Adaptive Church

Dustin D. Benac is the Director and Co-founder of the Program for the Future Church, Baylor University

Introduction: Collaboration, Community, and Change in the Pacific Northwest Part One: Organizational Environments 1. "The Church Has Always Been Nimble": Church Engagement on the Edge of Christendom 2. "Hope and Care in the Neighborhood": Refounding the Church in Local Community Part Two: The Nexus of Collaborative Work 3. The Structure of Adaptive Change: Organizing Challenges and Values for Communities of Faith 4. Anchors and Webs: Hubs as Fields, Networks, and Ecologies Part Three: A Practical Theology for an Adaptive Church 5. Reimagining Church: Pastoral and Ecclesial Imagination for Adaptive Change 6. Adaptive Church: Patterned Practice for a Way of Life Part Four: A Theological Paradigm for a Changing World 7. "We're Better Together": Wisdom, Presence, and Leadership for Adaptive Change 8. A Moment of Renovating Virtue: Adaptive Possibility beyond Certainty Appendices

Seminaries and denominations should give this research a serious review, and possibly glean key ideas for the future of the Church. --David Penno, Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Andrews University "Journal of Religious Leadership" Adaptive Church is a book that will challenge and inspire those seeking a rigorous engagement of the pressing questions around church identity, mission, and purpose. Benac writes with precision and deploys a wide range of theoretical tools in service to his vision of the renewed church. --Lyndon Shakespeare "Anglican Theological Review" "...a stimulating and enriching book, one which challenged my thinking and provided helpful concepts to explore the ecclesiology of such communities. For those looking for an ecclesiology of church drawing on these new communities, this book provides rich starting points for developing such an ecclesiology weaving together helpful ideas of adaptive change, imagination and theological redescription. For those working in the kinds of hubs, networks and organizations that are the focus of the book, the practical wisdom and conceptual frameworks developed here will provide important and enlightening ways to reflect on and develop their work." --James Butler, University of Roehampton, London; Church Mission Society, Oxford "Ecclesial Futures" Benac has shown that the catalyst for further adaptation lies in the connections between groups and has outlined the structures and leadership needed in organisational hubs that form the glue between different communities in a mixed ecclesial ecology. This book, and the last two chapters in particular, are full of practical wisdom for such situations. --Andrew Dunlop, Editor in Chief "Ecclesial Practices" ...Benac offers a realistic and actionable framework for how church leaders can find resources and create networks to strengthen congregations in a post-Christian America. --Brian Louis "Presbyterian Outlook"