What does Jesus call his disciples to do? To proclaim correct doctrines about Jesus? To avoid sinners and condemn sin? To impose their values and rules upon the wider society? To be supportive of the church? From the experience of almost three decades of work with the poor, the homeless, the crime victim, and the abused child as a lawyer and a United Methodist minister, Brooks Harrington hears Jesus in the Gospel according to Matthew teaching and showing that discipleship is the Way of Mercy. Disciples are called to endure in following Jesus and trusting the Father despite the challenges of discipleship, the growing misery and evil in the world, the belittling of the power of God’s mercy by the world’s opposing kingdoms, and the delay in the arrival of God’s promised Kingdom of shalom. The Beatitudes are the twelve steps of discipleship to God’s Kingdom of Mercy and blessings from God empowering disciples to persist in mercy in the midst of so much pain, injustice, and opposition. After each of the twelve steps Harrington tells a fictional story of four women struggling to be disciples in our day and time by protecting the poor and undocumented refugees.

Jesus People is a call to abandon cheap, consumeristic Christianity and recapture the radical and subversive nature of authentic Christianity. It explores the eight Beatitudes and the way each of them inform how we must live and approach our God-given mission in the twenty-first century. "To believe in Jesus is to believe the words of Jesus in such a way that God's people embody God's radiant light in a weary world. With robust Biblical scholarship and a loving pastoral heart, Ryan Post unpacks Jesus' call to a 'holy we' instead of a 'holy me.' When we live in communities that are formed by the Beatitudes the world will look and see Jesus People." -Tara Beth Leach, Pastor and Author of Radiant Church and Emboldened "Taking us deep into the language of the Beatitudes, Post draws out deep truths illustrated by his own experience as a Jesus person and as a pastor. This book is what we need today to grow as followers of Jesus and engage God's good but broken world as the people of Jesus." -Derek Vreeland, Author of By the Way: Getting Serious about Following Jesus "Jesus People is a sweeping and thorough narrative that will move you from despair to dreaming about Kingdom possibilities. Ryan Post has given us something of a manifesto for being the broken but beautiful community we know can exist. This is the pathway forward for our times!" -Dan White Jr., Developer with the V3 Movement & Author of Love Over Fear "The most pressing questions we can ask as followers of Jesus are, 'Where is Jesus going?' and 'Are we going with Him?' Ryan offers us wisdom for answering these questions, responding to the summons of Jesus, and then taking the necessary steps." -Mark Chironna, Lead Pastor, Church on the Living Edge, Longwood, Florida "History shows how surpassingly difficult it is for Christians not to forget Christ. We need constant reminding that we are called by the Spirit to live the same cross-bearing, enemy-loving, God-fearing life that he lived. Thankfully, Ryan Post's book does precisely that, directing our attention not to Jesus as we imagine him but to Jesus as the Gospels present him to us." -Chris E. W. Green, Professor of Public Theology, Southeastern University, Lakeland, Florida

Perhaps Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s most radical book, this reading of the Sermon on the Mount has influenced many Christians throughout the world over the last 50 years.

Drawing on stories from the lives of the saints, scripture, and everyday life, Jim Forest opens up the mysteries of the Beatitudes. These ancient blessings, with which Christ began his Sermon on the Mount, are all aspects of communion with God. As Forest shows, they are like rungs on a ladder, each one leading to the next. They appear at the doorway of the New Testament to provide an easily memorized summary of everything that follows, right down to the crucifixion ("Blessed are you who are persecuted") and the resurrection ("Rejoice and be glad").

The Latina/o culture and identity have long been shaped by their challenges to the religious, socio-economic, and political status quo. Robert Chao Romero explores the "Brown Church" and how this movement appeals to the vision for redemption that includes not only heavenly promises but also the transformation of our lives and the world.

In this compelling book about diversity and community, McKnight shares his personal experiences and his study of the Apostle Paul to answer this significant question: What is the church supposed to be? Local churches matter far more than we often know because they determine what Christian life looks like for you. The church McKnight grew up in was a fellowship of sames and likes. Mostly white, same beliefs about everything, same tastes in music and worship and sermons and lifestyle. But the church God designed, says McKnight, is meant to be a fellowship of di­fference and di­fferents. A mixture of people from all across the map and spectrum: men and women, rich and poor, black and white, and everything in between. A Fellowship of Differents explores the church as God’s world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the table to share life with one another as a new kind of family, showing the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be.