into ways the churches can engage their own massive unraveling.

• Speaks to the bewilderment and helplessness many churches feel in the face of current events • Practical new interpretation of changes in the West Throughout its history, the church has faced crises of meaning and identity in all kinds of changing contexts. The crises facing the churches of the western hemisphere today are no different. At their best, churches have recognized that their challenge is not their own fixing or even “reformation” but a deep engagement with the ways the gospel transforms society. This book explores how this can happen again in a radically changing western world.

The awareness that the churches shaped out of the European Reformations are in an advanced process of unraveling is becoming increasingly sensed by many. This book proposes a way of addressing this unraveling based on the experiences and knowledge of people who have always had to struggle with the unraveling of their own communities and worlds. It takes us outside the circular conversations of the Euro-tribal churches into dialogue with people who have been marginalized to see how they have learned to reenter their formative stories to discover ways of remaking themselves in the unraveling. The book then turns these discoveries into ways the churches can engage their own massive unraveling.

"This book will make a profound difference for the church in this moment in history." — The Most Reverend Michael B. Curry Sometimes it takes disruption and loss to break us open and call us home to God. It’s not surprising that a global pandemic and once-in-a-generation reckoning with white supremacy—on top of decades of systemic decline—have spurred Christians everywhere to ask who we are, why God placed us here and what difference that makes to the world. In this critical yet loving book, the author explores the American story and the Episcopal story in order to find out how communities steeped in racism, establishment, and privilege can at last fall in love with Jesus, walk humbly with the most vulnerable and embody beloved community in our own broken but beautiful way. The Church Cracked Open invites us to surrender privilege and redefine church, not just for the sake of others, but for our own salvation and liberation.

How can church planters and their congregations flourish for the long haul? Written by a diverse team of scholar-practitioners and filled with real-world insights, stories, and questions for reflection and discussion, this guide gives church planters and their teams the tools to be theologically reflective, spiritually grounded, and missionally agile.