Called: The Crisis and Promise of Following Jesus Today
Ebook
Overview
The most urgent call upon God?s people is to live as followers of Jesus.The most indicting critique against the church is as simple: its failure to do so. As the leader of an evangelical theological seminary that trains men and women as leaders for the church and society, Mark Labberton writes: “People ask many questions about how their lives relate to the world. What are our lives in this world about? What are we to make of being human? Why are we here? Is there a reason we are alive, and, if so, how would we know what that is? These questions are brought on at times by beauty and joy, but also by the daunting facts of our own lives or of the world around us. We look around in doubt, in pain, in suffering. These are human questions asked throughout history by those inside and outside the church.”We long to renew our hope for a world broken and hurting. And it is we, God?s people living in the power of the Holy Spirit, who are called to become this hope and flourish while in exile. Here is the crisis: we are made and redeemed for this calling, but it slides through our fingers. Here is the promise: living and practicing who and why we are is our Christian vocation whenever and wherever we may be.Will you answer the call?
Prologue
1. Called to Flourish
2. A Lost Church in a Lost World
3. The Primary Call
4. Relocating: Where Are We Called?
5. Reorienting: How Are We Called?
6. Refocusing: To Whom and What Are We Called?
7. The Way of the Beloved
8. The Way of Wisdom
9. The Way of Suffering
10. So What Does God Call Me To Do?
Epilogue: Light and Salt
Acknowledgments
Notes
"Mark Labberton uses fresh language and powerful word pictures to give readers easy access to deep truth. What a gift! Called is fine food for both the head and the heart. He extends a compelling invitation to live out the large life of Jesus in a world that is at once both beautiful and broken. He emphasizes the fact that you can’t live this life alone. It can only be lived in the close company of others who have heard the call of Jesus to simply ‘Follow me.’"
"Too often we settle for a ‘calling’ that is really just sanctified individualism, paddling in the shallows of the self. This book pursues the deeper questions of flourishing, sacrifice, community and transformation that are the heart of the Christian life."
"When I read Mark Labberton’s writing I can almost hear Jesus say, ‘Well, there it is. That’s what I was literally dying to tell you.’ This book is a call to free the church from its distractions in order to return to the most profound and basic question—what does it mean to follow Jesus?"
"Called is a book that will call to you with a vision for a life well lived in God’s presence in the world that God loves."
"Christian leadership should arise from a calling to God’s kingdom rather than manipulated as a means to build a personal empire. Called challenges us to renew our calling to follow Jesus as servant leaders for God’s kingdom. This important text offers us an opportunity to learn at the feet of a seasoned leader who offers insightful stories and practical application to spur us toward life as salt and light in the world."
Product Details
- Title : Called: The Crisis and Promise of Following Jesus Today
- Author: Labberton, Mark
- Publisher: IVP Books
- Publication Date: 2014
- ISBN: 9780830896943
Mark Labberton is president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He previously served as Lloyd John Ogilvie chair for preaching and director of the Lloyd John Ogilvie Institute for Preaching. Labberton came to Fuller after sixteen years as senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, California. He has served as chair of John Stott Ministries (now Langham Partnership) and co-chair of the John Stott Ministries Global Initiative Fund. Today he continues to contribute to the mission of the global church as a senior fellow of International Justice Mission. He is the author of The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor and The Dangerous Act of Worship.