Overview

Following Jesus Beyond Church Walls A Catalyst for Your Spiritual Growth Chantal Morales McKinney What happens to faith when the institutions meant to sustain it fail? In Following Jesus Beyond Church Walls, ordained Episcopal priest Chantal Morales McKinney offers a searching memoir of spiritual reckoning from inside a progressive Christian community that could not live up to its own values. As cracks appear in the church's moral and relational foundations, she confronts painful historical questions about power, accountability, and the limits of institutional belonging. Rather than walking away from Christianity, McKinney turns the church's failure into an invitation-one that leads her beyond institutional limits toward an expansive understanding of Jesus' teaching: ""Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there with them."" Beyond church walls, she begins to imagine a way of following Jesus grounded in relationship, moral courage, and presence rather than hierarchy or institutional authority. Drawing on Christian mysticism, the Divine Feminine, contemplative practice, immersion in the natural world, and her own pastoral formation, McKinney reimagines what faith can look like when institutions fail. Structured around the spiritual arc of Root, Thrive, and Soar, this deeply moving memoir is both an exposé of the limits of even the most inclusive churches and a blueprint for building faith and community beyond them. Following Jesus Beyond Church Walls offers hope to those who have been harmed or disillusioned by religious institutions but still hunger for meaning, connection, and a faith that can survive the truth. About the Author Chantal McKinney is a mystic Christian and visionary, a faith-based entrepreneur, nationwide speaker, coach, and consultant for a wide diversity of church leaders, faith communities, and non-profits. She was the founding pastor for Christ's Beloved Community/Comunidad Amada de Cristo in Winston-Salem, NC. She later founded Root Thrive Soar, a parachurch organization that trains, equips, and empowers churches, faith communities, and circles around the country to engage in compassionate action within their local communities in the spirit of Christ's love. She was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church and now continually strives to be God's priest, with a particular heart for the millions of people who have been in exile and on the margins of church. She is honored to form circles of support for women who have been harmed in the church with the support of Water + Light, which she co-founded. As the founder of Contemporary Mystics Publishing, she seeks to publish books rooted in Divine Love that expand our faith and spirituality beyond the confines of patriarchy. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and their three children.

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9781971589008

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Reviews

""In Following Jesus Beyond Church Walls, Chantal McKinney courageously shares her own story of fracture and betrayal at the hands of the church-naming not only the harm she endured, but how that harm was multiplied by the institution's broken response. Through her healing, Chantal offers hard-won spiritual wisdom and casts a mystical, magnetic vision of a church beyond its walls, inspiring us by reminding us that 'there is nowhere God is not.' This book belongs in the hands of anyone seeking a faith that tells the truth and still dares to hope.""-The Rev. Elle Dowd, author of Baptized in Tear Gas: From White Moderate to Abolitionist

Author Information

Chantal McKinney is a mystic Christian and visionary, a faith-based entrepreneur, nationwide speaker, coach, and consultant for a wide diversity of church leaders, faith communities, and non-profits. She was the founding pastor for Christ's Beloved Community/Comunidad Amada de Cristo in Winston-Salem, NC. She later founded Root Thrive Soar, a parachurch organization that trains, equips, and empowers churches, faith communities, and circles around the country to engage in compassionate action within their local communities in the spirit of Christ's love. She was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church and now continually strives to be God's priest, with a particular heart for the millions of people who have been in exile and on the margins of church. She is honored to form circles of support for women who have been harmed in the church. As the founder of Contemporary Mystics Publishing, she seeks to publish books rooted in Divine Love that expand our faith and spirituality beyond the confines of patriarchy. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and their three children.Learn more at chantalmckinney.com, rootthrivesoar.com, and contemporarymysticspublishing.com

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