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Community Engagement after Christendom
Series: After Christendom
Imprint: Cascade Books
The post-Christendom era in the English-speaking world has seen a significant reduction in access to political power by the churches, a slow loss of their social and cultural influence, and a shredding of their moral standing from abuse scandals and other public failings. Community Engagement after Christendom directly addresses these challenges, proposing a different approach to the relationship between church and society.
Church agencies today are often entangled in contracting with the state and its private partners to deliver government policy and services. This means they can be increasingly vulnerable to external pressure. So what resources can they and their agencies draw upon to reshape community engagement in a difficult, unsettling context?
Community Engagement after Christendom proposes a multifaceted approach. It begins by reading Scripture afresh through questions shaped by the present situation. Douglas Hynd then explores the story of Anabaptist public servant Pilgram Marpeck, identifying how his critique of Christendom can help reshape our understanding today. Finally, he looks at the current experience of church-related agencies and Christian advocacy, suggesting fresh, imaginative ways forward.
Douglas G. Hynd is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Charles Sturt University in Canberra. He is a member of Canberra Baptist Church, and is actively involved in providing community support for refugees.
“Doug provides a timely challenge to the Christian church to ‘reimagine’ their role in society from one of power and influence, characteristic of Christendom, to one of service and ‘community engagement.’ This is a must-read for any person leading a church-related community-service organization in this age of transformation with an interest in the changing relationship between church and state.”
—Doug Taylor, former Deputy CEO of Uniting NSW & ACT
“As CEO and pastor of a church with a large staff, running many programs for people in need, I’ve found no book more helpful than this one. Hynd soberly, carefully names the difficulties of the present while essentially calling from the future. This book and this man remind me that authority comes with a quiet, measured voice.”
—Graham Long, Pastor, Wayside Chapel
“Doug Hynd offers a terrific account of the challenges and opportunities for a discipleship of community engagement on the way out of Christendom. . . . The book is lucid, clear, theologically informed, and laced with apposite stories drawn from his knowledge and experience of contracting and advocacy in the welfare sector. . . . An excellent guide for rethinking community engagement and the welfare sector.”
—Stephen Pickard, Professor of Theology, Charles Sturt University
“Marshalling his deep, practical theological and public-service resources with care, economy, faithfulness, and imagination, Doug Hynd asks our churches to rethink Christian community engagement from a perspective which destabilizes top-down power relations and opens us up to transformation, both personal and political.”
—Simon Barrow, Director, Ekklesia think tank, Edinburgh
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