"How should we think about church growth in our current cultural moment?
The golden era ushered in by the industrial revolution led the Protestant church in America to experience unprecedented growth and prosperity in the twentieth century. This environment has formed our understanding of and dependence on growth for stabilization: It's assumed that if we aren't growing, we are stagnant at best, and declining at worst.
In Baal and the Gods of More, leading practical theologian Andrew Root challenges our assumptions about growth, offering a deep analysis through the lenses of cultural philosophy, economic theory, and theological examination. Turning to 1 and 2 Kings, he shows that our desire for growth is an idolatry that mirrors the ancient idolatry of the Israelites in their worship of Baal and other fertility gods.
Baal and the Gods of More argues that looking to innovation, creativity, and other secular methodologies in the endless pursuit of 'more'—more influence, more people, more reach, more money—-will not save the church. Instead, the church needs to return to dependence on divine action and a relational encounter with the Word."
"Andy and Kara were anxious—anxious about their teenaged children approaching adulthood in a tumultuous world. Anxious, too, about their ministries; after all, as America's pews empty, the church depends on its leaders to save it. If only they could control the circumstances faced by those who depended on them, they could ensure their success.
But maybe the solution isn't paving the way for our kids or our congregations. Maybe it's hiking the long road alongside them.
Andy and Kara took this literally. Following the way of Cuthbert, a seventh-century saint, they embarked with their kids on a sixty-three-mile walking pilgrimage in England and Scotland. Over the course of their journey, Andy and Kara learned that when we release control, we can regain connection—with our families, with fellow pilgrims along the road, with nature, and with God.
Thought-provoking and relatable, A Pilgrimage into Letting Go will help parents, pastors, and ministry leaders let go of their anxiety and open themselves up to God's transformative grace."
"'Evangelism' is a contested, even conflicted word. But churches are declining in numbers and resources. What if we aren't thinking about evangelism in the right way, culturally or theologically? This book proposes a conversation that contextualizes evangelism in our late modern times and reimagines what the call to outreach means in today's world.
Our sad times are made sadder by the realization that our all-out pursuit of happiness has made us stressed, anxious, lonely, and depressed, says leading practical theologian Andrew Root. The French thinker Michel de Montaigne taught us to focus on making ourselves happy, but Blaise Pascal pointed out that we are creatures of soul as much as self—so happiness does not satisfy. Root offers a vision for how a theology of consolation can shape a hopeful approach to evangelism. We all need consolation, others to care for us in our sadness; if we can find such a minister and lean into our sorrow, we will find the presence of Jesus Christ.
Root uses a fictional church to show rather than tell us how consolation evangelism works. For support he looks to the ministries of Gregory of Nyssa and his sister Macrina, Jean Gerson, Johann von Staupitz, and Martin Luther, who all contend that consolation is central to our transformation into the life of God."
"Post-Christian life and society do not eliminate a desire for the transcendent; rather, they create an environment for new and divergent spiritual communities and practices to flourish. We are flooded with spiritualities that appeal to human desires for nonreligious personal transformation. But many fail to deliver because they fall into the trap of the self.
In the last book of the Ministry in a Secular Age series, leading practical theologian Andrew Root shows the differences between these spiritualities and authentic Christian transformation. He explores the dangers of following or adapting these reigning mysticisms and explains why the self has become so important yet is burdened with guilt—and how we should think about both. To help us understand our confusing cultural landscape, he maps spiritualities using twenty of the best memoirs from 2015 to 2020 in which 'secular mystics' promote their mystical and transformational pathways. Root concludes with a more excellent way—even a mysticism—centered on the theology of the cross that pastors and leaders can use to form their own imaginations and practices."
"What if the solution for the decline of today's church isn't more money, people, programs, innovation, or busyness?
What if the answer is to stop and wait on God?
In When Church Stops Working, ministry leaders Andrew Root and Blair Bertrand show how actively watching and listening for God can bring life out of death for churches in crisis today. Using clear steps and practices, they invite church leaders to stop the endless cycle of doing more and rather to simply 'be' in God's presence. They tell the story of two congregations who did this—and found new life in the process.
When Church Stops Working distills the core themes of Root's critically acclaimed Ministry in a Secular Age series in a more accessible form. Leaders and churchgoers who are burned out and hopeless will experience affirmation, encouragement, and empowerment as Root and Bertrand turn to the book of Acts as well as examples from contemporary congregational life to show what 'active' waiting looks like and the saving grace it can hold."
"Churches and their leaders have innovation fever. Innovation seems exciting—a way to enliven tired institutions, embrace creativity, and be proactive—and is a superstar of the business world. But this focus on innovation may be caused by an obsession with contemporary relevance, creativity, and entrepreneurship that inflates the self, lacks theological depth, and promises burnout.
In this follow-up to Churches and the Crisis of Decline, leading practical theologian Andrew Root delves into the problems of innovation. He explores where innovation and entrepreneurship came from, shows how they break into church circles, and counters the 'new imaginations' like neoliberalism and technology that hold the church captive to modernity. Root reveals the moral visions of the self that innovation and entrepreneurship deliver—they are dependent on workers (and consumers) being obsessed with their selves, which leads to significant faith-formation issues. This focus on innovation also causes us to think we need to be singularly unique instead of made alive in Christ. Root offers a return to mysticism and the poetry of Meister Eckhart as a healthier spiritual alternative."
"Churches often realize they need to change. But if they're not careful, the way they change can hurt more than help.
Leading practical theologian Andrew Root offers a new paradigm for understanding the congregation in contemporary ministry. He articulates why congregations feel pressured by the speed of change in modern life and encourages an approach that doesn't fall into the negative traps of our secular age.
Living in late modernity means our lives are constantly accelerated, and calls for change in the church often support this call to speed up. Root asserts that the recent push toward innovation in churches has led to an acceleration of congregational life that strips the sacred out of time. Many congregations are simply unable to keep up, which leads to burnout and depression. When things move too fast, we feel alienated from life and the voice of a living God.
The Congregation in a Secular Age calls congregations to reimagine what change is and how to live into this future, helping them move from relevance to resonance."
"Congregations often seek to combat the crisis of decline by using innovation to produce new resources. But leading practical theologian Andrew Root shows that the church's crisis is not in the loss of resources; it's in the loss of life—and that life can only return when we remain open to God's encountering presence.
This new book, related to Root's critically acclaimed Ministry in a Secular Age project, addresses the practical form the church must take in a secular age. Root uses two stories to frame the book: one about a church whose building becomes a pub and the other about Karl Barth. Root argues that Barth should be understood as a pastor with a deep practical theology that can help church leaders today.
This book pushes the church to be a waiting community that recognizes that the only way for it to find life is to stop seeing the church as the star of its own story. Instead of resisting decline, congregations must remain open to divine action. Root offers a rich vision for the church's future that moves away from an obsession with relevance and resources and toward the living God."
"In Faith Formation in a Secular Age, the first book in his Ministry in a Secular Age trilogy, Andrew Root offered an alternative take on the issue of youth drifting away from the church and articulated how faith can be formed in our secular age. In The Pastor in a Secular Age, Root explores how this secular age has impacted the identity and practice of the pastor, obscuring his or her core vocation: to call and assist others into the experience of ministry.
Using examples of pastors throughout history—from Augustine and Jonathan Edwards to Martin Luther King Jr. and Nadia Bolz-Weber—Root shows how pastors have both perpetuated and responded to our secular age. Root turns to Old Testament texts and to the theology of Robert Jenson to explain how pastors can regain the important role of attending to people's experiences of divine action, offering a new vision for pastoral ministry today."
"The loss or disaffiliation of young adults is a much-discussed topic in churches today. Many faith-formation programs focus on keeping the young, believing the youthful spirit will save the church. But do these programs have more to do with an obsession with youthfulness than with helping young people encounter the living God?
Questioning the search for new or improved faith-formation programs, leading practical theologian Andrew Root offers an alternative take on the issue of youth drifting away from the church and articulates how faith can be formed in our secular age. He offers a theology of faith constructed from a rich cultural conversation, providing a deeper understanding of the phenomena of the 'nones' and 'moralistic therapeutic deism.' Root helps listeners understand why forming faith is so hard in our context and shows that what we have lost is not the ability to keep people connected to our churches but an imagination for how and where God could be present in their lives. He considers what faith is and what steps we can take to move into it, exploring a Pauline concept of faith as encounter with divine action."
"In the bestselling tradition of Inside of a Dog and Marley & Me, a smart, illuminating, and entertaining read on why the dog-human relationship is unique--and possibly even 'spiritual.'
Dr. Andrew Root's search for the canine soul began the day his eight-year-old son led the family in a moving Christian ritual at the burial service for Kirby, their beloved black lab. In the coming weeks, Root found himself wondering: What was this thing we'd experienced with this animal? Why did the loss hurt so poignantly? Why did his son's act seem so right in its sacramental feel?
In The Grace of Dogs, Root draws on biology, history, theology, cognitive ethology (the study of animal minds), and paleontology to trace how in our mutual evolution, humans and dogs have so often helped each other to become more fully ourselves. Root explores questions like: Do dogs have souls? Is it accurate to say that dogs 'love' us? What do psychology and physiology say about why we react to dogs in the way that we do? The Grace of Dogs paints a vivid picture of how, beyond sentimentality, the dog-human connection can legitimately be described as 'spiritual'--as existing not for the sake of gain, but for the unselfish desire to be with and for the other, and to remind us that we are persons worthy of love and able to share love. In this book for any parent whose kids have asked if they'll see Fido in Heaven, or who has looked their beloved dog in the face and wondered what's going on in there, Dr. Root delivers an illuminating and heartfelt read that will change how we understand man's best friend."
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