Call to Cultivate

Praise for

A Call to Cultivate

“In a time marked by uncertainty and anxiety, what does it mean to follow Jesus faithfully? Strachan points us to a hopeful path grounded in Scripture. His book A Call to Cultivate offers a clear, biblical, and practical guide to flourishing in everyday life—from our homes to our wider communities. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I highly recommend it.”

—Sean McDowell, PhD, Professor of Apologetics at Talbot School of Theology, bestselling author, and popular YouTuber

“We live in a world ransacked by anxiety and riddled with fear—how should followers of Jesus live in times of such turmoil and uncertainty? In this timely book, my friend Owen Strachan lays out compelling, practical, and thoroughly biblical principles that enable Christians not only to survive in a broken world, but to flourish—to truly thrive. As Owen keenly observes, ‘God is calling us not to abandon our world, but to cultivate it.’ Read this book and be both challenged and encouraged by the truth of God’s Word contained within—truth that is as relevant today as when it was first penned.”

—Jonny Ardavanis, Lead Pastor of Stonebridge Bible Church in Brentwood, Tennessee, and author of Consider the Lilies: Finding Perfect Peace in the Character of God

“A Call to Cultivate is not about political conquest or cultural retreat. It’s about a humble, God-glorifying obedience that leads to health, hope, and lasting impact. In Strachan’s typical lucid and even witty style, his biblical exposition is engaging, his theological precision is insightful, his cultural analysis is optimistic, and his practical application is relevant to everyday life. Rooted in the gospel and realistic about our times, he offers clarity, courage, and hope for Christians who want to flourish in a fallen world while maintaining their joy.”

—Dr. Jon Benzinger, Lead Pastor of Redeemer Bible Church in Gilbert, Arizona, and President of Redeemer Seminary

“In a society filled with technological tension and digital dreariness, Owen Strachan invites us to do the unthinkable. To press pause on the busyness of life. To slow down. And to undertake tasks aimed at the development of beauty and enjoyment: connecting, building, and especially, gardening. He asks us to reimagine ourselves constructing lives that are centered not on the spectacular but on stability, not on consumption but on cultivation. This book is for agriculturalists and urbanites alike—for all who are trying to reclaim a sense of dignity and worth in a dizzying and angst-ridden society. But most important of all, Strachan reminds us there is only one way such a quest can be executed successfully. We must do all things to the glory of the divine Gardener.”

—Jeff Moore, Assistant Professor of New Testament at Grace Bible Theological Seminary

“Much confusion abounds today as Christians wrestle with how to live in our post-Christian culture. Some want to hide; others want to fight. But Owen Strachan offers an insightful, biblical way forward in A Call to Cultivate. However, don’t let the seeming simplicity of his exhortations distract you away from the richness and profundity of the call to build houses, plant gardens, create families, seek peace, seek God, etc. As we exist in this proverbial Babylon, Owen encourages us to cultivate deep purpose, productivity, and prosperity to the glory of God. This book is a mature and much-needed wake-up call for this generation.”

—Nate Pickowicz, Pastor of Harvest Bible Church in Gilmanton Ironworks, New Hampshire, and author of Overcoming the Darkness: Biblical Help for Spiritual Depression

“In an age marked by rootlessness, expressive individualism, and the quiet collapse of moral order, Owen Strachan offers a bracingly sane summons to recover the creational logic of human flourishing. A Call to Cultivate diagnoses our cultural anxiety not merely as psychological distress but as a metaphysical problem: we have forgotten that we are creatures made for place, order, limits, and love. Drawing on Jeremiah’s counsel to exiles, Strachan recovers a theology of rooted presence—building, planting, forming families, seeking the common good, and seeking God—as an antidote to liquid modernity. This is not escapism, culture war, or technocratic self-help. It is a call to reinhabit reality.”

—Andrew T. Walker, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics and Public Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“Who doesn’t relish a good journey? But as good as any journey might promise to be, it’s only made better by a competent guide—by a veteran wayfarer who plans well, perfectly times the launch, carefully maps out the contours of the trek, providently selects the most glorious destination, and effectively leads every step of the way. Enter Owen Strachan. He not only possesses competence in spades, but he matches that competence with blazing passion and searing biblical wisdom. An epic journey awaits you as you make ready to traverse the breathtaking terrain of A Call to Cultivate, with Dr. Strachan as your trustworthy navigator. This excellent masterpiece is more than a page-turner—it’s a disruptive agent that packs a punch powerful enough to jar you into personal revolution. Read it. Savor it. Live it out.”

—Emeal “E. Z.” Zwayne, President of Living Waters and author of Fight Like a Man: A Bold, Biblical Battle Plan for Personal Purity

“Owen Strachan’s latest book turns grief into gardens. Strachan doesn’t just analyze exilic anxiety; he teaches believers to attack anxiety in the joyful work of personal cultivation—building, planting, and seeking shalom in faith that the one who once planted a garden in Eden can transform your parched lands into promised lands.”

—Dr. Matt Shackelford, Lead Pastor of Central Church in Collierville, Tennessee

“In A Call to Cultivate, Dr. Owen Strachan offers a timely and deeply theological summons to build faithfully in the ruins of our cultural moment. Drawing richly from Jeremiah 29, he reminds us that even in exile, God’s people are called not to retreat or rage, but to plant gardens and seek the welfare of the city. Strachan insightfully captures the restless longing we all feel for wholeness, beauty, and communion with God, a longing that traces back to Eden and the home we lost. With clarity and conviction, he shows how ordinary acts of cultivation, in family, church, vocation, and community, become acts of defiant hope in a fractured age. This is a hope-filled call to thrive where God has planted us, trusting that obedience in Babylon is never wasted in the economy of God.”

—David Closson, PhD, Director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at the Family Research Council and author of Life After Roe: Equipping Christians in the Fight for Life Today