In the past 5 years, one series of texts that I have considered “can’t miss” in relation to the church and ministry of the church has been Andrew Root’s “Ministry in a Secular Age Series.” It started back in 2017 with Faith Formation in a Secular Age, continued with book two in the series being The Pastor in a Secular Age (2019), and was followed with The Congregation in a Secular Age (2021). Each book builds off the others, but they also work as stand-alone texts- each having it’s own worthy discussion about ministry in the secular age. I thought that after three great books that Root’s series was done. However, I was delighted to learn I was mistaken, and today I am writing about the fourth book in this series Churches and the Crisis of Decline: A Hopeful, Practical Ecclesiology for a Secular Age. I previously reviewed Pastor in a Secular Age on this blog, and whereas I thought it would be impossible to top an engagement with Jenson and ministry, I believe Andrew Root has outdone himself here.
I read too much 