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The Future of American Christianity (Bowers)

The Future of American Christianity (Bowers)

Can the church be saved?

The Christian church in America is unsustainable in its current condition. Membership is declining. Clergy are jumping ship. New generations aren't interested. Revitalization programs are only a stopgap.

What is needed for the American church today?

Laurene Bowers asserts that churches need to become new communities committed to a grassroot focus on love of neighbor:

  • working locally & tangibly for change,
  • developing relationships for deepened faith,
  • prioritizing justice over the preservation of church buildings;
  • relieving pastors of the assignment to save dying congregations.

Against all odds, The Future of American Christianity is a book of hopeful vision for the impact of Christian faith communities. 

"The time for boring, basic books about church decline is past."

"I can't remember the last time I disagreed with an author so often and it felt fantastic! The time for boring, basic books about church decline is past. Agree or disagree, we need brave leaders to tell us what they think is next and how to get there.
"Often inspiring, occasionally infuriating, but never boring, this book is written to spark and shock us into a new way of talking to each other. For the thoughtful lay leader, the exhausted pastor, the denominational bureaucrat, and all the people around the edges, you will see yourself exposed somewhere in this book. I laughed, I winced, and I highlighted. Most of all, I cared about every paragraph I was reading because the stakes are high."
—Lillian Daniel, Michigan Conference Minister (UCC) and author of Tired of Apologizing for a Church I Don't Belong To

About the Author

Laurene Beth Bowers is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. She has pastored five congregations, and has been on the faculties of Quincy College, Andover-Newton Theological School, and Dickinson College teaching religion and practical theology.

Paperback: 168 pages
ISBN 978-0-8298-0070-8
2023

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