Being Church in a Liminal Time

Jeffrey D. Jones is the author of a number of books on congregational life and leadership, including: Traveling Together: A Guide for Disciple-Forming Congregations (Alban) and Facing Decline, Finding Hope (Rowman and Littlefield). He has served as the pastor of three churches, the interim pastor of two churches, and twice as a national staff person for the American Baptist Board of Educational Ministries. He retired as the Director of Ministerial Studies and Associate Professor of Ministerial Leadership from Andover Newton in 2015.David Fredrickson is a native Coloradan. He has served as the Assistant Rector to Trinity Church in Buckingham, Pennsylvania, Rector to the Church of the Good Shepherd in Wareham, Massachusetts, Rector to Christ Church Parish in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and is currently the Priest-in-Charge to Zion Episcopal Church in Manchester Center, Vermont.

I'm deeply grateful for the deep and balanced wisdom Jeffrey Jones brings to all his work in helping church leaders navigate in challenging times. If you're an ordained or lay Christian leader, you can count on Jeff and Dave's guidance to be both practically relevant and spiritually rich.

• ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionHow to Read This BookFinal Thoughts Before We BeginChapter 1 – A Reality Check: Living in the In-BetweenA New ThingThe End of ChristendomThe Parable of the SowerAn In-Between TimeChapter 2 – Possibilities for the Future: Discerning an Image of the CongregationDiscerning the Right ThingThree Images When the Images CombineRemembering – Main Street ChurchLetting Go – Trinity ChurchResurrecting – Faith ChurchThe Inevitability of LossChapter 3 – Remembering: A New Way of Seeing What WasEndingsParadoxAddictionChapter 4 – Letting Go: Insights from HospiceChapter 5 – Resurrecting: Spirituality and Ethics RevisitedThe Parable of the YeastA Tiny Part of the WholeBig EffectsA Transforming/Corrupting PresenceA Time-Consuming Process of ChangeNurturing SpiritualityThe Examen PrayerThe Rule of LifeSpiritual DirectionClaiming the Ethic of JesusChapter 6 – A New Model of Leadership: Inwardly Directed and Outwardly FocusedA New Model of LeadershipEnvision the Productive CommunityLook WithinEmbrace the Hypocritical SelfTranscend FearEmbody a Vision of the New Community Disturb the SystemSurrender to the Emergent ProcessEntice Through Moral PowerStrength, Sensitivity and FaithConclusionIndexAbout the Authors