Joining God in the Great Unraveling

“At a time of critical challenge for the church, this book invites us on a journey of rediscovery. Engaging with stories from the margins, its language is engaging and incisive, naming the dilemmas at the heart of contemporary mission and suggesting ways into new spaces. It is a profound invitation to a new kind of seeing.”


—Paul Weston, director of the Newbigin Centre, Ridley Hall, Cambridge





“After twenty years or more of the missional conversation, Al Roxburgh takes us on a much-needed reflective break, leading us through the questions all over again. In Joining God in the Great Unraveling, he leads us past our church-based anxiety to what we have been missing: a fresh encounter with the living God at work in our world. A wonderful, mesmerizing piece by a towering missiologist scholar that is sure to help every pastor lead in this cultural moment.”


—David Fitch, author of Faithful Presence and professor at Northern Seminary





“Alan Roxburgh takes us on a ‘how I’ve changed my mind’ autobiographical journey—rich with intelligent conversation partners, incisive theo-cultural analysis, and hopeful on-the-ground opportunities for walking a gospel path. Along the way, Mary Jo Leddy guides us in resistance and reweaving, Lauren Oakes warns us about the canary tree, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson connects place to intelligence, and Simone Weil lures us away from technocratic rationalism. Instead of remaining in a house of language that hides the gospel inside abstractions, Roxburgh pursues ways of knowing (Polanyi), the importance of bodies and locations (Jennings), and the skills we need to discern where and how God is in our midst (Newbigin), among our neighbors and in our geographies—and we are invited to join.”


—Mark Lau Branson, coauthor of Leadership, God’s Agency, & Disruptions: Confronting Modernity’s Wager





“The title of this book conveys two important and connected realities. First, profound change is impacting our culture and the churches that attempt to minister in such a context. Second, God has not abandoned either our culture or his church. Finding our way in the midst of anxiety-producing change is a challenge that requires some signposts, and Alan Roxburgh’s latest offering helps to locate that signage in ways that local leaders can recognize and engage with.”


—Martin Robinson, former principal of ForMission College and author of multiple books on mission