Released Outward: Liberating Congregations to Do Justice, Love Mercy, and Live Faithfully

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Drawing from the experience of a church on Chicago’s south side, Released Outward addresses the situation of congregations that have turned inward and become isolated from the needs of the world around them. It addresses the question of how churches, addicted to their cultural and ecclesial traditions, are set free to engage the world with God’s justice, mercy, and faithfulness. The journey outward is a spiritual one. Like all who are in bondage to false dependencies, congregations must come out of denial, realize that the mission God has given them has become unmanageable, and surrender life and mission to God. This book is about congregations being liberated from false attachments and from theologies that do not support radical change. And it is about liberated people becoming witnesses to God’s liberation in its many forms. The way forward is through seeing ourselves in the mirror of Jesus’s witness, having Christ formed in us, and being empowered and guided by the Spirit. At the heart of this change is God’s governance made concrete and specific.