Sentness

Ever wonder why people fall asleep in church? It happens. We?ve all seen it. We shuffle into rows of seats that grow more comfortable with every new fundraising campaign. We slouch down and settle in for an hour or so, as singers and storytellers and preachers and teachers take their turns filling our ears. And almost without fail, at least one of us nods off while listening to the greatest story ever told. The church was not meant to be like this. The church was meant to be on its feet, in the world, making all things new. The church was meant to be sent. Kim Hammond and Darren Cronshaw want to help us—all of us—rediscover our sentness. Dive into Sentness, and explore the six postures of a church that?s keeping pace with God?s work in the world. Rediscover the gospel that first quickened your pulse and got you up on your feet, ready to go wherever Jesus called you. Get Sentness, and prepare to get sent.



Darren Cronshaw is passionate about training, coaching and resourcing leaders and missionaries through his work with the Baptist Union of Victoria, a network of churches and congregations in Victoria, Australia. Along with serving as pastor of AuburnLife Baptist Church, he is an honorary research associate at Whitley College (Melbourne College of Divinity) and Associate Professor in missiology and pastoral theology and practice with Australian Colleges of Ministries.



Michael Frost is an internationally recognized Australian missiologist and one of the leading voices in the missional church movement. He is the vice principal of Morling College in Sydney, Australia, and the founding director of the Tinsley Institute, a mission study centre located at Morling College. A popular speaker around the world, he has written more than a dozen books including The Shaping of Things to Come, Exiles, The Road to Missional, and Incarnate. An expert in church planting, Frost cofounded the Forge Mission Training Network with Alan Hirsch. He remains an international director of that movement which is now based in the United States.



Alan Hirsch is the founding Director of Forge Mission Training Network. He is the co-founder of shapevine.com, an international forum for engaging with world transforming ideas. He leads Future Travelers, a learning journey applying missional-incarnational approaches to established churches and is an active participant in The Tribe of LA, a Jesus community among artists and creatives in Los Angeles. Known for his innovative approach to mission, Hirsch is a teacher and key mission strategist for churches across the western world. His popular book The Shaping of Things to Come (with Michael Frost) is widely considered to be a seminal text on mission. Alan's recent book The Forgotten Ways, has quickly become a key reference for missional thinking, particularly as it relates to movements. His book ReJesus is a radical restatement about the role that Jesus plays in defining missional movements. Untamed, his latest book (with his wife Debra) is about missional discipleship for a missional church. His experience in leadership includes leading a local church movement among the marginalized as well as heading up the Mission and Revitalization work of his denomination. Hirsch is an adjunct professor at Fuller Seminary and lectures frequently throughout Australia, Europe, and the U.S.



Kim Hammond serves as the international director for Forge Missions Training Network. After being the Victorian director of Forge Australia for several years and the national recruiter and networker for Youth for Christ Australia, he moved to the United States in 2009 to launch and lead the work of Forge in America. An engaging international speaker with a background in theater and comedy, Kim also serves as director of missional imagination for the multiple sites that make up Community Christian Church in Chicago. Kim lives with his wife and three sons in Aurora, Illinois.

Foreword by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch


Introduction: Shift


1 Beyond Consumerism


2 Sent People


3 Submerged Ministry


4 Shalom Spirituality


5 Safe Places


6 Shared Life


7 Standing in the Gap


Conclusion: Starting Something New


Acknowledgments


Best Further Reading


Notes

"Dive into Sentness and explore the six postures of a church that's keeping pace with God's work in the world. Rediscover the gospel that first quickened your pulse and got you up on your feet, ready to go wherever Jesus called you. Get Sentness, and prepare to get sent."



"Sentness is a fast-paced and inspiring invitation. It will challenge you to place your home, neighborhood and job under the direction of Jesus and cause you to rethink concepts of church, ministry and mission. It is time to respond to the invitation to be sent--this book is an essential guide."



"The word missional is in danger of becoming a vacuous trend in twenty-first-century evangelicalism, claiming to be new wine but packaged and consumed in the same old programmatic wineskins. This is why we need Sentness. Hammond and Cronshaw pull back the curtain on what "missional" really means and help us conceive the new wineskins (postures and practices, not programs) that are needed to hold this missional wine that looks new but is actually very old, and very powerful. What is needed is not more tips, techniques, buzz words and events--what is needed are new ways of being human together that show and tell the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hammond and Cronshaw--drawing from their deep well of experience--describe our way forward as a sent people into the missional frontier of North America."



"Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich once remarked that the best way to change society is by telling an alternative story. Kim Hammond and Darren Cronshaw do this masterfully in Sentness. By relating inspiring examples of ordinary people who are simply but effectively impacting their communities for Christ, they encourage anyone with a desire for incarnational mission to say, 'I could do that!'"



"In Sentness Kim Hammond and Darren Cronshaw find ways to help us move from the dominant, never satisfied, consumer Christianity of our age to an exciting adventure of living, joining and engaging Jesus out in our neighborhoods and wider world with others. This is a practical, thoughtful and accessible book for those of us who suspect that a better Christian faith, one immersed in this world, is possible."



"Sentness is full of stories and real-life examples of people who live on mission. It encourages us to live our lives out loud while in fellowship with others and on mission together."



"Ahhh! All this missional stuff! Who can make sense of it and bring it down to the level of a normal human? Finally, Kim Hammond and Darren Cronshaw have. Sentness is a perfect place to start or start over if you want the life of Jesus to show up in your life."



"In Sentness Kim Hammond and Darren Cronshaw draw the reader to embrace their vision of God's mission and to realize that each and every Christian is 'sent,' and that their cities, neighborhoods and homes are their mission field. Their stories will challenge and inspire the reader's imagination to think outside the ministry box and share the gospel across cultural and social lines."



"Could it be that while much of the church is waiting for Jesus to come, Jesus is waiting for us to go? This book joins a chorus of voices calling for the church to join God on mission in our world with lots of practical ideas as to how we can do so more effectively. Highly recommended reading."



"Sentness weaves solid theology with thoughtful praxis to not only remind us that all Christ-followers are sent but also to show us how to live a sent life! Hammond and Cronshaw are two leaders who not only teach it but personally live it out, and that is reflected in this great book. If the church will embrace the six postures in Sentness the mission of Jesus will be accomplished!"



"Kim Hammond and Darren Cronshaw come into the kingdom through engaging it--not theologizing it. They run up against what it really means to live missionally. Sentness is clear, simple, practical and powerful in addressing what it means for every believer to engage missionally right where they are. I highly recommend it." weniger anzeigen expand_less