We live in a time when many view the church as a relic of ancient traditions and cosmologies, often reactionary, mean-spirited, nationalist, and racist. They see those who call themselves Christians reacting in fear to the changes around them, rather than, like Jesus, boldly declaring and living out God's compassion and justice. Some, who view themselves as nonbelievers, point out, often with great clarity, the distance between so-called Christian witness and the teaching of Jesus. This book takes us back to the first followers of Jesus and their attraction to Jesus and his teaching. It reexamines what they encountered in Jesus that led them to follow him, and it analyzes the dynamics of following. This exploration becomes a call to let Jesus lead us into God's presence and liberating action. By doing so, we experience a stripping away of our false religiosity, misplaced commitments, and idolatries. As we join with others in a community of Jesus's followers, gathered by Jesus to be sent out, we exercise true, society-altering witness.
