Giving Church Another Chance: Finding New Meaning in Spiritual Practices - eBook

Bishop Todd D. Hunter (DMin, George Fox University) leads the church-planting initiative Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO), a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America. He is the founding pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Costa Mesa, California and is the author of several books, including , , , and He is also a teacher, writer, and consultant for his ministry, Society for Kingdom Living, which helps pastors and lay leaders reach a generation that has been disenfranchised from the church. Formerly national director at Vineyard Churches USA and then at Alpha USA, Hunter serves on the board of directors and executive committee of Alpha as well as on a number of other ministry boards, including Renovaré and Soul Survivor. He is an adjunct professor of evangelism and contemporary culture at George Fox University, Fuller Seminary, Western Seminary, Vanguard University, and Wheaton College, and has two adult children with his wife, Debbie. Scot McKnight (Ph.D., University of Nottingham) is professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Illinois. He is the author of and commentaries on James, Galatians and 1 Peter, and coeditor of the award-winning . He is also a widely recognized blogger at the Jesus Creed blog. His other interests include golfing, gardening and traveling.

Hunter (Christianity Beyond Belief) sought God in many churches, from the United Methodist Church of his youth through “contemporary fundamentalism” to Vineyard, then emerging churches, and finally the Anglican Church. He discovered that the “genuine Christian spirituality you’ve been dreaming of is possible by repracticing the spiritual routines of church.” Hunter investigates nine church practices—attendance, prelude, doxology, scripture reading, sermons, liturgy, offering, communion, benediction—as “a launching pad to life.” He avoids lengthy theological dissection of each practice, instead sharing how each can point to “real and lasting life in Jesus.” His words ring true for those tired of church as usual, who want to take Jesus outside the doors but aren’t sure why or how. Hunter advocates church for spiritual nourishment, but he’s also about applying church practices to the heart, then flinging open the church doors to help the world. Hunter describes repracticing communion as changing “Eucharist as a noun to Eucharist as a verb.” That linguistic transformation exactly conveys his exciting premise for all church practices. (Mar.) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

"Hunter's story ought to be moving and exemplary to many readers." -- Library Journal, March 1, 2010

"In chapters on singing the doxology, reading Scripture, hearing sermons, liturgy, tithing, Communion, and receiving the Benediction, Hunter shows how these practices provide training for living Christianly beyond Sunday morning." -- Susan Olasky, WORLD Magazine, April 10, 2010

"I can describe this book in one word: refreshing. This book makes us take a real look at how we practice our faith. In each chapter, Todd calls us to a re-practicing of spiritual disciplines. He passionately drives home the point that these are not disciplines we practice at church but disciplines we the church should practice in daily life. Giving Church Another Chance gives us all another chance to experience church from the inside out." -- Paul Turner, YouthWorker Journal, (youthworkerjournal.com), July/August 2010

"Readers of Richard Foster, Dallas Willard and Eugene Peterson will appreciate Hunter's contribution to how spiritual disciplines fit within the context of communities and bodies of believers. In the midst of our frenzied culture and harried pace of life, Hunter reminds us that speed is not the greatest good. Instead, seep, lasting change and transformation is the goal, with church the springboard to that end." -- C. Brian Smith, Christian Retailing, March 2010

"Hunter's words ring true for those tired of church as usual, who want to take Jesus outside the doors but aren't sure why or how." -- Publisher's Weekly, January 11, 2010

"What you are holding should carry a government health warning: the reading of this book is good for your soul. But beware: it may cause you to fall in love with the church again, and the romance of 'repracticing' your faith may be habit-forming." -- Leonard Sweet, author of So Beautiful: Divine Design for Life and the Church