CREATING MISSIONAL COMMUNITY
Down We Go is a practitioner's guide for creating and cultivating missional community. It's based on the idea of living into the Beatitudes, and explores what it means to follow Jesus into the hard places of suffering, inequality, and injustice in order to cultivate, hope, beauty, justice, equality, generosity and healing.
The dream of living out the upside-down ways of Jesus is in our hearts, but many don't know how to make "what could be" really be. We need practical, tangible ideas to make dreams reality. We need to hear how it can work, from people on the margins and practitioners living in the trenches. We need real stories of practice that will fan our hopes and dreams for justice, mercy, equality, and healing in the kingdom of God into flame. Down We Go fleshes out practicing the ways of Jesus in action, personally and through life in community.
Endorsements
"Page after page in Down We Go, I feel the crazy sanity of the kingdom of God seeping back into me. I'm so thankful for Kathy Escobar, the Refuge, the TransForm Network, and everyone who dares to switch directions and become more profane - in the holiest sense of the word." - Brian D. McLaren, author of Naked Spirituality and A New Kind of Christianity.
"Kathy Escobar explores how to move from 'doing' ministry for others into creating sacred spaces where all can be a part of the Kingdom of God. Those desiring something beyond "comfy church" will find inspiration in Kathy's downwardly mobile journey" - Becky Garrison, author of Jesus Died For This?
"Kathy Escobar leads us on a guided tour of the wild ways of Jesus. She is one of my favorite leaders. I hope to continue to learn from her example for years to come" - Jim Henderson, D. Min, Author of Jim and Casper Go To Church and The Resignation of Eve.
"Kathy takes us down into the trenches where ordinary hurting people live and where we too need to live out our faith. Her personal faith journey from mega-church pastor to ministry with the destitute and marginalized is a compelling and convicting read." - Christine Sine, Author and Executive Director of Mustard Seed Associates.
About the Author: Kathy Escobar co-pastors the Refuge, an eclectic faith community in North Denver dedicated to those on the margins of life and faith. She journeys with people in hard places as a spiritual director, teacher, and group facilitator. A Pepperdine University graduate, she also has a Masters degree in Management/Organizational Development and a Certificate in Evangelical Spiritual Guidance from Denver Seminary.
Kathy's co-authored 2 other books, Come with Me: An Invitation to Break through the Walls Between You and God (Discovery House Press) and Refresh: Sharing Stories. Building Faith with Laura Greiner (New Hope Publishers, 2007). She also contributed to Taking Flight: Reclaiming the Female Half of God's Image Through Advocacy and Renewal, (Samizdat Creative, 2010).
Kathy is also on the leadership group for the Transform Network, a missional community formation network. She is a frequent speaker at gatherings and conferences around the United States. She lives in Arvada, Colorado with her husband, Jose, and 5 kids and blogs regularly about community life and spiritual formation at KathyEscobar.com. You can connect with Kathy on Facebook and Twitter.
