Created and Led by the Spirit

Book excerpt: This fifth Missional Church Series volume seeks to bring historical clarity, biblical and theological substance, and practical guidance to church planting. The nine contributors -- many of them experienced church-planting pastors -- offer diverse yet cohesive perspectives on the Spirit's missional church planting in our time. Section One presents three essays which address missional church planting as a theological practice, with particular attention given to the activity of the Holy Spirit within the context of God's Trinitarian life. Section Two grounds church planting initiatives in the generative soil of story. The two essays in this section narrate how specific congregations provide glimpses of the Holy Spirit in action, supplying the reader with hints for how history might lead to future expectations of the Holy Spirit's ongoing church planting activity. Three essays in Section Three focus on new frontiers appearing on the church planting horizon, and an epilogue provides a sermon which orients church planting efforts in witness that flows from the heart of God. In this book readers will find fresh insights into an exciting new future created and led by the Spirit. Contributors: Daniel Anderson Leith Anderson Paul Chung Mary Sue Dehmlow Dreier Todd Hobart Harvey Kwiyani Lois Malcolm Susan Tjornehoj Miroslav Volf