The Church Then And Now is a blog maintained by Kurt Fredrickson and Eddie Gibbs. As the title suggests, the focus here is the Christian Church with a critical eye on its past while attempting to chart the best course for its future. The authors use this space for Biblical reflection, for commenting on culture, for reviewing relevant books, and for making the occasional “off the cuff” remark.
Who is Kurt Fredrickson?
Kurt is the Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program, and Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He is ordained with the Evangelical Covenant Church. Prior to coming to Fuller in 2003, he was on the pastoral staff at Simi (Evangelical) Covenant Church in Simi Valley, CA for twenty-four years, eighteen of those years serving as senior pastor.
Kurt’s family continues to live in Simi Valley, and they still attend the church he once served as pastor. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Simi Sunrise; he serves on the Community Crime Prevention Task Force, the City of Simi Valley Task Force on Homelessness, and as the chair of that group’s Faith Community sub-committee, the Simi Valley Community Foundation, the board of the Free Clinic of Simi Valley. He is a Supervising Chaplain with the Simi Valley Police Department.
“I love the church, but I am not naïve about the church. The church offers amazing good news of Jesus that transforms lives and cultures. My passion is to help churches missionally engage with their culture extending blessing and good news, and to offer church leaders a new sense of hope, fostering new imaginations as they navigate through crazy societal shifts.”
Who is Eddie Gibbs?
Dr. Eddie Gibbs is Senior Professor in the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California with a particular interest in the church’s attempts to redefine itself as missional communities within contemporary cultures.
During the past four decades of ministry, Eddie served in England, Chile, and since 1984, in the United State. For the past seven years, Eddie has focused his studies on the challenges facing the churches in the North and West as they have seen the collapse of Christendom.
This study has resulted in the publication of three books so far: ChurchNext, LeadershipNext, and Emerging Churches (co-authored with Ryan Bolger).
ChurchNext: Quantum Changes in How We Do Ministry
A 2001 Christianity Today Book of the Year! What will the church be next? CHANGE IS NOW. Competition from nontraditional and Eastern religions join with the pressures of both modernism and postmodernism to squeeze Christianity. While new church models have sprung up to meet these challenges, they each have strengths and limitations. Eddie Gibbs, a well-known church strategist and practitioner, candidly analyzes these models while proposing nine areas in which the church will need to transform to be biblically true to its message and its mission to the world.
LeadershipNext: Changing Leaders in a Changing Culture
Voted “Best Outreach Leadership Training Finalist” in the Third Annual Year’s Best Outreach Resources for 2005! Our culture is constantly changing, often faster than we can adapt to it. Christian leaders struggle not only to acquire new skills and insights but also to unlearn what they already know. As both the church and the world change, so too must Christian leaders and their very notions of leadership.Veteran church growth expert Eddie Gibbs maps out how Christian leadership must change in light of new global realities. Styles of leadership are changing, from hierarchies to networks and from compartmentalization to connectivity. Gibbs assesses the dynamics of leadership teams, identifies healthy leadership traits, and looks to how new leaders are identified and developed. This incisive analysis is a comprehensive resource for current and emerging leaders serving in churches, parachurch organizations and beyond.
Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures
The “emerging church” movement is perhaps the most significant church trend of our day. The emerging church offers and encourages a new way of doing and being the church. While it largely resonates with an eighteen-to-thirty-four-year-old audience–the first fully postmodern generation–it is also gaining popularity with older Christians and encompasses a broad array of traditional and contemporary churches. Emerging Churches explores this movement and provides insight into its success. Filled with the latest research and interesting, anecdotal testimonies from those on the cutting edge of ministry, this book provides pastors, church leaders, and interested readers with an insightful glimpse into the thriving churches of today–and tomorrow.