Foreword by Donald MillerAfterword by John M. PerkinsMany Americans think that race problems are a thing of the past because we no longer live under the Jim Crow laws that once sustained overt structures of segregation. Unfortunately, says Paul Louis Metzger, today we live under an updated version of segregation, through the subtle power of unchallenged norms of consumer preference.Consumerism affects and infects the church, reinforcing race and class divisions in society. Intentionally or unintentionally, many churches have set up structures of church growth that foster segregation, such as...

In this introduction to ecclesiology, respected scholars Brad Harper and Paul Louis Metzger offer a solidly evangelical yet ecumenical survey of the church in mission and doctrine. Combining biblical, historical, and cultural analysis, this comprehensive text explores the church as a Trinitarian, eschatological, worshiping, sacramental, serving, ordered, cultural, and missional community. It also offers practical application, addressing contemporary church life issues such as women in ministry, evangelism, social action, consumerism in church growth trends, ecumenism, and the church in...

Description: This collection of essays provides samplings of a theological engagement of culture that Paul Louis Metzger has been developing over the years in his work as founder and director of The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins at Multnomah Biblical Seminary of Multnomah University. Metzger espouses an incarnational over against a predominantly worldview-oriented or market-driven theological approach to engaging culture, and situates his work in Trinitarian communal and co-missional thought forms. This volume of biblically and theologically framed and...

We live in a multifaith society: an ever-growing, diverse cultural climate, where no religion is viewed as having a monopoly on truth. It is important when that Christ-followers not only share the Word of God but also listen and learn how to interact meaningfully with those of diverse perspectives as we engage in life's most important conversations.

Connecting Christ encourages believers to be not only better communicators and witnesses but also listeners to people of other worldviews and traditions--skills that are crucial in defending against today's negative...

Synopsis: "I pray . . . that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. . . . May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me." -Jesus Christ What if? What if believers of multiple ethnicities manifested the diversity in unity for which Jesus prayed? What if largely separate, homogeneous congregations-which account for nearly 92.5 percent of all churches in the United States-increasingly became connected, multiethnic congregations? What if, at eleven o'clock on Sunday mornings-or whenever believers gather to worship-local congregations...

Matthew Farlow traces the thoughts of Balthasar and Barth so as to enter into theological truth of God's Being-in-Act. This exploration embarks on a journey into the reality of our Triune God who has engaged his creation so as to elicit fellow actors. God seeking out humanity is God with us, a truth that not only informs our theological endeavors, but invites us into the dramatic performance of reconciliation. As Farlow illumines, God is an acting God who seeks fellow participants in his ongoing drama of salvation. Through the dramatizing of theology, the church and her theologians come to...