The Once and Future Church: Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier [Paperback]

Loren B. Mead (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1991

Mead takes a broad look at past and present changes in the church, and postulates a future to which those changes are calling us. Denominations, once structured to deliver resources to far-off lands of foreign mission, now encounter the mission field in the layperson's workplace and the community surrounding the local congregation. Thus, the church is called to reinvention for this new mission frontier. Study guide information follows.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is full of vintage Mead—sharp insights to quote and provocative opinions to contest." -- Barbara Wheeler, Auburn Theological Seminary

"This is a book that will challenge everything you are doing, but will also give you clues for the future." -- William McKinney, Dean, Hartford Seminary

About the Author

Loren B. Mead is president emeritus of the Alban Institute, which he founded in 1974. Since his retirement in 1993, he has continued to consult with congregations, lecture, and write. He has written many books, including A Change of Pastors:...And How It Affects Change in the Congregation (2005), More Than Numbers: The Ways Churches Grow, Financial Meltdown in the Mainline?, and Transforming Congregations for the Future.

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Alban Inst (June 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566990505
• ISBN-13: 978-1566990509
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #237,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Once and Future Church is for NOW, April 22, 2011

By 

Tug Master - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Once and Future Church: Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier (Paperback)

As a member of our church's Future Ministry Task Force, and the coordinator of the Stewardship Ministry Team I have been trying to educate myself on the needs of the church to come. This book provided some critical insight into those perceived needs. Mead, using a pertinent graphic and well documented history, identifies clearly how the church, specifically the congregates needs, are changing and the frontiers upon which the changes will take place. Good, quick, insightful read.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent primer on new paradigms for mission, March 31, 2010

By 

Darren Cronshaw (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Once and Future Church: Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier (Paperback)

Loren Mead The Once and Future Church: Reinventing the congregation for a new mission frontier (NY: Alban Institute, 1991)

Reviewed by Darren Cronshaw

Mead has a high view of the church, but clearly explains how congregations are challenged by changing understandings of mission, new roles for laity and leaders, and collapsing institutional structures. Historically he outlines the apostolic paradigm (where witness in a hostile environment was the responsibility of all Christians), through Christendom (where the missionary frontier was removed and left to professionals), and through to today when a third way of being church is being born. Once again the front door of the congregation is a door to mission and the ministry of the laity is being rediscovered. Rather than new programmes, Mead advocates a new paradigm of mission, reinventing the church as we go. He says this will involve refocusing clergy as equippers, prioritizing formation for God's people, and focusing on identity, process and context more than programmes and marketing. This book is available with a study guide and video, and has been followed up with Transforming Congregations for the Future (1994) and Five Challenges for the Once and Future Church (1996), and available with all three together in The Once and Future Church Collection (2001).

Originally appeared in Darren Cronshaw, `The Emerging Church: Introductory Reading Guide', Zadok Papers, S143 (Summer 2005).

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The future of the church, June 4, 2006

By 

D. Michaelis (North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Once and Future Church: Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier (Paperback)

This book does a very good job of describing the background of today's church, and where it can go in the future. An excellent book to help understand the forces effecting the modern church.