Resources & Ideas

How eager was I for Leonard Sweet's book, Postmodern Pilgrims to come out?  I preordered a copy of it from my local bookstore, Amazon.com, and Chapters.ca to see who could get it here fastest (for the record, despite having to go through Canadian Customs, Amazon.com won, followed by the bookstore).

As I eagerly flipped through the book I was initially disappointed.  As I took some time to read more thoroughly through it, I realized that this book was a good addition to my library and one that would serve the church well.

Sweet is expanding on some of the theory that he introduced in pieces in his earlier books and especially in SoulTsunami.  He takes the concept of Experiantial-Particiapatory-Image driven-Connected (E-P-I-C) and turned it into a book with each letter being expounded upon over a chapter.

The strength of each chapter is his explanation of the shift from the modern to the postmodern.  From the rational to the EXPERIENTIAL, representative to PARTICIPATORY, word base to IMAGE DRIVEN, and individual to INDIVIDUAL-COMMUNAL.  These section of the book are good reading for any pastor and church leader to illustrate that the times we are living in are not the ones that they were educated in.

That approach sums up each of Sweet's sections.  Some good data and some extraordinary real world examples to back up his theory on what a postmodern culture is looking for in a church.

Each section also contains a series of excellent web interactives and practices that allow you to experience first hand what he is talking about first hand.  These were also first class and in addition to listing my site, I found several other sites that made their way into my bookmarks (check out www.bellview.org - the cure for the common church and www.joefellowship.com, their great e-zine).  While I didn't find this to be a problem, one of the comments that I got back from SoulTsunami when I recommended it was that they felt it was overly negative in some places (or I gave it to insecure readers - you decide).  Postmodern Pilgrims was more positive, focusing more on the culture than on the failings of the modern church.

The book was solid and as I mentioned in a web posting in the Next-Wave forum, I bought several copies for use around Lakeview Church.  On the other hand, the book isn't ground breaking.  While the illustrations are new, there isn't a lot of stuff here that wasn't in SoulTsunami.  I was also a little disappointed in the amount of writing that I recognized from Rev. Magazine and Leadership Journal.  While being very well written and fun to read, I felt myself wanting more original ideas and thoughts.

Considering that part of the book has to deal with being participatory and connected, I was disappointed by there not being a webpage.  Perhaps I have been spoiled by www.soultsunami.com but interactive links and the place to dialogue with other people who had read the book would have been a great addition to the book.

As I have said before, this book is a great book to give to those who are just exploring some of the challenges of ministry in the postmodern age.  If you have done your reading on it and have a grasp of what is happening (like most Next-Wave readers (!?), buy the book for some pretty good illustrations, take a look at the websites (you will have to type them in yourself), and pass the book along to a friend.

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