James Emery White
Quick Facts
Biography
- Not to be confused with author and theologian James R. White.
James Emery White (born December 20, 1961), is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina; President of Serious Times, a ministry that explores the intersection of faith and culture and hosts ChurchandCulture.org; ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture on the Charlotte campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary where he also served as their fourth president; and author of more than 20 books that have been translated into ten languages.
Mecklenburg Community Church began with a single family and has grown to more than 10,000 active attenders. The church experiences more than 70% of its growth from those who were previously unchurched and during its formative years was often cited as one of the fastest growing church starts in the United States. He is also Distinguished Professor of Pastoral Ministry at Anderson University, and consulting editor to Leadership Journal.
White holds a B.S. degree in public relations and business from Appalachian State University, and the M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received a Garrett Teaching Fellowship in both New testament and Theology. He has also done advanced university study at Vanderbilt University in American religious history, and continuing education at Oxford University in England, including participation in Oxford's Summer Programme in Theology.
White is the author of more than 20 books, including such Gold Medallion nominees as Serious Times and A Search for the Spiritual, Christianity Today book-of-the-year award winner Embracing the Mysterious God, as well as The Prayer God Longs For and Rethinking the Church. His most recent publications include Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians, Meet Generation Z, The Rise of the Nones, The Church in an Age of Crisis, and What They Didn't Teach You in Seminary.
In November 2009, White signed an ecumenical statement known as the Manhattan Declaration calling on evangelicals, Catholics and Orthodox not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.
Works
Books
- White, James Emery (1992). Opening the Front Door: worship and church growth. Nashville, TN: Convention Press. OCLC 26135154.
- ——— (1994). What is Truth?: a comparative study of the positions of Cornelius Van Til, Francis Schaeffer, Carl F.H. Henry, Donald Bloesch, Millard Erickson. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers. ISBN 978-0-805-41156-0. OCLC 26975646.
- ——— (1997). Rethinking the Church: A Challenge to Creative Redesign in an Age of Transition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker. ISBN 978-0-801-09039-4. OCLC 36573744.
- ——— (1998). A Search for the Spiritual: exploring real Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. ISBN 978-0-801-05818-9. OCLC 38732183.
- ——— (1999). You Can Experience - a Spiritual Life. Nashville, TN: Word Pub. ISBN 978-0-849-93766-8. OCLC 41674306.
- ——— (2000). You Can Experience - a Purposeful Life. Nashville, TN: Word Pub. ISBN 978-0-849-93767-5. OCLC 43109935.
- ——— (2003). Embracing the Mysterious God: loving the God we don't understand. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-830-82377-2. OCLC 51942374.
- ——— (2004). Serious Times: Making Your Life Matter in an Urgent Day. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-830-83211-8. OCLC 54536874.
- ——— (2005). The Prayer God Longs For. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-830-83327-6. OCLC 57893568.
- ——— (2006). A Mind for God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-830-83392-4. OCLC 63807797.
- ——— (2008). Wrestling with God: Loving the God We Don't Understand. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-830-83363-4. OCLC 213384818.
- ——— (2010). Is Jesus the Only Way to God?. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-877-84036-7. OCLC 793379710.
- ——— (2010). Christ Among the Dragons: Finding Our Way Through Cultural Challenges. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-830-83312-2. OCLC 550553896.
- ——— (2010). What They Didn't Teach You In Seminary: 25 Lessons for Successful Ministry in Your Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. ISBN 978-0-801-01388-1. OCLC 662401673.
- ——— (2012). A Traveler's Guide to the Kingdom: Journeying Through the Christian Life. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-830-83818-9. OCLC 759909769.
- ——— (2012). The Church in an Age of Crisis: 25 New Realities Facing Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. ISBN 978-0-801-01387-4. OCLC 775419979.
- ——— (2014). The Rise of the Nones: Understanding and Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. ISBN 978-0-801-01623-3. OCLC 861069262.
- ——— (2017). Meet Generation Z: Understanding and Reaching the New Post-Christian World. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. ISBN 0801017017.
- ——— (2019). Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians: Uncommon Answers to Common Questions. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. ISBN 978-0-801-09459-0. OCLC 0801094593.