Countercultural

Countercultural is an argument for the critical role of neighborhood congregations as an antidote to the division and loneliness and anti-institutionalism now experienced in America.

After decades of anti-institutionalism, here is a book that is honest about the importance of congregations and our need for them in our lives. Despite our lack of trust in institutions, we cannot live without them and still hope to live together in communities, let alone a nation. For important reasons our neighborhood institutions of religion (congregations) hold hope not found in other places. Politics and the economy have proven themselves gridlocked and incapable of breaking the narratives of fear and scarcity that now divide us.

However, to step up into public space in order to offer what they hold as so important to these divided times, leaders of congregations need to understand why they are so countercultural and why being countercultural is an important role to play. This is not a time for congregations to try to fit into the culture and to worry about growing their membership and increasing their finances. It is not a time to let organizational anxieties determine next steps. What is required is courage – leaders courageous enough to speak openly with confidence of what they know, congregations courageous enough to seek new forms with which to offer the ancient wisdom that people still search for.

As much as religious institutions are now needed, old forms no longer work in a fast and deeply changing culture. Instead of trying to improve what is already known, this book will provide a way for congregations to thrive and fulfill their purpose by being countercultural.

Preface

An Introduction to an Argument

1. In Defense of a Counter-Cultural Church
2. What Now Is a Congregation? – The Hidden Malleability of the Institutional Congregation
3. Being at the End of Our Rope – Living In a World Without a Reliable Order
4. Usufruct and Obedience to the Unenforceable – The Importance of Institutions
5. Jesus Loves Me, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves – The Treasure in our Clay Pot
6. The Simple Treasure and the Complexity of Discipleship
7. Where Does “WE” Live? – Finding the New Public Space and Common Good
8. Jesus Is Enough

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author