Description: Foreword by George R. Hunsberger
How does one authentically hear and live out the gospel in North America? This new book attempts to answer this question in a way that reveals much about the nature of Christian faith today and its relation to contemporary culture. In keeping with the aims of the acclaimed Gospel and Our Culture series, StormFront investigates how the gospel intersects American culture and seeks to reorient the church to its full and proper missional vocation. Four authors noted for their understanding of modern church life offer a sober yet hopeful critique of American culture that focuses on consumerism and the privatization of religion, and they challenge the Christian church to embrace its corporate task to be salt and light to the world. Amid the many books on the subject, this one is distinctive in its concern for application. By constrasting contemporary life with a thoroughgoing reading of the biblical narrative, the authors help American Christians discern how our cultural location makes it difficult to live out the transformative message of the gospel. Few readers will fail to be engaged by the lessons offered here.Brief description: Director of theological research at the Center for Parish Development, Chicago.
Review Quotes: Stephen Bevans
"The gospel imaged as a storm presents a disturbing but ultimately life-giving image of God's -- and the church's -- missional presence in our world. Like the raging wind and pounding rain of a summer storm, God's good news is a power that sweeps away dead branches of faith and floods cracked foundations of institutions. At the same time, though, it brings new freshness into our heavy, stagnant lives. The authors of this book do not mince words. If the church is to change it needs this disturbing gospel to cleanse it and give it life."
"Deals effectively with important issues and fundamentally challenges the church to become a missional church."