New Easum stuff

Easum’s back with some new books and workbooks. I’ve already picked up the PDF versions of Beyond the Box (book), as well as The Role of the Senior (Lead) Pastor and Staffing a Church, and Strategic Mapping (workbooks). Easum simplifies the decision-making process for me. If he writes it, I read it. It’s pretty much always what I need to be thinking about. Here’s an excerpt from Beyond the Box (co-written by Dave Travis, VP of Leadership Network), in honor of Rachel:

In the first century, the word church related to the kingdom movement that went beyond time and space. Instead of a place, Christians loved their Christ. Ask a Christian in the first century, “Where is your church?” and his or her response would be something like “Wherever two or three of us gather together.” The early Christians invited their networks to gather with them and other Christians in their homes, catacombs, or wherever. First-century Christians didn’t have a tethered view of the church; rather, calling and mission dictated the form and extent of ministry. This is the view from beyond the box. From within the box, the word church refers to little more than an institution with a geographic location that must be managed by professional leaders. From beyond the box, Christians think of the church more as a movement untethered to a location. The also think of leadership defined by mission rather than place. Thus “moving beyond the box” means getting rid of the baggage of Christendom and rediscovering the original mission of Christianity – that is, fulfilling the Great Commission. The mission is not to establish local congregations as much as to spread the news of Jesus Christ across the world by every possible means.

The print version of Beyond the Box comes out in mid-June.