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Into the Future: Turning Today's Church Trends into Tomorrow's Opportunities (Fleming H. Revell, 2000) by Elmer Towns & Warren Bird. 244 pages. Reviewed by Barry Liesch.The authors offer a rich kaleidoscope of perspectives
on current culture, church trends, and how churches can prepare and
equip themselves for the future Worship leaders. The core ideas of
a host of cutting edge leaders are presented-- from Bill Easum, Richard
Foster, Bill Hybels, Lyle Schaller, Michael Slaughter, to Rick Warren
Charts, numerous sidebars, and extensive quotations from over 100
authors are cited. The publishers put much effort into the interactive
layout of this book--it communicates quickly and with punch. Moreover,
the footnotes reveal scholarly attention to detail I find this book more informative, more balanced,
more pastoral, and also more reflective than many of its type. For example, although the authors have a church
growth orientation, they include quotations critical of the church
growth movement, and such things as the waning of biblical literacy
in North American. Overall, the treatment is broader than the issues
church growth authors often address. Something is sure to grab your attention. For instance
this statement made me think: "culture is the software of the
mind." Reviewer Marshall Shelley comments: "Each chapter
is a rich stewpot, chock full of assorted anecdotes, statistics, quotations,
lists, and insights, which provide taste-tests of a variety of evangelical
authors and thinkers." Each chapter has a sidebar profile of
a church that demonstrates the ideas in the chapter. Each chapter includes a reaction from an expert
who read the chapter prior to publication. There are also discussion
questions at the end of each chapter. Topics such as church health,
relational communication, outreach, new form of conveying truth, lay
empowerment, and stewardship are covered. The two chapters on worship
are not particularly strong however. Into the Future is a good introduction to
the current thinking of many cutting-edge church leaders in the evangelical
world today. I'm guessing some of the captivating quotations and insights
will inspire readers to buy the books of some of the authors cited.
If you're looking for something for the church staff to read
together, this may be it. Worshipinfo gets a small payment from Amazon.com if you buy the book by clicking on our link. |