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Beyond Thingification: Helping Your Church Engage in God's Mission Paperback – February 12, 2020

by Markus Watson (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 23 ratings
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"This book is a road-map for a church to find new vibrancy, new life, new joy. I heartily recommend it."
—Tod Bolsinger, VP and Chief of Leadership Formation at Fuller Seminary, author of Canoeing the Mountains: Leading into Uncharted Territory

Beyond Thingification will help you get clear on your church’s mission and help your church do ministry that really matters.

Leading churches is so much harder than it used to be. You used to be able to grow a church simply by starting one. Or by improving the preaching or the music or the children’s ministry. That’s just not the case anymore. We try to attract people to our churches with new programs. Occasionally it works. Most of the time it doesn’t.

That’s frustrating! And it makes us feel like failures.

Eventually, most of us realize that getting our churches to be bigger and better is not God’s top priority. We begin to understand that what God really wants is to heal the world. And we want that, too. We want to help our churches bless our communities and restore shalom in the world.

The problem is…it’s so hard to know how to do that today.

In Beyond Thingification: Helping Your Church Engage in God’s Mission, Markus Watson:
•Describes the historical background that got us to where we are…
•Explores the mission to which all of us have been called, and…
•Presents a practical way to discern how God is calling your particular church to participate in the healing of the world.

As you and your church read Beyond Thingification and implement what Markus Watson terms “Vocational Connection Groups,” you will:
•Help your church meaningfully engage in God’s mission.
•Escape the hamster wheel of doing the same old—but now ineffective—ministry programs.

Beyond Thingification will help you move:
•From confused about the church’s purpose…to clear about the church’s mission.
•From frustrated about your church’s ineffectiveness…to excited about what God is doing through your people.
•From distracted by meaningless measures of success…to focused on faithfulness as the true measure of success.

If you’re ready to get clear on how God is calling your church to engage in the mission of God in your unique context, Beyond Thingification will help you do just that.
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  1. Print length
    142 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    February 12, 2020
  4. Dimensions
    5 x 0.36 x 8 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    108280536X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1082805363
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (February 12, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 142 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 108280536X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1082805363
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.36 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 23 ratings

About the author

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Markus Watson

Markus Watson

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Markus Watson has been a pastor for nearly twenty years, helping churches navigate a changing world. As host of the Spiritual Life and Leadership podcast, Markus helps leaders integrate their inner spiritual life with their outer life of leadership and ministry.

Markus lives in San Diego with his wife and three children.

Find out more about Markus at www.markuswatson.com

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
23 global ratings
More Than Just a Theological Review ... a Real Handbook!
5 Stars
More Than Just a Theological Review ... a Real Handbook!
This book is genuinely well-done! Markus Watson gives a true-to-form analysis of the current state of the church but doesn't just end the conversation there. This book is a literal handbook for how well-meaning, spirit-led people of faith can seek to break chains of typical church and bring real love and compassion to the communities we serve. Markus calls this Shalom ... bringing "wholeness, completeness, and fullness."There are only a handful of books that break past a re-telling of our current situation and provide real, meaningful direction to how we can make changes in our churches and communities. This is one of those books!
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Top reviews from the United States

Sherilyn
5.0 out of 5 stars A New Hope for our Missional Calling
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2020
Verified Purchase
This book is a joy to read, revealing truths about the early Church and the Church in the time of Christendom. The author writes with amazing clarity on why certain changes have occurred, and then moves into the practical aspects of how our churches can bring back our focus on living our faith in the midst of our cultures. His suggestions will help every church and every believer realize that we all have a calling, to go out into our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and wherever we relate with others, with a desire to listen, to learn what God is doing within our communities, and to love.

After finishing this book, I was overjoyed at the hope of joining with others from my church in learning how to relate in a new way, in God's way, to others in my ordinary life, and knowing that our lives reveal our missional calling, a calling the early Church understood.
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Jeffrey Lower
5.0 out of 5 stars Timely and Practical
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2020
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This book is right on time, as many communities of faith reconsider "what is Church" recognizing that it is not a building only. Pastor-Theologian, Markus Watson, does an impressive job of presenting a theology of church (ecclesiology), the Reign of God and the missional call on the Church along with a practical implementation, basically step-by-step curriculum for creating what he calls "Vocation Connection Groups." The goal is to help the people of God discover where God is at work already and to practice becoming intentionally aware, in order to harness the power of calling and vocation, not simply doing more programs. An important read! And, don't forget to read the afterword-- incredibly helpful and inspiring.
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judy grant
4.0 out of 5 stars Bringing Back Shalom
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2020
Verified Purchase
Markus Watson is my pastor. He has written a thoughtful and engaging book about the Church in today’s complicated and challenging world. Church today is vastly different from the church of my childhood, the 1950’s. Markus gives a good explanation of Christendom then and how it has ended now. I’ve lived that change and it wasn’t easy. He points out that the mission of the church has always been ‘Shalom’ and that our mission is to restore Shalom to God’s world. The writing is academic, but not preachy, and the author’s warmth come through on each page. I loved his references to Star Wars and the Force. Markus ends his book with directions on how to set up and implement Vocational Connection Groups. All of us have vocations, not just the clergy, and those vocations are sacred. Hopefully when this crazy crises has passed churches will be able to meet and use this book to set up their own groups We need to learn to be open to the unexpected.
Judy Grant
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Chris Robertson
5.0 out of 5 stars An important contribution to faith & work literature
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2020
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The number of books that have been written on the topic of faith and work, particularly in the last five years, is legion. One could argue we do not need any more books on the subject allowing us the opportunity to read the books that have already been written. I do, however, think there is room for additional scholarship. Markus Watson, a veteran pastor from San Diego has recently published Beyond Thingification: Helping Your Church Engage In God’s Mission. Markus’ book makes an important contribution.

Watson serves as interim pastor at Westmorland Community Presbyterian Church. He has served in other churches around the country over the last 20+ years of pastoral work. He also hosts the Spiritual Life and Leadership podcast. Watson’s journey to being a pastor has not taken the traditional route but included a stop in Hollywood and a reluctant turn toward seminary. I invite you to his website to learn more about this journey.

Markus’ short book guides the reader to consider the church in a post-Christendom world, and in light of that context, how to help your congregation engage in God’s mission. I want to highlight two aspects of Watson’s book in hopes they will whet your appetite to purchase the book and read it for yourself.

First, Markus does a masterful job taking us back to the time of Constantine and the Roman Empire recounting the origins of what would ultimately result in the sacred-secular divide. Markus describes “a new breed of Christianity,” marked by the church having a position of power, while unable to maintain its identity and sense of mission. Previously, every Christ-follower understood their missionary identity.

"Their whole lives were characterized by mission—by loving their neighbors, laying their lives down for others, and living out the teachings of Jesus in their families, their friendships, their businesses, and their local communities."

This new season of Christianity emerged as a result of the church’s new status in the Roman Empire in which Constantine, led as the first Christian Roman Emperor, was not catechized or baptized?

Why is this significant? This example of Christianity led to a new kind of Christianity that “did not require conversion or commitment.”

Why does this matter? Constantine’s conversation had an enduring effect on the church. The church suddenly had a prestigious position which resulted in the lack of an apparent need for mission. This increased power, unfortunately, resulted in a decreased missionary identity. The church held this position for the next 1,550 years. Markus explains this situation.

"What changed was that in the pre-Christendom era, the church’s missionary identity applied to every follower of Jesus; in Christendom, the church no longer understood its missionary identity as applying to all Christians. Only certain individuals took on the responsibility of being missional people. Only certain individuals felt called to live all of their lives all for Jesus. These people, who longed to be a part of God’s mission of shalom, usually ended up living in monasteries and convents—the only model of deep discipleship available at that time."

Do you see the problem? The advent of Christendom and its accompanying expansion of Christianity created a dualism where some individuals felt called to a missional lifestyle while others did not. What can be seen as a great opportunity for the spread of Christianity, and it was, also contributed to what we now refer to as the sacred-secular divide.

The other aspect of Beyond Thingification I want to highlight is Markus’ proposal of vocational connection groups. Now that he has presented the problem that exists in our churches as a result of the sacred-secular divide and the accompanying lack of awareness of what God is doing “out there,” what would it look like to develop a new lens for looking at the world?

"A Vocational Connection Group (VCG) can help church members become intentionally aware of what God is doing “out there.” VCGs are a way for churches to foster a growing awareness among congregants of how God is at work in people’s lives outside the church. It can also help pastors and other church leaders get a sense of what God is up to in the community and the city in which their congregation is located. VCGs can even spark the imaginations of churches as they discover new and fresh ways of joining God in his mission."

I have had the great privilege to walk alongside a large number of churches over the last 7 years as they explored vocation and its integral nature to what God is doing in the world. This exploration has resulted in a significant number of new initiatives that have shaped hearts and minds by the Holy Spirit. Women and men are thinking about their work in new and different ways. People are seeing the value in their work where they didn’t before. This is an amazing development hard stop.

I do, however, reflect from the time to time on the amount of fruit I see and wonder why there isn’t more. There are many reasons, including the seemingly ever-present tyranny of the urgent. I wonder if some of the churches who participated in our programs engaged in a process like what Markus outlines in the vocational connection groups if we would see more fruit today. I encourage you to learn more about these groups in the book, but I will say they are intentionally small and not complicated, but I believe can be used by the Holy Spirit to empower women and men to see their work and their world differently. These groups are designed to meet monthly for one year and include no more than 20 people. Each meeting has three parts: dwelling in Scripture, sharing stories, and prayer. Markus outlines these gatherings in great detail in chapter six allowing lots of room for churches to bring these alive in contextualized ways.

I want Markus to have the last word here. Thanks for your excellent work in stirring our imaginations to new and different ways we can engage in God’s world.

"We, the people of God, have been called to be the vessel of God’s love and shalom. We have not been called to grow our attendance or our budgets. We have not been called to be the biggest or best church in town. We have been called to participate with God in the restoration of shalom.

May we take whatever steps are necessary to discern where and how God is already at work. May we leave behind any notions of worldly success and seek only to be the life-giving presence of Jesus in the world. May we listen to our neighbors, to each other, and to God so we might discern how God is calling us.

And as we live out our call to bring healing to the world, may we experience the love and shalom of God in our own lives and our own congregations."
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Laura L. Padgett
5.0 out of 5 stars A new way of seeing and doing church mission
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2022
Verified Purchase
I was not familiar with the term "thingification." Once Pastor Marcus Watson explained it and how it contributes to the lack of shalom (true shalom) in our lives, our churches, our communities I knew exactly what he was talking about. We all do it. We've all seen it. But to recognize when we do it and to stop, then walk into ways of doing life differently is the challenge. I love and have recommended this book to many within my church. We cannot heal if we cannot be real. Within these pages, the author advocates for finding and embracing the "real" in our lives. Marcus Watson also encourages readers to see through new lenses and listen to others as we watch what God is doing all around us, inside and outside the church building. Highly recommend this to pastors and lay people alike. Most of us want shalom in our lives. Getting that and keeping it may take some work and attitude adjustments. But I believe the efforts will pay off in ways we could never imagine and we will be delighted with those results.

Laura L. Padgett, MA
Award-winning author of Jesus in Shorts: "Twenty-five Short Stories of Life-Changing Jesus Moments".
Podcast host of "Livin' What You're Given Podcast".
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