Becoming A 21st Century Church

Why are 80 percent of our congregations stagnant or dying? There are a variety of reasons. This book dives deeply into one of the main reasons—the failure to adapt to the cultural changes of our day. When the Reformation began 500 years ago it sparked a number of radical changes (like worshipping in the vernacular rather than in Latin, etc.) that shocked the church. Over time many saw the merit of those changes and adapted. In the very same way today, major cultural changes are taking place. Is the church open to understanding those changes? And are congregations making the necessary effort to appropriately adapt to them without compromising our central message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ? This “transformational manual” addresses the cultural shifts and provides practical and experience-based ideas to appropriately respond while keeping a strong emphasis on the Gospel of Jesus. Are you ready to become a 21st century church?

Why are 80 percent of our congregations stagnant or dying? There are a variety of reasons. This book dives deeply into one of the main reasons--the failure to adapt to the cultural changes of our day. When the Reformation began 500 years ago it sparked a number of radical changes (like worshipping in the vernacular rather than in Latin, etc.) that shocked the church. Over time many saw the merit of those changes and adapted. In the very same way today, major cultural changes are taking place. Is the church open to understanding those changes? And are congregations making the necessary effort to appropriately adapt to them without compromising our central message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ? This "transformational manual" addresses the cultural shifts and provides practical and experience-based ideas to appropriately respond while keeping a strong emphasis on the Gospel of Jesus. Are you ready to become a 21st century church?

From the author of Dying for Change, a book on how to bring change to a local church to meet the challenges of a changing society.

The winds of change are blowing. In this time of massive political and social upheaval, many people are questioning the relevance or established institutions like the church. At the same time, others are looking to the church in hopes that it holds the life-changing answers they desperately need.

“...after much prayer and meditation, God spoke to me.” I combed through scriptures, reading about the church and more about Jesus and His relationship with his disciples, especially focusing on Peter and his bond with the church. What was its purpose? Why couldn't the thoughts of the church, the Body of Christ, the pure meaning of its intent be left alone? My brothers and sisters, after countless days of tumultuous soul searching and restless nights, God has revealed to me that the transformation begins with the acceptance of His Son. However, at times we are alienated and an enemy of Christ, destitute by the wicked works of our minds. Conversely, through his sacrificial death, He has reconciled us, to present us “holy, unblameable and unreproveable” to himself. When you journey through the pages of this book, allow the process to continue. Jesus works from the inside out. The mind is the center for change. As you continue to walk in Christ, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”. Let this book be the compass that guides you back on course so that you too, can become the church that Christ intended you to be!

Winner of the Christianity Today Book of the Year Award (1995) “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.” So begins this award-winning intellectual history and critique of the evangelical movement by one of evangelicalism’s most respected historians. Unsparing in his indictment, Mark Noll asks why the largest single group of religious Americans—who enjoy increasing wealth, status, and political influence—have contributed so little to rigorous intellectual scholarship. While nourishing believers in the simple truths of the gospel, why have so many evangelicals failed to sustain a serious intellectual life and abandoned the universities, the arts, and other realms of “high” culture? Over twenty-five years since its original publication, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind has turned out to be prescient and perennially relevant. In a new preface, Noll lays out his ongoing personal frustrations with this situation, and in a new afterword he assesses the state of the scandal—showing how white evangelicals’ embrace of Trumpism, their deepening distrust of science, and their frequent forays into conspiratorial thinking have coexisted with surprisingly robust scholarship from many with strong evangelical connections.