WESTMONT, IL— Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center and the Billy Graham Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College, will publish two books with InterVarsity Press on the past, present, future, and trends of evangelicalism. The first book is set to release in the spring of 2019.
“Ed Stetzer is one of the church’s most perceptive thought leaders today,” said Al Hsu, senior editor for IVP Books. “He grounds his perspectives in cutting-edge research, and his work as a ministry practitioner and missiologist is deeply rooted in historic evangelical identity and mission. IVP is thrilled to partner with him in helping the church move forward in the midst of cultural complexity.”
Stetzer’s extensive research work and leadership experience, previously with Lifeway and currently with Wheaton College and the Billy Graham Center, has established him as a major contributor to conversations on the North American missional church, church planting, church revitalization, and Christian cultural engagement.
“Ed has a unique voice in evangelicalism that is grounded, thoughtful, and incisive,” said Helen Lee, director of marketing for InterVarsity Press. “He is the kind of author who reflects evangelicalism at its best, and we are honored to be working with him to bring his ideas to the church and beyond.”
Stetzer’s first book to be published, tentatively titled Evangelical Landscape, begins with a look back at evangelical roots and identity, proceeds to map out where the evangelical church is today, and shows how a robust evangelicalism will move forward. This includes showing how the church must stay true to evangelical distinctiveness and mission by engaging with cultural issues in biblically sound ways, while at the same time pursuing the common good and welcoming outsiders and the marginalized.
The second book, tentatively titled Entrepreneurial Evangelicalism, will look at ministry innovations and religious reconfiguration during the mid-1980s to 2010—a period notably marked by the continuing decline of mainline churches, eroding denominational loyalty, and the corresponding rise of large, evangelical nondenominational churches. Relying on the research arm of the Billy Graham Center, this book will present data collected through a large-scale phone survey of American Protestant churches and in-depth interviews with pastors of large churches and facilitators of ministry innovations. The book will examine three central questions:
- What were the influential ministry innovations introduced by large, evangelical churches during the mid-1980s through approximately 2010, and how did they influence ministry paradigms and ways of doing church?
- Who (individuals and organizations) were the influential innovators and thought leaders of this period?
- What patterns can be discerned in the pathways and mechanisms used to diffuse these innovations to other churches?
“I am so glad to be partnering with InterVarsity Press as evangelicals think through important issues about who we are and where we go from here,” said Stetzer. “IVP is a publisher known for its passion for mission, and as we seek to live on mission in the world we find ourselves, I look forward to serving the church in partnership with them.”
InterVarsity Press has a long history of publishing books on the history of evangelicalism as well as its current developments and rising voices. Stetzer’s research and writing align well with the goals of IVP to “influence, engage, and shape the university world and our contemporary culture for the sake of Jesus Christ and his kingdom in the world.”
“Ed Stetzer’s work in the areas of research and missiology have made a tremendous impact on our understanding of the church, its impact and challenges, and its relationship to contemporary culture,” said Jeff Crosby, IVP publisher. “I am grateful for the chance to publish these projects and to link arms with Ed’s work at the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton. We look forward to a fruitful relationship in the years ahead.”
Founded in 1947 as an extension of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, InterVarsity Press serves those in the university, the church, and the world by publishing thoughtful Christian books that equip and encourage people to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord in all of life. For more information, visit ivpress.com.
Contact: Alisse Wissman | 630.734.4059 | awissman@ivpress.com
