Jesus in the Margins: Finding God in the Places We Ignore [Paperback]

Rick Mckinley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 20, 2005

Good News Unpacked

Jesus is our ultimate model for finding identity, acceptance, and legitimacy from the Father. As we pull back the curtain on His life, we discover that Jesus knows what it’s like to be marginalized. He understands how it feels to have society shove you to the side, to not really be accepted, and in the end to be totally rejected. He can identify with life in the margins because when God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, He landed in the margins. On purpose. And He chose to land there because it’s in the margins that broken lives get mended, prisoners are set free, and the poor hear the Good News.

Reimagine Your Life

Welcome to the crowded margins of life. It’s a place where normal people don’t feel normal. Where the daily grind drowns out the soft cry within that says, “I do not have it together.” Where just beneath the surface we long for meaning and—dare we hope?—wholeness.

Rick McKinley writes from experience: Only God can rescue a person from the margins. Why? Because when He came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, in the margins is where he landed. On purpose. To find you.

Don’t wait till you get yourself together. Meet Jesus in the margins just as you are, and reimagine your life through the lens of His transforming love.



Story Behind the Book

This book was birthed out of Rick’s ministry at Imago Dei Community Church. Rick’s heart is to communicate God’s Word in an understandable way to those who are outside the reach of traditional churches. He often calls this “unpacking the gospel”—a gospel he sees as the predominant theme in all of Scripture. Rick says the kind of people he ministers to “are not afraid of the language of theology, but the theological ideas need to be brought down from the mountain.”

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

While reading Acts 20:24, Rick McKinley felt God calling him into ministry, and within nine months of his conversion, he was a student at Multnomah Bible College. He worked full time as a youth pastor at a Presbyterian church and went to school full time while his wife, Jeanne, had her hands full with twins. Over the past fifteen years of following Christ, fourteen years of marriage, and thirteen years of full time ministry, they both continue to be amazed at God’s grace and goodness in their lives. Rick and Jeanne live in Portland, Oregon, with their four children. Rick is the lead pastor at Imago Dei Community Church.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Multnomah Books (January 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590523873
• ISBN-13: 978-1590523872
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rick McKinley is the author of Jesus in the Margins and This Beautiful Mess. He is the founding pastor of Imago Dei Community in Portland, Oregon and speaks around the country on the topics of holistic mission, leadership, and spiritual formation. Rick and his wife, Jeanne, live with their four children in Portland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We all are in the margins, February 6, 2005

By 

Drew E. Goodmanson "Goodmanson.com" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jesus in the Margins: Finding God in the Places We Ignore (Paperback)

McKinley writes an excellent work examining Jesus ministry to people in the margins. Many may be familiar with McKinley as 'Pastor Rick' in Don Miller's books (Blue Like Jazz, etc). Pastor Rick really picks up on a lot of the ideas Miller writes about but puts feet to them. He presents a view of Christianity that recognizes how many people feel broken, damaged by family/friends and lost in a world that seems to be heading in the other direction. This is where understanding how the Bible shows Jesus and his work to those left in the margins is so valuable. McKinley writes from experience, as they guy who has had his own struggles with acceptance and letting people in. I recommend this book as both individually healing and as a great presentation of what the Kingdom of God should look like.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book!!!, March 2, 2005

By 

duane smets (san diego, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jesus in the Margins: Finding God in the Places We Ignore (Paperback)

i really liked this book. i read a lot of theology and it is rare to find a book that hits that experiential note without it being sappy or weak theologically. the book sort of has a blue like jazz flavor to it but it has more of a foundational ground and agenda. in blue like jazz, rick mckinely is "pastor rick says..."

it was cool to get to know pastor rick and his friends in reading "Jesus in the margins" but even more so it hit a chord with me because the Jesus he presented made a lot of sense. so often i get the feeling that people think christianity is a religion and Jesus is our god who makes the rules. this book presents a different Jesus, one is even though he is God, loves to hang out with sinners and isn't afraid to break the rules. i understood something about Jesus that i never quite have in the same way before reading it...that Jesus knows what it feels like to be on the outside and that he went outside those boundaries for a reason. for me and for other screw-ups. the book gives theological feet to a mission mindset that cares more for sinners than arguing over trivial things in some sort of christian club.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, March 29, 2005

By 

Eric J. Swanson "Eric Swanson--Co-author of T... (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jesus in the Margins: Finding God in the Places We Ignore (Paperback)

The great Indian missionary and Christian statesman, E. Stanley Jones, was once asked by a Russian actress if he was a Christian because he wanted God to hold his hand and give him comfort. Jones replied, "I don't want God to hold my hand, but I want him to strengthen my arm that I might reach out a helping hand to others." What Jones expressed in a sentance, McKinley has fleshed out in this wonderful book. Through stories woven through his personal journey of grace and faith we see how believers and the church alike can reach out to all who need hope, faith and love. The margins of society are not to be ignored but rather the places Jesus often shows up most visibly.