Producing Missional Resources
Michael enjoys producing practitioner-oriented resources for the local church. As a child of and servant to the local church to this day, he produces blogs, email updates, articles, books, and tools for local church leaders. As a practitioner of missional innovation, his work flows from the front lines of ministry, not an ivory tower.
In Deep Roots, Wild Branches, missiologist and church planter Dr. Michael Beck contends we must cultivate what he calls a —blended ecology of church that has both deep roots and wild branches. Drawing on biblical wisdom and emerging forms of church planting, Beck introduces us to present-day models and examples that don’t leave traditional forms behind, but harness the power of —both/and.
A distinctive Wesleyan approach to the Fresh Expression movement. Fresh Expressions is a movement that strives to introduce people to Jesus, expand the kingdom, and revitalize churches. In A Field Guide to Methodist Fresh Expressions, Beck reminds Wesleyans of their roots and show congregations how to bring that tradition into modern day, yet local, contexts.
In this groundbreaking book from renowned author Len Sweet and trailblazing missional pioneer Michael Beck, you will explore the phenomenon of contextual intelligence, discover a framework for its cultivation, and learn how you can apply it in your own circumstance. In these pages you will be called to a new order that the authors are calling The Issacharians, the tribe known for the ability to “read the signs of the times and know what to do.”
The 21st Century Christian: Following Jesus Where Life Happens
You love Jesus and might even be a key leader in your church. But you have a hard time seeing how church connects with your life the other six days a week. This book is your guide to following Jesus in a 21st- century way! Often “church” can seem out of touch, or only for “professional Christians.” Maybe you’ve tried to make your faith relevant. but you long for more. This book says that you don’t have to struggle on your own. It shows how you can join one or two other Christians (or more!), and practice a 21st-century form of discipleship. In this re-imagining of the Christian life, everyday Jesus-followers like you can be involved in forming new, vibrant Christian communities in every ordinary nook and cranny of life. Drs Moynagh and Beck are your guides to reinvigorating your day-to-day Christian experience and making Christ’s family more accessible for all, right where life happens. Anyone can do it!
Painting with Ashes: When Your Weakness Becomes Your Superpower
How broken can you be and still hold on to hope for a better life, even a life that can be used by God for others? What if our weaknesses are actually our superpowers? Can our wounds become a source of healing for others? Dr. Michael Adam Beck tells stories of redemption and new life in this powerful exploration, deep from this pastor’s soul.
Deep and Wild: Remissioning the Church from the Outside In
For better or worse, Jesus entrusted his mission to “make disciples of all nations” to us, and it starts in our own neighborhood. The God who makes all things new is up to something. Amid a Christian landscape that looks and feels like a desert of decline, new oases of the Spirit are springing forth. Inherited congregations with long histories and deep roots are experimenting with cultivating wild forms of church called “fresh expressions.” Whereas revitalization often involves internal adjustments (an inside-out approach with better preaching, better coffee, better programs, etc.), remissioning through fresh expressions involves an outside-in approach. This book is a guide to help local church folks, the everyday heroes of the faith, make this much-needed journey toward vitality for the twenty-first-century church.
Fresh Expressions in a Digital Age: How the Church Can Prepare for a Post-Pandemic World
Fresh Expressions is a canary in the coal mine, alerting congregations to reevaluate what the Church is, where and when it can happen, and who can lead it. Church as we know it is inaccessible to most people. A fundamental premise of the movement is that Church can become accessible again by emerging in every nook and cranny where life already happens, including the space of real virtuality. Fresh Expressions is based in simplification, returning to basic scriptural principles, and a recovery of a “priesthood of all believers.”
During a pandemic, we are forced to recognize the digital space as its own kind of new missional frontier.
Endorsements
“Michael does not produce your typical ‘how to’ books written by an author whose core adventure ended years ago. Beck has ongoing ‘skin in the game’ and has reflected on his successes and struggles with reaching lost people and helping longtime Christians to embrace the future. His work is important and points a true way forward to help communities of faith to engage their neighbors with the Gospel.”
-Dr. Brian D. Russell (Dean and Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary’s FL-Dunnam campus in Orlando, FL)
“With rich metaphors grounded in Scriptural imagination, a focus on ‘the way’ rather than ‘models,’ and stories deeply rooted in years of pastoral experience, Beck helps his readers discover the why and how of grafting fresh expressions onto the rootstock of the inherited church. He produces important books for pastors, laity, district superintendents and conference staff including bishops who are reaching out for God’s new way.”
-Janice Huie
UMC Bishop
South Central Jurisdiction
“There are now many signposts that are pointing to the notion that the future shape of church will and should be ‘blended’, and Michael offers a compelling argument for that. He consistently offers important editions to the growing library of theological and missional thinking around fresh expressions of church, and his innovative and engaging approach is a breath of fresh air!”
-Phil Potter, author Pioneering a New Future, The Challenge of Change, and UK Archbishops’ Missioner and Fresh Expressions Team Leader.