Defining the Church for Our Time: Origin and Structure, Variety and Viability

Schmiechen, Peter

ISBN 10: 1610979265 / ISBN 13: 9781610979269

Published by Wipf & Stock Pub, 2012

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Defining the Church for Our Time: Origin and Structure, Variety and Viability
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Pub
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1610979265
• ISBN 13: 9781610979269
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New
• Seller catalogs:
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  • VCF

About this title

Synopsis

The church is broken and we cannot fix it. Faith in God is disconnected from churches. Mainline churches are deeply divided, and their budgets and congregations have diminished, with no agreement for recovery. So what shall we do? It is time to stop talking about the problems and to consider a new vision of the church for our time. This book is a celebration of the church as the community of new life in Christ. It assumes Christ intended to create a community on earth embodying grace and holiness. It begins with a new and inclusive definition of the church as a community enduring in time. It affirms the great variety of churches, all as valid expressions of the new life, and explains how and why churches are formed in different ways. The goal is for churches to celebrate the saving power of Christ and to see the glory of God revealed in the world in our time.

About the Author

Peter Schmiechen is president emeritus and professor of theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary. He is the author of Saving Power: Theories of Atonement and Forms of the Church (2005) and Gift and Promise: An Evangelical Theology of the Lord's Supper (2017).