Congregation in a Secular Age – Keeping Sacred Time against the Speed of Modern Life

Andrew Root (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of numerous books, including Faith Formation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, The End of Youth Ministry?, Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker, The Children of Divorce, Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry, and Relationships Unfiltered. He is also the coauthor (with Kenda Creasy Dean) of The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry.

• ContentsPart 1: Depressed Congregations1. The Church and the Depressing Speed of Change2. Speeding to the Good Life, Crashing into Guilt: Why 1.6 Billion Dollars Isn't as Good as You Think3. Fullness as Busyness: Why Busy Churches Attract and Then Lose Busy People4. The Strip Show: When Sacred Time Is No Longer the Time We KeepPart 2: Examining Congregational Despondency; Our Issue Is Time5. When Time Isn't What It Used to Be: What's Speeding Up Time?6. When Brains ExplodeDimension One: Technological Acceleration7. Minding the Time: Why the Church Feels Socially BehindDimension Two: Acceleration of Social Life (Part One)8. Why The Office Can't Be Rebooted: The Decay Rate of Social ChangeDimension Two: Acceleration of Social Life (Part Two)9. When Sex and Work Are in a Fast Present: The Church and the Decay Rate of Our Social StructuresDimension Two: Acceleration of Social Life (Part Three)10. Why Email Sucks, and Social Media Even More: Reach and AccelerationDimension Three: Acceleration of the Pace of Life (Part One)11. Reach and the SecularsDimension Three: Acceleration of the Pace of Life (Part Two)Part 3: Moving from Relevance to Resonance12. Time-Famine and Resource Obsession: Another Step into Alienation13. Why the Slow Church Can't Work: Stablization, Alienation, and Loss of the Congregational Will to Be14. Alienation's Other: Resonance15. When Bonhoeffer Time Travels: Resonance as Carrying the Child16. To Become a Child: Matthew 18 and Congregation That Is Carried17. Ending with a Little Erotic EcstasyIndex