Joining God, Remaking Church, Changing the World by Alan Roxburgh (Review)

Alan Roxburgh has been writing books about how the church can respond to the massive cultural change afoot for two decades. His latest offering, Joining God, Remaking Church, Changing the World: The New Shape of the Church in Our Time, culls together the wisdom of his experience as a consultant in a highly accessible, slim volume.

Roxburgh offers a penetrating analysis of the "misdirecting narratives" that lead to dead-ends, as well as a series of practice guides to help the church reconnect with it's core conviction, that the Triune God is alive and active in the world, in their city, on their very block. 

Here in Dubuque, Iowa we've been using Joining God in the formation of a new missional community. The "ordinary people of God" that make up this fledgling group have remarked at the fundamental hopefulness of Roxburgh's vision ("places of unraveling [are a] prelude to God shaping a new future for God's people") and have been intrigued by the notion that "God is out ahead of us" and that our core task is to discern what God's up to. The temptation to leverage our expert strategies to "fix the church" hasn't disappeared--not by a long shot--but a growing imagination for joining God in the renewal of all things is beginning to displace this deep-seated default, and that's genuine good news.

Above all, Roxburgh's gift to the church in this moment is a practical resource for guiding the people of God into postures and practices of faith in the God who is once again leading the children of Abraham and Sarah into an unknown land.

The images below are photos around our local context--Dubuque, IA. All quotes are taken from Joining God.
 



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