Congregations often seek to combat decline by using innovation to produce new resources. Leading practical theologian Andrew Root shows that the church's crisis is not in the loss of resources but in the loss of life--and that life can return only when we remain open to God's encountering presence.

Contents1. When the Church Becomes a Pub, and the Immanent Frame Our Map2. Brother-Trouble and Meeting the Exorcist's Son: The Beginning of Karl Barth3. A Funeral for a Church--A Funeral That Remakes a Church4. An Apple Tree and the Incoherence of "God Is God"5. The Church Can't Know How to Find God6. The Church Is Not the Star of Its Own Story7. Welcome to Crisis Mode8. Wedding Blunders and Brotherly Love9. Say Goodbye to Being and Give Me More Busyness10. A Shady Obituary and the Need to Wait11. Waiting Sucks but Resonance Is Life12. Waiting Is Living: The Church and Resonance13. When Mozart Goes Straight Into You and Through You14. Pietism and Its Discontents: A Dialectical Escape from Individualism and Religion15. A True Ghost Story and the Birth of Watchwords16. Getting Real with a Dialectical Demand17. Deepening the Dialectic: Avoiding Sledgehammering the CeilingIndex

"If you are worried about the fate of your church (and who isn't these days?), this is a book you must read."Andrew Root shows that the church's crisis is not in the loss of resources but in the loss of life, which can return only when we remain open to God's encountering presence."Perhaps you've met Barth the intimidating theologian, but have you met Barth the pastor to pastors? Root introduces today's church to the Karl Barth it never knew, artfully putting this theologian in conversation with a church that is fearful about the future. If you are worried about the fate of your church (and who isn't these days?), this is a book you must read."--Will Willimon, Duke Divinity School; United Methodist bishop, retired; author of Aging: Growing Old in Church"An engaging and creative work which draws us aside from the church's current crisis to plant us back in it with new vision and hope. I looked up from this book no longer feeling surprised by the crisis and my inability to solve it, no longer ashamed that I need the power of God to lead this church. Root dares us to live and to lead as if God is actually alive and still cares about the world and the church."--Mandy Smith, pastor, St. Lucia Uniting Church, Brisbane, Australia; author of The Vulnerable Pastor and Unfettered"A marvelous achievement. Root draws on the work of Karl Barth (the pastor), Charles Taylor, and Hartmut Rosa to identify the current captivity of the church to secular metrics. He proposes a way forward that waits on the hope that comes from outside of us and among us as one of us in Jesus Christ. This is a must-read!"--Richard R. Topping, Vancouver School of Theology"This is theology that we need most vitally at this time. It's beautiful, applied, inspiring, kind, practical, deep, stretching, and, if we would only put it into practice, transforming."--Rev. Canon Chris Russell, Archbishop of Canterbury's Advisor for Evangelism and Witness