20 Nov 2007

Editor's Note: Church Central reviews new books on church health, consulting and leadership each year to keep you informed about new, or tried and tested, ways to improve church health. We have compiled a summary of our reviews here to make it easy for you to slip a hint to a gift-giving friend this Christmas. And if you have your own giving to do, these are sure hits for the church leaders or consultants on your list.

"Change Your Church for Good," Brad Powell (Thomas Nelson, February, 2007)

Powell makes a compelling case for changing churches in decline. He looks at successful transitions and discusses his own change efforts—including failures. Powell offers no secret formulas, steps or plans. Instead, he returns to the words of Christ and church history to remind leaders of their calling and direction for ministry. Powell breaks down the complexity of change by focusing on a few particulars, primarily culture and language. Worship services are the first, most obvious change target. Powell advocates shifts in church style, environment and language to reach today’s culture.

"The Forgotten Ways," Alan Hirsch (Brazos Press, January 2007)

An Australian pastor and church planter, Hirsch, says churches aren’t reaching non-Christians because most people are alienated from traditional church. Hirsch argues that the contemporary church growth model leads most congregations to target only a small, middle-class, family-values audience. Hirsch also faults churches—including his own—for too much spectator religion. Instead of relying on attractional evangelism, Hirsch wants churches to take a missional approach by sending people out into the culture. His book provides only philosophical guidance rather than practical steps toward this paradigm shift. But it offers a gut check for churches trying to discern which programs and ministries are really making disciples.

"Overcoming Barriers to Growth: Proven Strategies for Taking Your Church to the Next Level," Michael Fletcher (Bethany House, December, 2006)

Fletcher lends his real-life experience in leading a church from 350 to 4,000 active members to a book full of practical advice on key leadership transitions. He posits three key ideas of church development that include: 1. how the elders relate to ministry, 2. who actually does the ministry, and 3. how decisions are made. These three elements differ according to the size of the congregation. Fletcher offers advice centered on restructuring leadership. Other topics are treated only tangentially. But Fletcher offers practical diagnoses and step-by-step remedies throughout.

"Stripped," Jud Wilhite with Bill Taffee (Multnomah, March 2007)

Jud Wilhite, the senior pastor of a suburban Las Vegas megachurch, shares real-life stories of redemption in reaching strippers, drugs addicts and homosexuals. Dramatic telling by former Sports Illustrated columnist Bill Taffee enhances the book. And it challenges pastors and churches nationwide to dispense God’s grace, while balancing it with accountability, so that people lost in the world’s lures can find new hope—at church.

"By Design or Default: Creating a Church Culture That Works," Kevin Gerald (Thomas Nelson, paperback, January 2007)

Gerald offers a quick refresher in the basics of church growth and a sort of case study on the Champions Centre, one of the largest congregations in the Pacific Northwest. He also defines church culture broadly as a "packaging and presentation of the gospel," which determines who attends your church. To determine whether a church is attractive to unchurched people, Gerald encourages church leaders to constantly examine their own congregations with this understanding of culture in mind.

"The Fabulous Reinvention of Sunday School," Aaron Reynolds (Zondervan, paperback, March 2007)

This book is a "how-to" session by a former Willow Creek Community Church staffer. A step-by-step guide to bringing the style back to weekend kids programming, the book is most useable for storytellers who want dramatic and theatrical techniques. Although the book has a clear mega-church bias, its 80 pages of great ideas for creatively teaching the Bible to kids are worth the purchase for any size church.

"11 Innovations in the Local Church," Elmer Towns, Ed Stetzer & Warren Bird (Regal Books, June 2007)

A trio of church-growth veterans explores vital examples of U.S. congregations. The book takes a balanced approach, with the authors exploring both the strengths and weaknesses of each innovation they review. An overview of all types of churches—from house churches to ancient-future groups.

"Who Stole My Church?" Gordon MacDonald (Thomas Nelson, January, 2008)

A best-selling author, speaker and pastor, MacDonald fictionalizes an account of one church working through major changes. Rather than addressing this issue with another "how-to" prescription, MacDonald tells a pedantic tale—a sort of prescriptive memoir. He considers the human dynamic involved in removing traditions from the Builder and Boomer generations in order to attract subsequent generations into the Church. Provides hope to pastors that talking through changes while educating and building relationships with older members can change not only a church, but those members' lives.

"15 Characteristics of Effective Pastors," Kevin Mannoia and Larry Walkemyer (Regal Books, September 2007)

This book draws its insights from in-depth discussions with a panel of nine experienced, but diverse church leaders. Experts such as Foursquare President Jack Hayford, Asbury Chancellor Maxie Dunnam, and Walter Kaiser, Jr., president-emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, help produce an overriding theme of "authenticity" as the most effective characteristic. While many pastors embrace the latest trends and church growth methods, the authors emphasize the key to ministry is a relationship with God.