Books

Our Committee is currently studying:

Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good.
Amy Sherman

This is a concise work that outlines the theology and constructs that will help churches produce followers of Jesus that understand how what might normally be considered ordinary parts of our lives are actually vocations to be stewarded for Kingdom good.  It is filled with examples of people who are making a difference in their communities in remarkable ways.

Amy Sherman is facilitating the Vocation Learning Community that our Cascade delegation is participating in. We are very glad to be able to bring the entire committee on the learning journey that our small delegation is enjoying.

Our Committee has studied and discussed:

The Tangible Kingdom Primer: an eight-week guide to incarnational community
Hugh Halter and Matt Smay.

Hugh and Matt have been helpful and moderate voices in helping churches recover a sense of “sent-ness” (synonymous with “missional”). Their own community of faith, called Adullum, has been a wonderful place of experimentation and learning from which they have trained thousands of church leaders and planters. This particular primer is designed to help small groups live with the habits and practices that will shape followers of Jesus learn how to live on mission with him. The point is to connect two things: spiritual formation (deep heart change) with the active mission of God in this world.

For a more in-depth understanding of what the primer is trying to communicate, this introductory video by Hugh Halter is very informative:

Introducing the Missional Church: What It Is, Why It Matter, How to Become One

Alan Roxburgh and Scott Boren.

This is currently the key book that our Cascade committee is using to help inform our work. The authors have done a great job of capturing the shifts in thinking that the Church must become conversant with in order to faithfully be the Church for this coming generation.

Despite the title “… How to Become One”, this is not an instruction manual for “how to do church.” It will however lead you to understanding the central concepts of what church is, what we are to be about, and the various practices that will help us be the kind of people we need to be.

Velvet Elvis: Repainting The Christian Faith
Rob Bell

This early work of Bell is a wonderful recasting of the Christian faith through the eyes of a pastor that sees clearly what doesn’t seem to make sense about the way we have been living and communicating our faith in Jesus.

He makes a wonderful case for the need to isolate the unchanging gospel from the ever changing times. In the process, he presents a perspective on following the way of Jesus as his disciple. Our committee chose to use this book so we might get a glimpse of what that “next generation” is thinking, only to realize that many of us “previous generation” people also deeply resonated with the call to perspective and change.

Wholly Jesus: His Surprising Approach to Wholeness and Why It Matters Today
Mark Foreman

Last year, the elders of our church worked through this book, penned by “local” pastor Mark Foreman of North Coast Calvary in Carlsbad. As you might expect, Wholeness is the fresh lens by which we are invited to look at what God is doing through Jesus and his bride the Church. The three parts: Why Wholeness Matters, How Jesus Defined Wholeness, and How Half People Become Whole.