A Vision for how we become God's church now for God's intended future. Picture a forest full of strong, old-growth trees with bright new saplings dotting the gaps between. This is one vision for the church we are becoming. A church ecosystem where established churches nurture new congregations, even congregations that look quite different. Ken Carter writes of this rich ecosystem with Michael Adam Beck, showing how the Methodist Church can be old and new, traditional, and unconventional. More importantly, they demonstrate why this mixed ecology is necessary and biblical. The book is practical and immediately useful. The chapters are short and pithy. The authors use frameworks, diagrams, metaphors, and lists throughout the book. This material provides the reader with 'handles' to grab onto so that they can digest the ideas and see how they work. Readers will begin to see their challenges in a new light. They'll learn to shift their thinking away from disillusionment (the desert), toward innovation and hope (the gardens). Pastors and others will be equipped to do the work required to become adaptive leaders and to lead the UMC into a new life.
Your church can thrive in this strange new world! Many church people and leaders feel like exiles in their own land. We are facing tremendous challenges. And, just as for those who came before us, the challenges are also opportunities. If we adapt to our new environment, as people and as the body of Christ. Gardens in the Desert offers local and denominational church leaders a practical, inspired, scripture-rooted vision for how we can do this--how we can become God's church now for God's intended future. Michael Adam Beck and Ken Carter draw from Jeremiah 29 to provide wise guidance for leaders and churches seeking to adapt and thrive. Jeremiah's imperatives resonate deeply today, compelling us to experiment, cultivate new relationships, prioritize faith-sharing with people of all ages, interact with others in humility, to "seek the wellbeing of the other," and to move forward with confidence. The chapters are brief and packed with practical ideas and instruction. The authors include ideas from leaders inside and outside the Church, offering multiple ways for leaders to see and understand what it means to be an adaptive leader and how to shape an adaptive church. The book is rich with lists, diagrams, illustrations, clarifying questions, and frameworks, making the material easy to grasp. It is an excellent resource