J. Brian Tucker - All Together Different: Upholding the Churchs Unity While Honoring Our Individual Identities

Church conflict is painful, but inevitable. At some point, a person or group in a congregation feels overlooked or mistreated, and the seeds of discord are sown. All Together Different will help church leaders understand how identity plays a role in these conflicts. Tucker and Koessler are scholars with pastors hearts. Theyve written a wise book explaining how we can take our individual differences seriously while upholding the unity of the church.

ED STETZER

Billy Graham Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College

All Together Different is a substantial yet practical book that points the way forward toward a more unified experience of the body of Christ. In these pages, youll find deep reflection and actionable suggestions for developing and maintaining a culture in your church that prioritizes unity in essentials, liberty in nonessentials, and charity in all things. Too many churches divide over secondary and even tertiary issues. Read this book. More importantly, heed its message. I highly recommend it!

TODD WILSON

Senior Pastor, Calvary Memorial Church, Oak Park, IL

Are you battle-weary from all of the arguments on national disunity, racism, and identity? Western culture has been drowning in bickering and bitterness for a long time. Whos right and whos wrong? Hope of resolving our differences seems to be slipping further away. Now we seem to be arguing for arguings sake. We listen not to discover a resolution but to find an opening to launch our own salvo to further our agenda. If you would like to find a portal to discuss unity in an intelligent, meaningful, and substantive conversation again, read All Together Different. It will give you a path to finding a solution to the problem of understanding our personal and corporate identities. It will also show us believers how we can rediscover hope for unity and even invite others into this community of acceptance. I enjoyed this read. It was informative, stimulating, and biblically challenging.

BRUCE FONG

Dean of Dallas Theological SeminaryHouston and Professor of Pastoral Ministries

Gender, race, age, sexuality, theological persuasionall of these issues highlight our differences. In the midst of this, Christ followers are called to live in genuine unity while not erasing our human distinctions. Through careful research, cultural analysis, and biblical insights, Brian Tucker and John Koessler encourage us to dive into the messiness of being all together yet different. To my knowledge, nothing quite like this has been written for evangelicals. I have no question it will move the ball downfield in this important discussion.

MARK S. MITCHELL

Lead Pastor, Central Peninsula Church, Foster City, CA

In a fragmented world confused by various identities, Brian Tucker and John Koessler provide a great introduction to the meaning of identity, race, gender, and community, and what they mean from a Christian perspective. This is a great volume on how faith shapes our identity as followers of Jesus. A much-needed book in an age of identity politics.

MICHAEL F. BIRD

Lecturer in Theology at Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia

Identity is at the heart of the human experience. The challenge for Christianity is identitys fluid and divisive nature. In All Together Different, Tucker and Koessler bring us a biblically rich and theologically hopeful vision for the way we understand identity. They remind us that our individual identities and differences make sense only in light of our shared identity as Gods children, who are tethered together in the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is a significant book for challenging times.

MATTHEW D. KIM

Associate professor of preaching and ministry, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and author of Preaching with Cultural Intelligence

How should we then live in an age when nationalism, hate groups, and political fights seem to be showing up everywhere? John Koessler and Brian Tucker have some answers and they go well beyond simplistic platitudes of respect and tolerance. Instead, they offer us a set of ideas and practices that strike at the core of who we are. Understanding our identity and the identities of others is the first step toward building cultural intelligence, so I highly recommend this book for helping Christians in that quest.

DAVID LIVERMORE

Leader, Cultural Intelligence Center, East Lansing, MI

Simply terrific! I need a books worth of words to describe how much this volume has helped me as a follower of Jesus and as a pastor. Tucker and Koessler present a rich biblical vision for how identity in the body of Christ serves as our master identity, helping us negotiate the challenges of racial, sexual, and generational division. Their insights have better equipped me to pursue the Spirits gift of unity in the church and to view the church as a people who are all together differentnot altogether different.

STEVEN D. MATHEWSON

Senior Pastor, CrossLife Evangelical Free Church, Libertyville, IL

Our world is filled with racial conflict, church fights, identity confusion, and ethnic and generational tensions. Into this mix, Tucker and Koessler provide a biblical understanding of how unity and community are possible. All Together Different is readable, challenging, and refreshing. This should be required reading for all church leaders who dare to go beyond shallow answers to find biblical hope for true unity and community. As a pastor, All Together Different was the book I needed to lead my church to true unity and community so we can be light in a broken and divided world.

DOUG SCHMIDT

Senior Pastor, Woodside Bible Church, Troy, MI

2018 by
J. BRIAN TUCKER AND JOHN KOESSLER

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