On the Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church (Exponential Series)

The church needs to recover her most ancient, potent and beautiful form, that of the apostolic movement, according to Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson in this book. The book represents an attempt by the authors to articulate a dynamic learning journey called Future Travelers which is being undertaken by a group of large US churches that are reframing themselves as high-impact exponentially reproducing missional movements.Readers who are not familiar with Alan's previous books will quickly discover that there is a whole new vocabulary to learn. The new paradigm of apostolic movements arises from the convergence of church growth theory, exponential thinking, and incarnational missiology. The new paradigm, which is referred to as "Apostolic Genius", encompasses mDNA which has six elements:* Jesus is Lord* Disciple-making* Apostolic environment* Missional-incarnational impulse* Organic systems* CommunitasAlan's perspective as a missional strategist and apostolic theologian is communicated in chapters 2 to 6, with Dave providing a short response to each chapter, and then Dave's perspective as an apostolic practitioner is communicated in chapters 7 to 10, with Alan providing a short response to each chapter. The two authors have distinctly different writing styles, but it is helpful to get the interposed theoretical and practical perspectives.Most readers will find this a challenging book to read, partly because of the new vocabulary and partly because many of the ideas raised are likely to be unfamiliar to the typical church leader. However, in my view the book is well worth the struggle because of the importance of considering and thinking through the issues raised. Apostolic movements are a work in progress , so it is OK to disagree with the authors' ideas.I personally struggled with the idea that "all of God's people already have everything in them to be able to get the job done". My understanding is that God gives different people different spiritual gifts so that we need to work together with others who have complementary spiritual gifts to get the job done, and this is why a church can accomplish mission far more effectively than lone-ranger Christians, and small groups which do not have an adequate balance of spiritual gifts tend to be ineffective.I highly recommend the book to church leaders and gave it five stars, not because of its literary style or even the answers it gives but because of the critical importance to the church in Western countries of addressing the questions the book raises.

I was given this book free with an agreement that I would write a review. My review has no biast to the authors for this book.On the Verge is simply a must read for any person who considers themselves a church leader or is concerned at all about the future of the body of Christ.This book is not an easy read. It is long and intensive. Yet, I don't believe it is intended to be any easy read either. On the Verge challenges the church leader in ways I've yet to read in any other book. On the Verge is not simplistically about church growth or coping a new church model. The book at it's core is trying to release "innovation" beyond the institualized church to form a movement. If we are at all outward focused as a church the book helps us realize the nature of what needs to take place. Not by a cookie-cutter design but by applicable ways for us to understand the culture around us and the change that needs to occur for the "Apostolic Genius" to take place.On the Verge is on the top for forward thinking and understanding. A valuable tool for any church that is not satisfied with only reaching a small segment of their community. I have already recommended this book to leaders I know and they have responded positively about what they've read.

On The Verge by Alan Hirsch and David Ferguson contains some great missional thoughts. The book is thoroughly thought out and well presented in format. However, the use of unfamiliar words, jargon, and words that seemed formed just for use in this book, made the reading of the book laborious at best. I would quickly tire of reading it so I would lay the book aside for a while. Then when I would return to the book, I found myself lost and had to re-educate myself on the terminology of the book.That having been said, I believe the concepts are sound. The institutional church must become far more missional and sending rather than institutional and gathering - On The Verge addresses this issue. The authors provide many examples of institutional churches working to become more missional and with some success. These churches and their success are used to validate the concepts the authors present in the book. I remain skeptical that the institutional church can make the wholesale changes Hirsch and Ferguson seem to think they need to make. In that sense, On The Verge did not convince me that the institution called church is anywhere near being on the verge of change.

If Joel Barker's famous axiom is indeed true - that, "you manage within a paradigm; you lead between paradigms", then On the Verge by Hirsch and Ferguson, is a most welcomed and greatly needed leadership resource for the North American church. It is solidly grounded in biblical theology and organizational theory, and geared towards catalyzing and facilitating ecclesiastical transformation of apostolic proportions. Through a four-fold process of: 1) Imagine, 2) Shift, 3) Innovate and 4) Move, Hirsch and Ferguson provide a detailed map for the journey away from a ministry governed by an institutional paradigm towards one governed by an apostolic paradigm. It addresses issues from the conceptual to the concrete, from the theoretical to the practical, and from the subconscious to the conscious. Matters of culture, ethos, values, practices, and ethics are tackled; and each chapter provides strategic discussion and exploration questions to help leadership teams and groups process the material. Additionally, On the Verge, is rooted in Hirsch's previous work on the structure of apostolic genius (i.e., Jesus is Lord, communitas, organic systems, etc.). I highly recommend this book!