The Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline, and New Hope for Beloved Community

by Stephanie Spellers

Overview

"This book will make a profound difference for the church in this moment in history."
— The Most Reverend Michael B. Curry

Sometimes it takes disruption and loss to break us open and call us home to God. It’s not surprising that a global pandemic and once-in-a-generation reckoning with white supremacy—on top of decades of systemic decline—have spurred Christians everywhere to ask who we are, why God placed us here and what difference that makes to the world.

In this critical yet loving book, the author explores the American story and the Episcopal story in order to find out how communities steeped in racism, establishment, and privilege can at last fall in love with Jesus, walk humbly with the most vulnerable and embody beloved community in our own broken but beautiful way.

The Church Cracked Open invites us to surrender privilege and redefine church, not just for the sake of others, but for our own salvation and liberation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640654242
Publisher:	Church Publishing, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/17/2021
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	192,514
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Stephanie Spellers serves as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's Canon for Evangelism, Reconciliation, and Creation, helping Episcopalians to share good news and cross boundaries as part of the Jesus Movement. A former church planter and seminary faculty member, she is the author of Radical Welcome: Embracing God, The Other and the Spirit of Transformation. She lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Introduction: On Being Cracked Open 1

1 The Reality of Disruption and Decline 11

2 New Hope for Beloved Community 25

3 The Origins of the Nightmare 35

4 The Church of Empire 53

5 Shards of Light 71

6 Lose Your Life-Kenosis 87

7 Gain Your Life-Solidarity 105

8 Walk in Love-Discipleship 117

Conclusion: God Bless the Cracks 133

Acknowledgments 137

Notes 139

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“If you are looking at the landscape of the church and wondering, ‘How’d we get here?’ and what’s next, I invite you to board Rev. Spellers’s plane and take in the big picture with her. Take in the history, the theology, the pain, the beauty, and the hope that her view from thirty thousand feet offers. When she lands the plane, you’ll realize—there’s simply no better guide out there.” —Nadia Bolz-Weber, author

"This book will make a profound difference for the church in this moment in history."
— The Most Reverend Michael B. Curry

“Stephanie Spellers draws our attention to the unraveling of white Christianity in the face of contextual diversity and Jesus’s cross. She invites her readers to stop negotiating with the past and to realize that love is not maintaining and protecting community but the very cracking open at the heart of community.” —C. Andrew Doyle, IX Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Texas

Editorial Reviews

If you are looking at the landscape of the church and wondering, ‘How’d we get here?’ and what’s next, I invite you to board Rev. Spellers’s plane and take in the big picture with her. Take in the history, the theology, the pain, the beauty, and the hope that her view from thirty thousand feet offers. When she lands the plane, you’ll realize—there’s simply no better guide out there.

author Nadia Bolz-Weber

Stephanie Spellers draws our attention to the unraveling of white Christianity in the face of contextual diversity and Jesus’s cross. She invites her readers to stop negotiating with the past and to realize that love is not maintaining and protecting community but the very cracking open at the heart of community.

C. Andrew Doyle

Spellers courageously challenges American Christians to have tough conversations surrounding imperialism, racism, and self-centrism. Moreover, she offers solutions that bring us back to what Jesus intended the church to look like and function.

Herman Baxter

In a moment when structures and patterns in the church’s life are being deeply disrupted, this book is a loving, passionate invitation to repent, reimagine, and renew. Stephanie Spellers not only names hard truths but also and even more importantly offers hope and promise in Jesus’s way of love.

Dwight Zscheile

If you are looking at the landscape of the church and wondering, ‘How’d we get here?’ and what’s next, I invite you to board Rev. Spellers’s plane and take in the big picture with her. Take in the history, the theology, the pain, the beauty, and the hope that her view from thirty thousand feet offers. When she lands the plane, you’ll realize—there’s simply no better guide out there.”
—Nadia Bolz-Weber, author

“Stephanie Spellers draws our attention to the unraveling of white Christianity in the face of contextual diversity and Jesus’s cross. She invites her readers to stop negotiating with the past and to realize that love is not maintaining and protecting community but the very cracking open at the heart of community.”
—C. Andrew Doyle, IX Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Texas

“In a moment when structures and patterns in the church’s life are being deeply disrupted, this book is a loving, passionate invitation to repent, reimagine, and renew. Stephanie Spellers not only names hard truths but also and even more importantly offers hope and promise in Jesus’s way of love.”
—Dwight Zscheile, PhD, VP of Innovation and Associate Professor of Congregational Mission and Leadership, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota

From the Publisher