Baptist congregations in Australia face two important and contemporary challenges: to remain faithful and to regain relevance. The authors featured in this volume model the innovative and imaginative responses that are required to meet those challenges. Pastors, Christian leaders, and theological educators together address congregational innovation and cultural transition. At the heart of these two activities is a faithful exploration of the contours of worship and a relevant engagement with the contours of contextual change. But this is more than a volume about mere worship or mere cultural diversity. Rather, it assumes that worship implies sacrifice and service as much as it means liturgy and prayer. Secondly, it assumes that cultural diversity also implies sacrifice and service as much as it anticipates ethnicity and language. Innovation and sacrifice require a ‘putting to death’ of inherited assumptions and patterns of congregational practice. Service and imagination require a ‘bringing to life’ of new patterns of congregational innovation. It’s the earnest prayer of the New Wineskins authors and editors that this volume contributes to the ongoing search for faithful and relevant Baptist congregations long into the 21st century. 3
