"Creating a Missional Culture" is Now Available!

[JR Woodward]

It has been a long time coming, but Creating a Missional Culture is now available for the kindle, and within a couple of weeks the print version will be in stock, though you can already order it at a great discount.

Here is a synopsis of the book

If we are going to have churches where the community more fully reflects the character and ministry of Christ, we must understand the hidden power of culture.  Like gravity, the culture of a congregation can either pull people down to their base instincts or lift people up to their sacred potential.  We create culture and culture recreates us.

If we want to create a missional culture in the congregations we serve, we need to understand how the different elements of culture work.  Because thelanguage we live in, the artifacts that we make use of, the rituals we engage in, our approach to ethics, the institutionswe are a part of and the narratives we inhabit have the power to shape our lives profoundly.

In addition, we need to cultivate a learning, healing, welcoming, liberatingand thriving environments.  We do this by yielding to the work of the Spirit in our lives by developing communal rhythms of life – grace-filled spiritual practices which engage our senses, grab our hearts, form our identities and reshape our desires toward God and his kingdom.

While managers operate within culture, leaders create culture. In fact, our very approach to leadership shapes culture in profound ways.  Hierarchical leadership tends to breed an individualistic approach to spiritual formation, while polycentric leadership lends itself to a more communal approach. If we desire to connect with the digital generation, we need to learn to live as a community of leaders within the community.

The apostle Paul makes a direct link between the spiritual maturity of the church and the five kinds of equippers operating in the church.  Thus we must recognize, nourish and release the five equippers  – apostles (dream awakeners), prophets (heart revealers), evangelists (story tellers), pastors (soul healers) and teachers (light givers) – Christ has given the church.  For as the equippers incarnate their lives and ministries within the body, the whole body will be aroused and awakened to live in the world, for the sake of the world, in the way of Christ.

In this book you will:

• understand what missional culture is and why it is important
• discover the five environments that unleash the missional imagination of God’s people
• learn how to assess the culture of the congregation you serve through the culture web
• understand how the culture of the congregation you serve will help or hinder the maturity of the church
• learn how to identify, cultivate and multiply the five equippers in the congregation you serve
• learn why polycentric leadership makes more sense than hierarchical leadership or flat leadership
• get practical tools that will enhance your ability to lead as a tam of cultural architects, cultivating environments where good things run wild
• and more…

You can order the book here.