Life This Side of Heaven

"Where else would you rather be?" For many people today, particularly in affluent, lifestyle-driven beachside suburbs, that is their mantra--and being at church and following Jesus is perhaps the furthest thing from their minds. As Christians grapple with how to bring the good news to an increasingly hedonistic and apathetic post-Christian culture, this book shows where we find ourselves culturally, discusses why that is, and suggests some ways forward including how we might reorder people's disordered loves; fostering a faithful presence in our spheres of influence; and seeking ways to connect meaningfully. All this is a way of assisting churches in their particular cultural contexts to move from an attractional mode of thinking about ministry and church life to a mindset that enables them to carry out effective gospel ministry to their community and underlying subcultures. The author hopes it will be a help for churches that have historically struggled to be missionally focused, serving as an encouragement in reconsidering their approach to ministry planning, so they might have a significant, gospel-based, long-term impact on individual church members and the community life of the church to bring blessing to their suburbs, gospel growth to churches, and glory to God.