I'm deeply grateful for the deep and balanced wisdom Jeffrey Jones brings to all his work in helping church leaders navigate in challenging times. If you're an ordained or lay Christian leader, you can count on Jeff and Dave's guidance to be both practically relevant and spiritually rich.

Brian McLaren, author and fly fisherman

Deeply rooted in biblical references, this new book for religious leaders in this post-modern world could serve as a catalyst in a church to face a new future. One strong feature is inviting the reader to reflect on one’s own blind spots and biases that contribute to the resistance for change. Besides bravely acknowledging today’s challenges, Jones and Fredrickson in the end offer ways to become more aware of reality such as the Examen Prayer, spiritual direction and the Quaker clearness. For the Christian faith to continue, trusting in God’s plan along with a new model of leaders who are “inwardly directed and outwardly focused” may give us hope.

Don Ng, former president of American Baptirst Churches, USA

Where is the primary focus of your congregation? Is it in the past, present, or future? Being Church in Liminal Time guides congregations through a discernment process, providing provocative questions to assess their capacity for, “Remembering, Letting Go, and Resurrecting.” This is a question that every congregation in the U.S. should be asking themselves.

C. Jeff Woods, general secretary, American Baptist Churches, USA

To lead a faith community through uncertainty, especially in settings unready to accept that something is dying, requires updated skills and knowledge. Jones and Fredrickson provide guidance through both instruction and modeling. They look that which is over straight in the face and address what some find too scary to imagine. They do so while never losing hope that, through God’s resurrecting love, something new is seeking to be born.

Sarah B. Drummond, founding dean, Andover Newton Seminary

The Church’s need to embrace brave change is clear – but how? Technical changes called forth by the pandemic have not addressed the deeper transformation required. The authors do not offer us a book full of strategies; rather, as in the parables of Jesus, we are presented with stories and fundamental images, deep reflection upon which can offer us a path forward towards the resurrection which is our hope.

The Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates, bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts

In and through this book Jeffrey Jones and David Fredrickson offer the Christian churches a bountiful gift. Certainly, it is my hope that it will be seen and received in this way for what they put forward here is nothing less than a careful and honest assessment of the current Church landscape and the presentation of three guiding images and a new model of leadership that could redirect congregational life in bold new ways in this seemingly liminal time. I highly recommend this book to all who still care about the present state and potential future of the Christian churches.

Benjamin Valentin, professor of theology and Latinx studies, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry