If This Is the Way the World Works

Science, Congregations, and Leadership

William O. Avery, Beth Ann Gaede

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Year: 2007
• eBook ISBN: 9781566995535
• Topic: Theology & Religion

In If This Is the Way the World Works William O. Avery and Beth Ann Gaede ask two primary questions: First, what principles from science are so broadly accepted that scientists themselves are willing to say, "This is the way the world works"? Second, how do congregations and their leaders behave when they operate in concert with these seemingly universal principles? Avery and Gaede explore five principles form the philosophy of science that suggest an alternative way to view congregational mission and leadership: openness to new information, complexity, diversity, interrelatedness, and process. Their premise is that when faith communities align themselves with the way the world--God's world--works, they more faithfully carry out their vocations as witnesses to God's reconciling work and as servants to one another. By following these basic scientific principles, Avery and Gaede argue, we arrive at a different view of leadership in the church. If this is truly the way the world works, leaders will find strength through relationships, hope in diversity, and above all trust in the love of God.

Table of contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Information God’s New Thing
• Chapter 2 Complexity An End to Childish Ways
• Chapter 3 Interrelatedness Reconciling the World
• Chapter 4 Diversity For All of Us Are One
• Chapter 5 Process An Invitation to Adventure
• Chapter 6 The Center Where Trust Prevails
• Notes