And a book launch for

FORMING CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN A SECULAR AGE:  RECOVERING HUMILITY AND HOPE by Tim Dickau
Published: April 2021

In this book, Tim Dickau tells three stories: the story of Western society’s move towards secularism and its captivation to distorted powers; the story of Grandview Church’s sustained journey of forming a thicker and more porous shared life in a particular place; and the story of his own recovery from burnout and alcohol abuse after thirty years of pastoral ministry in one place;

While engaging a host of scholars across a variety of academic disciplines in his societal analysis, Dickau engages three primary conversation partners that include Charles Taylor, William Cavanaugh and Willie Jennings. In describing the moves made in Christian theology and practice over the last half millennium, Dickau attempts to help us understand how we have come to our current cultural context. By describing how Grandview church has responded to this context, he attempts to spark our imagination for how the church might participate in the mission of God in fruitful ways in this cultural moment. In particular, Dickau seeks to illuminate how Grandview church sought to hold together elements of the mission of the church that often get pulled apart including evangelism with seeking justice, prophetic action with works of mercy, personal conversion with the pursuit of systemic change, institutional development with grass-roots organisational leadership, formation and discipleship with deeper cultural engagement. By telling his own story of recovery, Tim also seeks to let us in on some of the personal challenges of pastoring in a communal context for the long haul.

ENDORSEMENTS:

“People are always asking me for resources that might help them strategize in and with their communities about how to bring about lasting and meaningful change. Dickau offers us a weapon for righteousness or more precisely a weapon of humility that will help Christians see rightly their world and their work in it. This is a book for pastors, churches large and small, and for all Christians who believe that faithful witness to the gospel must be a witness in place and a witness of place.”
Willie James Jennings Associate Professor of Theology and Africana Studies, Yale Divinity School, Author of After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging

“This book shows how the disintegration of the church in a secular context presents the opportunity to reimagine the church and give hope to those wandering through a divided and despairing world.  Tim Dickau deftly bridges the scholarly and the pastoral to display a realized vision of a congregation sharing the hardships and dreams of a neighborhood.  The practical examples of liturgy, peace work, and alternative economic practices show what humility and openness to God’s Spirit can allow to happen.”
William Cavanaugh Professor of Catholic Studies at DePaul University and author of Field Hospital: The Church’s Engagement with a Wounded World