Rebekah Simon-Peter’s Forging a New Path is a groundbreaking guidebook for the post-pandemic church. The prophet Ezekiel surveyed a valley of dry bones and asked, “Can these bones rise again?” His prophetic vision hinted at the lifelessness of a people in exile hundreds of years ago.
In the twenty-first century, his question echoes through time in a new way: Can this church grow again? For people who care about faith-based communities, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Kingdom of God, this question is critical. When the pandemic broke out, it badly disrupted church life, already hindered by declining membership, forcing pastors and church members alike to ask once more, “Can this church live?”
Rebekah Simon-Peter wrote Forging a New Path in response to conversations and questions that people in churches across the country are having. The author focuses on three persistent questions:
- When do things go back to normal?
- How do we get people (back) to church?
- How do we do more with less?
Simon-Peter leaves no stone unturned, looking at pandemics past to see how medieval Christians dealt with these same issues. Their answers were surprising. The author writes this is the perfect time for Christians to envision and forge a new path forward with God. In this book, the author shares what we can learn from our past to help reshape our future. She writes that our future won’t come from superficial or technical changes but from profound changes in the way we live out being the church.
Simon-Peter borrows the vision of Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” to remind the reader of the Scripture’s answer: “This is what the sovereign LORD says to these bones, ‘I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.’”
What Readers are Saying
Forging a New Path is complete with real-time and relevant strategies and tools to help leaders navigate the uncertain waters of church leadership to lead healthier and more vital churches. This post-pandemic church resource covers everything from community outreach to hybrid worship in a dramatically shifted world since the beginning of COVID-19. Rebekah skillfully synthesized the church's past, present, and future in this creative resource and has developed content that provides inspiration and information for leaders and churches around the world who are seeking to take big risks and reach the world for Christ.
Olu Brown
Author, Church Consultant, and Founding Pastor of Impact Church in Atlanta, Georgia
Rebekah Simon-Peter has done it again, bringing a savvy, insightful, well-researched volume to pastors and congregations that are longing to keep in step with the Spirit. Drawing insight from scripture, historical experiences of plagues that impacted society and the church, and spiritual wisdom, this book offers hope and practical help.
Elaine A. Heath, Ph.D.
Author, God Unbound and The Mystic Way of Evangelism
In Forging a New Path, Rebekah Simon-Peter brings a word of hope and encouragement to the post-pandemic church. Drawing on the lessons of history and insights from thought-leaders in spiritual formation, Simon-Peter challenges the church to approach our new reality with a new set of attitudes – recognizing that we must adopt practices that seem unfamiliar, embrace that the church is its people and not the buildings, and make the shift from 'wait and see' to actively engaging the issues of our culture. This book is a clarion call to re-discover the essence of what it means to be the church in a world that longs for what the church has to offer.
Dr. Phil Maynard
Author, Coach, and Congregational Developer
