The church is on the verge of massive, category shifting, change. Contemporary church growth, despite its many blessings, has failed to stem the decline of Christianity in the West. We are now facing the fact that more of the same will not produce different results. Our times require a different kind of church---an apostolic, reproducing, movement where every person is living a mission-sent life. Many of the best and brightest leaders in the contemporary church are now making the shift in the way they think, lead, and organize. Motivated partly by a vision of the church as ancient as it is new, and with a driving desire to see Biblical Christianity establish itself in Western cultural contexts, we are indeed seeing a new form of the church emerge in our day. Hirsch and Ferguson call this 'apostolic movement' because it is more resonant with the form of church that we witness in the pages of the New Testament and in the great missional movements of history. In this book, Hirsch and Ferguson share a rich array of theology, theory, and best practices, along with inspiring stories about leaders who have rightly diagnosed their churches' failure to embrace a biblical model of mission and have moved toward a fuller expression of the gospel. On the Verge will help church leaders discover how these forerunners and their insights are launching a new apostolic movement---and how any church can get involved.
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'On the Verge is one of those pace-setting books that will cause you to think, rethink and change your paradigm for what the church can become. Dave Ferguson and Alan Hirsch share a great blend of theory and practice that will help you re-envision the way you do church with practical ways to make it a reality. This is a must read if you want to transition your church into the future.' -- Craig Groeschel, Lead Pastor, Life Church <br><br>
From the Back Cover
Two prominent thought-leaders in church planting and mission express a comprehensive vision for a truly apostolic--that is, mission-sent--future of the church. In an idea laden book, they relate inspiring accounts of churches recapturing the apostolic ethos and vision, and explain how a missional approach can bring wholesale transformation to existing churches that want to be all that Jesus intended them to be.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Critical questions for the church,
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This review is from: On the Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church (Exponential Series) (Kindle Edition)
The church needs to recover her most ancient, potent and beautiful form, that of the apostolic movement, according to Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson in this book. The book represents an attempt by the authors to articulate a dynamic learning journey called Future Travelers which is being undertaken by a group of large US churches that are reframing themselves as high-impact exponentially reproducing missional movements.
Readers who are not familiar with Alan's previous books will quickly discover that there is a whole new vocabulary to learn. The new paradigm of apostolic movements arises from the convergence of church growth theory, exponential thinking, and incarnational missiology. The new paradigm, which is referred to as "Apostolic Genius", encompasses mDNA which has six elements: * Jesus is Lord * Disciple-making * Apostolic environment * Missional-incarnational impulse * Organic systems * Communitas Alan's perspective as a missional strategist and apostolic theologian is communicated in chapters 2 to 6, with Dave providing a short response to each chapter, and then Dave's perspective as an apostolic practitioner is communicated in chapters 7 to 10, with Alan providing a short response to each chapter. The two authors have distinctly different writing styles, but it is helpful to get the interposed theoretical and practical perspectives. Most readers will find this a challenging book to read, partly because of the new vocabulary and partly because many of the ideas raised are likely to be unfamiliar to the typical church leader. However, in my view the book is well worth the struggle because of the importance of considering and thinking through the issues raised. Apostolic movements are a work in progress , so it is OK to disagree with the authors' ideas. I personally struggled with the idea that "all of God's people already have everything in them to be able to get the job done". My understanding is that God gives different people different spiritual gifts so that we need to work together with others who have complementary spiritual gifts to get the job done, and this is why a church can accomplish mission far more effectively than lone-ranger Christians, and small groups which do not have an adequate balance of spiritual gifts tend to be ineffective. I highly recommend the book to church leaders and gave it five stars, not because of its literary style or even the answers it gives but because of the critical importance to the church in Western countries of addressing the questions the book raises.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hope for the future of the Church!,
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This review is from: On the Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church (Exponential Series) (Paperback)
This honestly is one of the best books on the topic of the future of the church that I have read to date- it goes beyond theory and actually lays out practical examples of people that are doing it.The authors recognize that God is moving and we are in fact "on the verge" of a major movement of the church! This is a must read for anyone who is ready to reclaim church as identity and movement centered around the core truth "Jesus is Lord".
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
On the Verge--An Engaging Conversation,
This review is from: On the Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church (Exponential Series) (Paperback)
The book, On the Verge, is like an engaging conversation between dinner guests that you overhear. Once the conversation is underway, you lean in closer to get in on it all because its so fascinating.
Authors Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson--respected missiologists in different contexts--carry on a lively conversation about the Great Commission and how to reach people with the gospel in the 21st Century. Acknowledging that the institutional church is not reaching approximately 60% of people in the Western context, the authors call church planters and church leaders to re-imagine the future. They are convinced that by reactivating the 'Apostolic Genius' of every believer thereby we will create a movement ethos. Hirsch and Ferguson are convinced we are on the verge of seeing it happen. Calling on the reader to engage with the material, the authors have divided the book into a simple triad of: Imagine, Shift, and Innovate, a process they see as a means to moving the church to movement. They invite church planters and missional leaders to re-imagine this new future, shift their current thinking, and innovate in their context in order to fuel a verge movement. At once theoretical and practical (and always inspirational) On the Verge is worth reading on your own and with your team.
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