Description:
Is there an alternative to the church's impulse to either obsess over boundaries or erase them completely? Building on the work of Paul Hiebert, Mark D. Baker provides a unique manual for understanding and applying the vision of a "centered" church, charting a new path for congregations and leaders to grow in authentic freedom and dynamic movement toward the true center: Jesus himself.
Brief description:
Mark D. Baker (PhD, Duke University) is professor of mission and theology at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary in Fresno, California. He served as a missionary in Honduras for ten years and has written a number of books, including Ministering in Honor-Shame Cultures (with Jayson Georges) and Recovering the Scandal of the Cross (with Joel B. Green).
Review Quotes:
"Centered-Set Church is an immensely practical book brimming with eloquent theology and a lively hope in the loving spirit of Christ active in the world. It's not often that you find the practical and the lyrically beautiful so entwined. Baker embodies the traits he suggests the church needs to embrace to maintain a centered approach. Though clear about his vision, he presents his case with humility and vulnerability--something you don't often find in church manuals. I wish I'd had this book when I planted a church years ago. I highly recommend it to anyone involved in Christian community--church planters, lay leaders, and anyone who longs to glimpse the gracious love at the center of Christian faith."
--Debbie Blue, pastor of House of Mercy in St. Paul, Minnesota, and author of Sensual Orthodoxy