Table of Contents

Introduction: Friendship, Faith, and Going Somewhere Together    11; Tony Jones

Part 1

A People of Hope    17

Emergent—a Generative Friendship of Missional Christians; Doug Pagitt

1. Growing Pains: The Messy and Fertile Process of Becoming    21; Mark Scandrette

2. Meeting Jesus at the Bar: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Evangelism    33; Heather Kirk-Davidoff

3. What Would Huckleberry Do? A Relational Ethic as the Jesus Way    41; Nanette Sawyer

4. The Postmodern Parent: Shifting Paradigms for the Ultimate Act of Re-Creation    51; Carla Barnhill

5. The Art of Emergence: Being God’s Handiwork    59; Troy Bronsink

Part 2

Communities of Hope    75

New Ways, Questions, and Outcomes for Churches of Our Day; Doug Pagitt

6. An Ever-Renewed Adventure of Faith: Notes from a Community    79; Sherry and Geoff Maddock

7. Jailhouse Faith: A Community of Jesus in an Unlikely Place    89; Thomas Malcolm Olson

8. The Existing Church/Emerging Church Matrix: Collision, Credibility, Missional Collaboration, and Generative Friendship    97; Tim Conder

9. The American Catholic Merger-Church: A Too Small Answer    109; Brian Mitchell

10. Presbymergent: The Story of One Mainliner’s Quest to Be a Loyal Radical    119; Adam Walker Cleaveland

Part 3

A Hopeful Faith    129

Christianity and the "God of Good Hope"; Tony Jones

11. Following Jesus into Culture: Emerging Church as Social Movement    131; Ryan Bolger

12. Church Emerging: Or Why I Still Use the Word Postmodern but with Mixed Feelings    141; Brian D. McLaren

13. The End of Reinvention: Mission Beyond Market Adoption Cycles    153; Will Samson

14. Converting Christianity: The End and Beginning of Faith    163; Barry Taylor

Part 4

A Hopeful Way Forward    171

Theology of Practice, Practice of Theology; Doug Pagitt

15. Leadership in a Flattened World: Grassroots Culture and the Demise of the CEO Model    175; Sally Morgenthaler

16. The Sweet Problem of Inclusiveness: Finding Our God in the Other    189; Samir Selmanovic

17. Orthoparadoxy: Emerging Hope for Embracing Difference    201; Dwight J. Friesen

18. Humble Theology: Re-exploring Doctrine While Holding On to Truth    213; Dan Kimball

19. Leading from the Margins: The Role of Imagination in Our Changing Context    225; Tim Keel

20. Digging Up the Past: Karl Barth (the Reformed Giant) as Friend to the Emerging Church    235; Chris Erdman

Part 5

Hopeful Activism    245

The Jesus Way in the Realities of Life; Tony Jones

21. A Pound of Social Justice: Beyond Fighting for a Just Cause    247; Rodolpho Carrasco

22. Emergent Kissing: Authenticity and Integrity in Sexuality    259; Karen E. Sloan

23. Our Report Card in the Year 2057: A Reflection on Women’s Rights, Poverty, and Oppression    269; Deborah and Ken Loyd

24. Practicing Pentecost: Discovering the Kingdom of God amid Racial Fragmentation    279; Anthony Smith

25. Restoring Honor in the Land: Why the Emerging Church Can’t Dodge the Issue    291; Randy Woodley

Afterword:
This Is Just the Beginning: Living Our Great-Grandchildren’s History    303; Doug Pagitt

Notes    309