Ross A Lockhart

Vancouver, British Columbia, now reports “no religion” as its leading religious identity, putting it in the vanguard of a trend happening across North America. What does this mean for the Christian communities that continue to worship, work, and witness in this mostly secular city?West Coast Mission seeks to uncover where Christianity in Vancouver is headed now that it is a minority belief system in the broader culture. Drawing on a five-year study of fourteen sites, including church plants, congregations, and para-church agencies, Ross Lockhart describes how Christians in Vancouver are organizing their communities, shaping their beliefs, and expressing themselves in mission. He finds that, rather than simply declining, Christianity in the city is adapting in response to immigration, decolonization, pluralism, and social crises. Christians are focusing on friendship and social connection in a culture that identifies as “spiritual not religious,” on affordable housing as a missional concern, on the communal value of environmental stewardship, and on sharing the gospel in light of the destructive legacies of colonialism and residential schools.West Coast Mission explores the evolving spectrum of religious identity in Vancouver and the significant cultural shifts taking place in how Christian mission and witness are approached in a secular city.

Vancouver, British Columbia, now reports “no religion” as its leading religious identity, putting it in the vanguard of a trend happening across North America. What does this mean for the Christian communities that continue to worship, work, and witness in this mostly secular city?West Coast Mission seeks to uncover where Christianity in Vancouver is headed now that it is a minority belief system in the broader culture. Drawing on a five-year study of fourteen sites, including church plants, congregations, and para-church agencies, Ross Lockhart describes how Christians in Vancouver are organizing their communities, shaping their beliefs, and expressing themselves in mission. He finds that, rather than simply declining, Christianity in the city is adapting in response to immigration, decolonization, pluralism, and social crises. Christians are focusing on friendship and social connection in a culture that identifies as “spiritual not religious,” on affordable housing as a missional concern, on the communal value of environmental stewardship, and on sharing the gospel in light of the destructive legacies of colonialism and residential schools.West Coast Mission explores the evolving spectrum of religious identity in Vancouver and the significant cultural shifts taking place in how Christian mission and witness are approached in a secular city.

Is God changing the face of the church in North America today? The secularization thesis makes it appear that churches are inevitably declining in membership and influence. Too often, however, this assumption of decline is based on only watching the denominations that were "church plants of Western Christendom" in North America. Christianity: An Asian Religion in Vancouver focuses on the context of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and notes through a mixed-methods study including interviews and participant observation that many churches in Vancouver with predominantly Asian composition are growing both in size and influence. What might we learn about God's transforming power by looking to Asia rather than Europe to predict the future of Christian witness in the Pacific Northwest of North America?

What could be better than brunch on a Sunday morning? For most people in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, the answer of gathering to worship the Triune God and be sent as witnesses would not be top of mind. And yet, across the Pacific Northwest the authors discovered deeply rooted missional communities worshipping God and serving their neighborhoods, offering evidence of unexpected Cascadian treasure in clay jars. Join the authors on a treasure hunt throughout the region as they identify new patterns of post-Christendom Christianity that will inspire and challenge your understanding of church.

What could be better than brunch on a Sunday morning? For most people in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, the answer of gathering to worship the Triune God and be sent as witnesses would not be top of mind. And yet, across the Pacific Northwest the authors discovered deeply rooted missional communities worshipping God and serving their neighborhoods, offering evidence of unexpected Cascadian treasure in clay jars. Join the authors on a treasure hunt throughout the region as they identify new patterns of post-Christendom Christianity that will inspire and challenge your understanding of church.

Somewhere in the mists of time, between history and hagiography, stands the great evangelist and missionary St. Patrick. Raised a ""cultural Christian,"" Patrick's encounter with God during captivity in Ireland transformed his life and the history of a people. Freedom from slavery, and a return home to Britain, produced the divine summons--Vox Hibernia--to return to Ireland and the place of captivity in order to witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christian witness in twenty-first-century Vancouver, Seattle, or Portland is a world away from fifth-century Armagh, Slane, or Cashel. Yet, the great evangelist to pre-Christian peoples of Hibernia has much to teach us as we seek to engage our secular, post-Christian context. There is wisdom in the missional leadership of the one we call St. Patrick that goes well beyond tales of snakes and shamrocks. How might Patrick's mission experience with pre-Christian peoples direct our contemporary missional encounter with post-Christian peoples? Come explore the story of the shepherd slave turned shepherd of souls and discover that there is power still in the legacy of Patrick, when yoked with the Spirit-filled presence and purpose of the risen Christ. ""Canadian Ross Lockhart has quickly become one of our foremost interpreters of the church in mission to God's world. In this engaging, fast-paced book, Ross not only draws upon the ancient missional wisdom of missionary St. Patrick, but also gives contemporary church leaders the insights and skills we need to venture forth into God's mission today. Here is missional theology enacted and put in motion by wise, theologically informed, skilled leadership."" --Will Willimon, Duke Divinity School ""With deft analogical imagination, Lockhart retrieves crucial insights from the missional practice of St. Patrick for twenty-first-century secular society. Finally, a treatment of missional practice willing to be at odds with our context rather than treat it as fate. This book is a treasure."" --Richard R. Topping, Vancouver School of Theology ""There are many scholars who do history, others who do theology, others who do missions. Ross Lockhart braids these three together and the resultant chord is strong indeed. I not only learned more history and more about God, I put the book down encouraged to take part in God's mission of renewing the cosmos. A fantastic book."" --Jason Byassee, Vancouver School of Theology ""Many people are looking back to Celtic Christianity as a guide for Christian living today. With wit, charm, and wisdom, Ross Lockhart weaves together the stories of St. Patrick and the story of Cascadia. The result is the best retrieval of Celtic Christian wisdom for transforming missional leadership . . . It will lift your spirit, deepen your convictions, and equip you to follow Jesus in the culture of Cascadia and beyond."" --Jonathan R. Wilson, Regent College ""Here is an invitation to encounter the spiritual journey of St. Patrick as a resource for our present-day challenges. Lockhart helps us to experience this ancient father of the church as a very modern companion. Patrick's mission is an illuminating model for faithful witness in daunting contexts, both then and now."" --Darrell Guder, from the Foreword ROSS A. LOCKHART is Associate Professor at St. Andrew's Hall at The University of British Columbia. He is the founding Director of The Centre for Missional Leadership and author of Lessons from Laodicea: Missional Leadership in a Culture of Affluence (Cascade, 2016).

Somewhere in the mists of time, between history and hagiography, stands the great evangelist and missionary St. Patrick. Raised a ""cultural Christian,"" Patrick's encounter with God during captivity in Ireland transformed his life and the history of a people. Freedom from slavery, and a return home to Britain, produced the divine summons--Vox Hibernia--to return to Ireland and the place of captivity in order to witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christian witness in twenty-first-century Vancouver, Seattle, or Portland is a world away from fifth-century Armagh, Slane, or Cashel. Yet, the great evangelist to pre-Christian peoples of Hibernia has much to teach us as we seek to engage our secular, post-Christian context. There is wisdom in the missional leadership of the one we call St. Patrick that goes well beyond tales of snakes and shamrocks. How might Patrick's mission experience with pre-Christian peoples direct our contemporary missional encounter with post-Christian peoples? Come explore the story of the shepherd slave turned shepherd of souls and discover that there is power still in the legacy of Patrick, when yoked with the Spirit-filled presence and purpose of the risen Christ. ""Canadian Ross Lockhart has quickly become one of our foremost interpreters of the church in mission to God's world. In this engaging, fast-paced book, Ross not only draws upon the ancient missional wisdom of missionary St. Patrick, but also gives contemporary church leaders the insights and skills we need to venture forth into God's mission today. Here is missional theology enacted and put in motion by wise, theologically informed, skilled leadership."" --Will Willimon, Duke Divinity School ""With deft analogical imagination, Lockhart retrieves crucial insights from the missional practice of St. Patrick for twenty-first-century secular society. Finally, a treatment of missional practice willing to be at odds with our context rather than treat it as fate. This book is a treasure."" --Richard R. Topping, Vancouver School of Theology ""There are many scholars who do history, others who do theology, others who do missions. Ross Lockhart braids these three together and the resultant chord is strong indeed. I not only learned more history and more about God, I put the book down encouraged to take part in God's mission of renewing the cosmos. A fantastic book."" --Jason Byassee, Vancouver School of Theology ""Many people are looking back to Celtic Christianity as a guide for Christian living today. With wit, charm, and wisdom, Ross Lockhart weaves together the stories of St. Patrick and the story of Cascadia. The result is the best retrieval of Celtic Christian wisdom for transforming missional leadership . . . It will lift your spirit, deepen your convictions, and equip you to follow Jesus in the culture of Cascadia and beyond."" --Jonathan R. Wilson, Regent College ""Here is an invitation to encounter the spiritual journey of St. Patrick as a resource for our present-day challenges. Lockhart helps us to experience this ancient father of the church as a very modern companion. Patrick's mission is an illuminating model for faithful witness in daunting contexts, both then and now."" --Darrell Guder, from the Foreword ROSS A. LOCKHART is Associate Professor at St. Andrew's Hall at The University of British Columbia. He is the founding Director of The Centre for Missional Leadership and author of Lessons from Laodicea: Missional Leadership in a Culture of Affluence (Cascade, 2016).