Improvising Church: Scripture as the Source of Harmony, Rhythm, and Soul
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
The post-Christian cultural turn is creating the conditions for a crisis of confidence in the church and in pastoral ministry. While such changes can be disruptive and disconcerting, our new cultural reality makes the present moment a uniquely exciting time to reimagine churches that bear witness to Christ. How do we move beyond cookie-cutter approaches (which may have worked in the past) to building the creative, compassionate, and incarnational churches we long for?
Biblical scholar and accomplished jazz pianist Mark Glanville plays with a metaphor of improvisation to chart twelve themes as the key “notes” on which Christian communities play as they bear witness to God in the world today. Building on these two dynamic traditions—jazz music and Christian community—Improvising Church unfolds a biblical, practical, and inventive vision for churches seeking to receive and extend the healing of Christ.
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- Explores twelve themes of ministry
- Unfolds a biblical, practical, and inventive vision for churches seeking to receive and extend the healing of Christ
- Builds on two dynamic traditions, jazz music and Christian community
- Introduction
- 1. The Text Grants
- 2. Leader-full
- 3. Local
- 4. Beauty
- 5. Worship in Polyrhythms
- 6. Shared Life
- 7. Healing, Kinship, and Maternal Nurture
- 8. Creation
- 9. Voice
- 10. Conversations
- 11. Sins of Our Kin
- 12. Prayer
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Preaching That Nourishes Incarnational Communities
Part I: Harmony
Part II: Rhythm
Part III: Soul
In a world where Scripture struggles to gain a hearing and models for renewing the church are often drawn from the latest fads, Improvising Church is stunning. Drawing on his deep, loving engagement with Scripture and his long experience in churches on the margins, Mark Glanville offers a humble, exhilarating invitation to become congregations that help our neighbors encounter the joy of Jesus and his way in the world. Like the jazz that serves as its primary metaphor, Improvising Church brought me to tears and made my heart sing. It is a gift to anyone seeking to help God’s people become who we’re called to be in our post-Christian, Western world.
—Michael J. Rhodes, lecturer in Old Testament at Carey Baptist College and author of Just Discipleship: Biblical Justice in an Unjust World
Imagine an interpreter of Scripture with trustworthy credentials. Now imagine a musician who enchants with creativity. Next imagine a pastor who can mobilize a community to bless a neighborhood. In Mark Glanville, all three of these are one person. Read, listen, and imagine what more may be possible.
—Jason Byassee, senior pastor of Timothy Eaton Memorial Church in Toronto, Ontario
There is a good case to be made that the missing component in our contemporary apologetic is beauty. In this book, Mark Glanville draws on his pastoral and musical experience to invite and instruct the church to move in ways—like good jazz—that show the beauty of God to a world that desperately needs good news.
—Tim Morey, Life Covenant Church