Having the Mind of Christ
While we often start with good intentions, it feels like real transformation is elusive at best, and maybe even impossible. We deeply want to live in the freedom that Christ offers, but we are acutely aware of the gap between a transformed life and our reality. Having the Mind of Christ tackles the issues of lasting life change.
When we feel some kind of inspiration or need to seek change in our lives, we start with behaviors: new to-dos, tactics, techniques, or spiritual disciplines that we hope will bring about the transformation we desire. While these behavioral changes can bear good results, they just as often fail to produce the lasting change we deeply desire. That's because transformation requires more than a change in practice – it requires a change in paradigm.
Pastors Matt Tebbe and Ben Sternke share eight axioms that help reframe the way that we see God, ourselves, and others. By seeing through new lenses, we can open ourselves to the transformational change that God wants for our lives.
"The work of formation into the image of Christ entails new practices, but unless the deeper assumptions we hold about God are addressed, we will be rich in practices but poor in transformation. It's for this reason that I'm grateful this book exists. Ben Sternke and Matt Tebbe have done a remarkable job excavating some of the most important questions, mindsets, and beliefs that get in the way of new life in Christ. This book is a great gift to the church."
"Christians young and old are realizing that their current paradigms and frameworks for their faith are no longer working. Ben Sternke and Matt Tebbe pastorally remind us that this paradigm crisis is necessary in order to discover the ways old patterns have (de)formed us and to embrace new wineskins. We don't have to stay in crisis, and as Ben and Matt have carefully written in this beautiful book, there's hope for a new way of living and seeing that is discovered in the mind of Christ. As a pastor, I will be sure to have a stack of these books available to give to those who are experiencing a faith crisis."
"As we pass through a time when certain expressions of Christianity are no longer tenable for millions of people living in late modernity, a door of discovery is opening for new expressions of Christian faith. Ben Sternke and Matt Tebbe are among those who have discovered that from the ashes of deconstruction something beautiful can be born. In Having the Mind of Christ their eight axioms serve as signposts to lead the disenchanted into a faith centered in the love of Christ. I hope many people will read this timely book."