Telos: The Hope of Heaven Today
About this ebook
Are we living through the beginning of the end?
The end has indeed begun – but it is not the special effects explosion many of us imagine. For too long, we’ve gotten the end wrong, which leads to poor decisions with dead-end consequences. To live a better Christian story, we need a better vision of the end.
Telos argues for a new way of looking at the end: as the culmination of God’s grand story. It introduces Jesus’ most important word in describing the end: the Greek word telos. Telos is the rhythm of human history; the presence of God; the plot, purpose, and completion of the story. The end is the kingdom of God, and the kingdom is here and now.
In the book, Rev. Dr. Leonard Sweet and Dr. Len Wilson challenge six false endings playing out in the world today, which result in tragedy and despair. Through an examination of cultural and philosophical trends converging in today’s chaotic times, Sweet and Wilson show how many of the problems plaguing American Christianity are rooted in bad theology and offer a better definition of God’s kingdom: the present reality of the presence of God that gives us hope for today and tomorrow.
Telos will help you gain:
- An understanding of the philosophical and culture movements that fuel our wrong ideas about the end of the world and the problems they are creating today
- A new perspective on time – past, present, and future – and why God’s kingdom is more than a place or singular moment in history
- A positive vision of the future based on the true meaning of the kingdom of God
- A new way of engaging culture without culture warring
- A worldview that empowers you to live with more hope and peace every day, even in chaotic times
A lot has been written about the kingdom of God, but nothing like this. This book is an invitation to stop worrying about the future or running yourself ragged trying to build the kingdom and to instead step into the life of the kingdom that is available to you now.
If you want to know what happens in the end, how telos helps us live in the stream of the Spirit, and how to live a better story today – no matter what the future holds – read what may be the most important book of our time.
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About the author
Leonard Sweet is the author of more than seventy books, including recent works on preaching (Giving Blood), evangelism (Nudge), ecclesiology (So Beautiful) and discipleship (I Am a Follower). In demand worldwide as a speaker, Len often appears on "Most Influential Christians in America" listings and was selected by the top non-English Christian website as one of the "Top 10 Influential World Christians of 2010". Len works with doctoral students at four institutions: Drew University, George Fox University Northwind Seminary, and Evangelical Seminary (Kairos). In 2015 he launched his own homiletics resource at preachthestory.com, and in 2020 he founded his own publishing house: the Salish Sea Press. His "Napkin Scribbles" podcasts are available on leonardsweet.com or Spotify. He resides on Orcas Island in the San Juans in the Pacific Northwest.
Len Wilson is Executive Director of Invite Ministries and publisher of Invite Press. A pioneer in the use of visual media and storytelling in church life, Len has served as a creative director, teacher, speaker, consultant, and coach. He has helped thousands of churches to more innovative ways of doing ministry through entrepreneurial endeavors he has co-founded and led since 1996.Telos is his twelfth title. Other works include Greater Things, Think Like a 5 Year Old, Taking Flight with Creativity, and The Wired Church. As a producer and director of dozens of short films, Len has won Silver and Bronze Telly Awards. Len holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in Semiotics and Future Studies from Portland Seminary, where he serves as Project Faculty to doctoral students. He resides in Frisco, Texas.
