Wise Church
Forming a Wisdom Culture in Your Local Church
Edited by Scot McKnight and Daniel J. Hanlon
Imprint: Cascade Books
"Wise Church is about rethinking church cultures so they become more of a wisdom culture. The topics vary as widely as church life itself: letter writing as pastoral care, the work life of congregants, evangelism, music, church economics, spiritual formation as the pursuit of wisdom, racial justice, marriage, learning how to teach like Jesus, gospeling like the apostles, and the wise use of social media. These studies are by pastors and scholars pondering wisdom, but more than that, they are pondering the life we all live in a wise way. We and our churches need wisdom, not simply because we live in an ever-changing world, but because the God we worship is himself wise. Wise church cultures reflect the wisdom of God back into the world, a world looking for wisdom."
With contributions from:
Jeff Bannman
Jeremy Berg
Brandon Evans
Pete Goodman
David Johnston
Ernest F. Ledbetter III
Julie Murdock
Joshua Little
John M. Phelps
Ivan Ramirez
Bill D. Shiell
Scot McKnight is Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary, and is an author of more than eighty books, including commentaries on Colossians, Philemon, and Galatians.
Daniel J. Hanlon is an Anglican priest in the Kigali Diocese of the Anglican Church of Rwanda and a graduate of Northern Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Dan and his wife, Kari, have lived and served in Kigali for ten years.
“Wise Church is a wonderful invitation to join a rich dialogue of pastors and scholars. Its contributors tackle twenty-first-century issues ranging from social justice to social media, to the Christian life in the family household and in the household of faith. Having served over thirty years as an urban pastor, this book helped me reflect and retool for yet another season of leading our congregation for maximum impact for God’s kingdom.”
—Marshall Elijah Hatch, senior pastor, New Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church, Chicago
“In our trying times, sources of wisdom are rare, but this book is one of them. Scot McKnight has been a wise counselor to me for many years. In Wise Church, Scot and his students have put together a topical toolkit that will assist church leaders with practical wisdom for common aspects of life and ministry.”
—Todd Hunter, Anglican bishop and author of Our Character at Work
“Wise Church is a wise book. It is wise because it embodies in words the wisdom culture it promotes. It is wise because its practical contents have to do with how churches are called to live life. It is wise because it portrays wisdom as a trinitarian virtue: God-activated, Spirit-inspired, Christ-shaped. And it is wise because the exceptionally rich variety of topics are presented by its thirteen contributors with pastoral grace . . . and wisdom.”
—Graham Buxton, Senior Lecturer in Theology, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
“As demand increasingly outstrips supply, wisdom’s value continues to grow. In Wise Church, McKnight, Hanlon, and a team of ministry practitioners offer this priceless commodity to the church, with guidance for its diverse ecclesial applications, from racial reconciliation to marital relationships and social media engagement.”
—Will Kynes, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies, Samford University
“In an age of technique, celebrity, and toxic leadership, Wise Church calls us to walk the paths of ancient wisdom for our own time, lived out in the midst of godly community.”
—Jay L. Greener, Church of the Redeemer, Highwood, Illinois