Books by Craig Van Gelder

Explores how the church has engaged--and should engage--the American contextWhat might faithful and meaningful Christian witness look like within our changing contemporary American context?After analyzing contemporary challenges and developing a missiological approach for the US church, Craig Van Gelder and Dwight Zscheile reflect on the long, complex, and contested history of Christian mission in America. Five distinct historical periods from the beginning of the colonial era to the dawn of the third millennium are reviewed and critiqued.They then bring the story forward to the present day, discussing current realities confronting the church, discerning possibilities of where and how the Spirit of God might be at work today, and imagining what participating in the triune God's mission may look like in an uncertain tomorrow.

This careful five-view analysis helps evangelicals understand the Church Growth Movement's strengths and weaknesses and arrive at their own conclusions on issues that affect the future direction of the church.

In a time when churches are focusing on finding strategies and techniques to guarantee success, a movement toward the missional church is emerging. Missional churches are communities created by the Spirit with a unique nature and identity. Purpose and strategies of the church are derivative dimensions, the activities that flow naturally from the church that is focused on Spirit-led ministry.The Ministry of the Missional Church leads pastors, ministry leaders, and laypersons through three simple arguments--the church is; the church does what it is; the church organizes what it does--in order to make sense of how missional churches work. And by focusing the work of the church as the work of the Triune God, this unique book will change the way readers think about the church and the world.

Two ministry experts map the variety of missional church visions over the past decade, opening up new horizons for extending the conversation biblically and theologically.

This fresh perspective on the church explores its essential nature as a community of people governed by the Word and led and taught by the Spirit.