Giving Church Another Chance: Finding New Meaning in Spiritual Practices

Todd D. Hunter

InterVarsity Press, Feb 17, 2010 - Religion - 190 pages

Everybody wants to be spiritual. But nobody wants to be religious. Everybody is looking for a rich spiritual life. But nobody is looking to church. As a pastor, Todd Hunter found himself disillusioned, burned out and needing to drop out of traditional forms of church. He experimented with house churches and other options but was still dissatisfied. Eventually he found himself sneaking off to worship services on Sunday mornings with surprising results. What did the historic spiritual practices of church do for him? How did they lead to a life of centered peace, chart a path to simplicity and cause him to reach out to others while focusing on the glory of God? Walk with Hunter on this journey to find spiritual riches in a surprising place. You might just give church another chance.

What people are saying

User Review  - Russell Almon - Christianbook.com

'Giving Church Another Chance' by Todd Hunter is at once autobiographical, confessional, and even a little theological. Hunter discusses nine practices that he terms as follows: going to church and ...

Contents

• Foreword: 9
• Preface: 13
• Acknowledgments: 23
• Introduction: 27
• Chapter 1: 39
• Chapter 2: 57
• Chapter 3: 69
• Chapter 4: 83
• Chapter 5: 99
• Chapter 6: 113
• Chapter 7: 125
• Chapter 8: 135
• Chapter 9: 147
• Conclusion: 159
• Group Exercises: 169
• Notes: 179
• Churches for the Sake of Others: 190
• More Titles from InterVarsity Press: 191

About the author

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 Christianity Beyond Belief, Giving Church A Second Chance, The Accidental Anglican, and Our Favorite Sins. 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 The Jesus Creed, The King Jesus Gospel, A Community Called Atonement, Embracing Grace, The Real Mary and commentaries on James, Galatians and 1 Peter, and coeditor of the award-winning Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. He is also a widely recognized blogger at the Jesus Creed blog. His other interests include golfing, gardening and traveling.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Giving Church Another Chance: Finding New Meaning in Spiritual Practices
• Author: Todd D. Hunter
• Contributor: Scot McKnight
• Publisher: InterVarsity Press, 2010
• ISBN: 0830879269, 9780830879267
• Length: 190 pages
• Subjects: Religion / Christian Ministry / Discipleship