Books

🔊 Listen

The Clock, The Key, and The Net offer the human spirit three tools for the church of tomorrow.

Once Upon Unmeasured Time is a companion to The Clock and The Key books for young readers, ages 9-12. 

When I tell people that I write today for the church of tomorrow, I’m often asked how I think the church will look in the future. No one has a crystal ball, but I like to give people the following image to consider. I believe the church of tomorrow will measure time with a different type of clock in her head. She will speak of spiritual matters with the key to a common language in her heart. She will have a net in her hands as she teaches the art of net-making to meet human need in her local neighborhoods. Her new image will require an unprecedented transfiguration in the minds and hearts of the followers of Jesus. We should welcome the changes that are taking place without fear or hesitation, thanking God for guiding the human spirit on our pilgrimage through time.

I broadly define the church universal as the collective human spirit. The walled model of the church of yesterday is slowly dying to her old image. In my mind, her death has already occured. Therefore, I write for those who are ready to move beyond the current image of church into a new reality. My books speak directly to future generations of people who will build and shape the church’s new image in the world.

That said, the church of tomorrow will cease to be defined as a building or an institution. As Christianity moves into the future, the followers of Jesus’ teachings will no longer be confined to rules of membership or standardized litmus tests of specific beliefs. Institutional walls will crumble, doors will fling open and chains will break loose. The church will become a massive movement of “a people” standing shoulder to shoulder. The movement will speak only of love, grace, and mercy while addressing all aspects of human need at a grassroots level of human existence.  

(My research attaches an additional lens of light, color, imagery and timekeeping to the historical-critical method of biblical scholarship.)