The Emerging Church
Original Price: $24.95
This book presents the biological principle of emergence and applies it to culture shifting in congregations. The universe knows how to do life from the inside-out. By moving away from cultures of command and control to a more natural organic model, congregations discover the key to their power and the secret to sustained vitality.
Watch an audio-visual podcast and read the web-release.
The book provides the theological basis for making this shift as well some very pragmatic steps to help your congregation come alive in Christ. (Read the Prologue).
The book is published by Woodlake Books and is now available.
The launch was on Sunday, April 6th at Canadian Memorial @ 10:30 am with reception and book signing.
Here’s what leading edge thinkers are saying about the book.
With The Emerging Church Bruce Sanguin dares to walk his talk and to resurrect church life using models from the new cosmology, creation spirituality and his own twenty years of ministry in the trenches. He challenges and he teaches, he offers strategies and he heals, he gives hope and he leads–all vital work if Spirit is to awaken communities to move beyond mere survival to genuine flourishing and deep service. Recommended for all eager to see church renewed!
Matthew Fox, author of Original Blessing, A New Reformation, A Spirituality Named Compassion
“There is hope for the established Canadian church! Bruce’s experience points to the attitude changes, organizational shifts, and leadership strategies that are necessary for a church to thrive in the emerging world. He models the hard work, spiritual life, and persistent mission demanded of Christ-followers today.”
Tom Bandy
President, Easum Bandy and Associates
Copper House, an imprint of WOOD LAKE PUBLISHING INC. 2008 In his prior book, Darwin, Divinity and the Dance of the Cosmos: Sanguin showed his knowledge and fascination with the wide range of scientific knowledge of our universe and presented an inspiring picture of wholeness that related this wisdom with the world of Spirit. He brings this same wisdom to this book which is a guide to a re-vitalized and uplifted church. The existing church is portrayed as an organism which has the potential for growth from "what is" to a stronger, more effective and fully developed "what might be". But the developing, flowering, more vital church, is not portrayed as something that will automatically follow from adhering to a given set of instructions in a guidebook. Sanguin makes it clear that there are numerous conditions that must first be present both in the church pastor and in the leading laypersons in the congregation. First, the pastor must be a person of wisdom and a deeply developed spirituality, and someone very aware of his/her inner life, including his/her strengths and weaknesses. There must also be a core of lay leadership, also with wisdom, strength, and an ability to very patiently pursue a worthwhile but distant goal. He makes very clear that such a process of growth and development will take place over years, rather than merely weeks or months. And during the ongoing change there will need to be the ability to review the journey and identify wrong paths taken and make the needed corrections, all without becoming discouraged and giving it all up.As in his prior book, Sanguin blends the practical and the spiritual into a more meaningful and useful whole that inspires, but makes clear the depth of dedication and commitment that are needed for the task. Some pastors or some church lay leaders may look at their churches after reading the book and decide it is unlikely they have the needed ingredients to carry out such an "emergence". Others will decide that, "yes, it will be long and difficult, but it is possible and we must begin the journey now".