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An urgent call for Christians to face a changing world with faith and resolve.
The world is changing rapidly. Between climate change, an unequal economic system, and widespread human migration, our societies are under stress and strain like never before. And just at the moment when the world needs to hear good news, many people perceive the Christian church as too old, tired, or out-of-touch to respond.
In Faithful, Creative, Hopeful, Jesse Zink demonstrates the importance of the Christian gospel and its witness to the flourishing of human societies. Zink offers 15 theses—echoing those of the church reformers—that together offer a vision for a renewed faith and a renewed church in this crisis-shaped world. From the future of the Eucharist to the nature of Christian hope, from the challenges of neoliberal capitalism to the joys of local community, Zink skillfully weaves together theology, Scripture, liturgy, congregational ministry, and on-the-ground experience of church in a variety of contexts to provoke, motivate, and challenge Christians to renew their ministry and live our mission in a changing world.
The world is changing rapidly. Between climate change, an unequal economic system, and widespread human migration, our societies are under stress and strain like never before. And just at the moment when the world needs to hear good news, many people perceive the Christian church as too old, tired, or out-of-touch to respond.
In Faithful, Creative, Hopeful, Jesse Zink demonstrates the importance of the Christian gospel and its witness to the flourishing of human societies. Zink offers 15 theses—echoing those of the church reformers—that together offer a vision for a renewed faith and a renewed church in this crisis-shaped world. From the future of the Eucharist to the nature of Christian hope, from the challenges of neoliberal capitalism to the joys of local community, Zink skillfully weaves together theology, Scripture, liturgy, congregational ministry, and on-the-ground experience of church in a variety of contexts to provoke, motivate, and challenge Christians to renew their ministry and live our mission in a changing world.
Price: $22.95
Pages: 224
Publisher: Church Publishing Incorporated
Imprint: Church Publishing
Publication Date:
03 December 2024
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9781640657380
Format: Paperback
"In clear, direct, and vigorous prose, Jesse Zink situates the crisis of the church in the context of the global crises of climate, economics, and migration, and gives a clear-eyed response. Facing squarely our objective uncertainty regarding the world’s future, his fifteen theses outline concrete acts of Christian witness shaped by the certainty of God’s enduring faithfulness."
"Jesse Zink describes the crises of our time, inside and outside the church, with the particularity of local stories that are filled with authenticity and immediacy. Despite these challenges, named with sometimes blunt clarity, he maintains an encouraging focus on what is hopeful and faithful, calling us to practices that will ground the church for the future."
"These theses present a way of finding God’s insistent vision for a church in need of thinking—no, of living!—bigger and with more hope than we have dared to in recent generations. An astute and resolutely clear-eyed student of both church and society, Zink presents the world-saving eschatological promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ while avoiding gimmick or game. Indeed, we have little time for such distractions in these last days."
“In Faithful, Creative, Hopeful, he demonstrates how what we believe and how we witness to it can renew the Church and contribute to the flourishing of human societies. Following Luther’s example, he offers 15 theses, bringing together scripture, liturgy, and the lived experience of the Church in varied contexts, to show an alternative to a world based on neoliberal capitalism. Much of this is rooted in the life of the local congregation and the relationship with their given community, which will please those working ‘to save the parish.’”
“A Christians, we are taught the meaning of hope, but polycrisis makes it easier to focus on anxiety and hopelessness. This book suggests an antidote in the form of theses grounded in Christian faith and hope.”
"Jesse Zink describes the crises of our time, inside and outside the church, with the particularity of local stories that are filled with authenticity and immediacy. Despite these challenges, named with sometimes blunt clarity, he maintains an encouraging focus on what is hopeful and faithful, calling us to practices that will ground the church for the future."
"These theses present a way of finding God’s insistent vision for a church in need of thinking—no, of living!—bigger and with more hope than we have dared to in recent generations. An astute and resolutely clear-eyed student of both church and society, Zink presents the world-saving eschatological promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ while avoiding gimmick or game. Indeed, we have little time for such distractions in these last days."
“In Faithful, Creative, Hopeful, he demonstrates how what we believe and how we witness to it can renew the Church and contribute to the flourishing of human societies. Following Luther’s example, he offers 15 theses, bringing together scripture, liturgy, and the lived experience of the Church in varied contexts, to show an alternative to a world based on neoliberal capitalism. Much of this is rooted in the life of the local congregation and the relationship with their given community, which will please those working ‘to save the parish.’”
“A Christians, we are taught the meaning of hope, but polycrisis makes it easier to focus on anxiety and hopelessness. This book suggests an antidote in the form of theses grounded in Christian faith and hope.”
Introduction
Polycrisis and Christian Witness
Apocalyptic Clarity
1. A crisis-shaped world requires apocalyptic clarity
2. Economic structures are the greatest obstacle to Christian witness
3. Christian formation is not failing. It’s being defeated
Resistant Ethos
4. Christians offer attentiveness to a distracted people
5. Enough is a response to a world of more
6. The catholicity of the Christian community is its response to a globally-connected world
7. In an angry world, the Christian answer is mercy
8. Christian witness is rooted in hope—even if we don’t want it to be
Resistant Practice
9. Place matters: Christian witness begins in particular and specific locales
10. In a time of widespread migration, Christians must embrace their identity as wanderers as well
11. Public, shared places resist the dominance of the market.
Building them up is part of Christian ministry
12. Food is at the center of the church and must be at the center of Christian witness
Renewed Church
13. In a mistrusting world, the church is called to be a community of responsibility and solidarity
14. The church’s future is an ecumenical one—but a very specific kind of ecumenism
15. The Eucharist sets the agenda for the church
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Polycrisis and Christian Witness
Apocalyptic Clarity
1. A crisis-shaped world requires apocalyptic clarity
2. Economic structures are the greatest obstacle to Christian witness
3. Christian formation is not failing. It’s being defeated
Resistant Ethos
4. Christians offer attentiveness to a distracted people
5. Enough is a response to a world of more
6. The catholicity of the Christian community is its response to a globally-connected world
7. In an angry world, the Christian answer is mercy
8. Christian witness is rooted in hope—even if we don’t want it to be
Resistant Practice
9. Place matters: Christian witness begins in particular and specific locales
10. In a time of widespread migration, Christians must embrace their identity as wanderers as well
11. Public, shared places resist the dominance of the market.
Building them up is part of Christian ministry
12. Food is at the center of the church and must be at the center of Christian witness
Renewed Church
13. In a mistrusting world, the church is called to be a community of responsibility and solidarity
14. The church’s future is an ecumenical one—but a very specific kind of ecumenism
15. The Eucharist sets the agenda for the church
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes