Turning Ourselves Inside Out emerges from the Thriving Christian Communities Project started by the authors in 2015, as well as from a Facebook conversation where someone asked, "We always hear about the problems in our churches. When are we going to talk about the good news stories?" This got the authors thinking: How do we learn about what is exciting and what the Holy Spirit is doing? How do we broaden the conversation beyond how sad, afraid, and grumpy we often are as church people? These kinds of questions filled the authors' imaginations as they scouted out the long walking route of Camino Nova Scotia, the pilgrimage program offered by Atlantic School of Theology. The long hours walking together gave them space and peace to think more broadly about what they wanted to learn, and how to share it with the wider church. In interviews with thirty-five faith communities, the authors discovered that amid great upheaval, Christ is giving us a new church, and this book offers readers a firsthand glimpse of it. Turning Ourselves Inside Out isn't an "off the shelf" program or model. It invites readers to listen to others' experiences and then dig deep into their own and get down to the business of dreaming God's dream and making it real, right where they are. Leaders of congregations, and all who care about what God is up to in the world, need to hear these stories. They are a source of hope and courage, as God renews and revives God's people.
Russell S. Daye is Lead Minister of St. Andrew's United Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a sessional instructor at Atlantic School of Theology and United Theological College (Montreal). An ordained minister of the United Church of Canada for thirty years, he is a consultant for EDGE, the church revitalization movement within the United Church. He is the author of Political Forgiveness: Lessons from South Africa. Robert C. Fennell is academic dean and associate professor of historical and systematic theology at Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada and the author of The Rule of Faith and Biblical Interpretation: Reform, Resistance, and Renewal.
Introduction Chapter 1 When the Storms and Fires Come to the Forest Chapter 2 Starting with Yes! The Virtue of Hope Chapter 3 Learning and Spiritual Growth: The Virtue of Humility Chapter 4 An Unqualified Embrace of Leadership: The Virtue of Love Chapter 5 Willingness to Risk: The Virtue of Courage Chapter 6 A Sense of Identity: The Virtue of Integrity Chapter 7 Willingness to be Turned Inside-out: The Virtue of Kenosis Afterword: Supernova or Black Hole? Appendix 1: Questions asked at interviews with thriving Christian communities Appendix 2: A Four-Week Study and Discussion Process exploring descent, renewal, and reemergence Bibliography
