Moving Beyond Church Growth

Character development for communities of faith Mark Olson believes that trying to meet unrealistic expectations for church growth, along with expectations that pastors be all things to all people, has resulted in low morale, even burnout, among clergy and dissension within congregations.Olson's book argues that church-growth models exemplify and exacerbate the tendencies of the modern age and Constantinian Christianity, holding the church hostage to technique and marketing. These assumptions set up pastors and churches for disappointment and failure. But they also, in his opinion, miss an opportunity to envision a faithful alternative to the consumeristic church.Olson's valuable book calls church leaders to faithful, bold, and courageous rethinking of congregational life and witness in substance, purpose, and style. His own 20 years of ministry in rural, suburban, and urban congregations inform an alternative rooted deeply in the past and anchored in strong leadership and worship, but also profoundly compassionate and engaged in the surrounding community. In this model, pastors' primary responsibilities are not to fix everything and everybody but to enable people to be present to each other and to provide hope.

Based on God's vision for churches in Matthew 28:18-20, this book presents sound methods for making disciples, winning the lost for Christ, and planting new churches.

Moving Jesus beyond the Pulpit: Doing It the Community Way Can Help Church Growth describes the challenges facing Christianity and the church. Although these challenges are very significant, they help to boost the efforts of the present disciples of Christ to be good ambassadors to the world. What prompted the writing of this book is that author Sunday J. I. Etsekhume clamored for a dramatic change in the way some churches do outreach. Some churches only prefer to do outreach from the pulpit, but ignored the practice in the community where they are situated. The book also describes various ways in which the church can show love and care, which indicates the various ways that can portray the church healthiness. “For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me,” (Matthew 25:35-36). The book also argues against the idea that church leaders would not compromise their positions as spiritual leaders, due to financial insufficiencies, in order to become fleshy leaders. The arguments further center on how the church can do evangelism without jeopardizing church principles and some of the Christian rules of conduct. Finally, the book focuses on the pulpit, where sermons are preached without the preachers practicing what they preached—hypocrisy! Dr. Etsekhume has written an insightful, thoughtful, and thought-provoking rationale for getting “back to basics” in terms of the way the Church approaches ministry. Moving from pulpit to pew, from leadership to “follow-ship,” and from minister to member, Dr. Etsekhume identifies the spiritual, organizational, and interpersonal challenges facing the Church and recommends Scriptural principles for addressing them. By turns compassionate and passionate, Moving Jesus Beyond the Pulpit is a wonderful reminder of the restorative, renewing, and revitalizing power of Christ, both in the congregation and in the community at large. —Minister Sonja A. West Associate Minister, Mariners’ Temple Baptist Church, New York, NY. Dr. Sunday Etsekhume analyzes some of the issues that address the Church, both from inside the institutional church and issues in the context that hinder the mission of the Church. In this book, one finds thoughtful and pragmatic methods for addressing some of the problems of the church and the larger community! Moving Jesus Beyond the Pulpit is an important work that will be beneficial both to the church and the academy. I highly recommend this work! —Dr. Cleotha Robertson, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Old Testament at Alliance Theological Seminary, New York City and the Senior Pastor Sound View Presbyterian Church, Bronx, New York.

What exactly is the Church Growth movement? This timely volume in the Counterpoints series addresses the history of the movement that has become such an enormous shaping force on the Western church today, and it explores--in a roundtable forum of leading voices--five main perspectives on the classic Church Growth movement: Effective Evangelism View - presented by Elmer Towns Gospel in Our Culture View - presented by Craig Van Gelder Centrist View - presented by Charles Van Engen Reformist View - presented by Gailyn Van Rheenan Renewal View - presented by Howard Snyder Each view is first presented by its proponent, then critiqued by the co-contributors. The interactive and fair-minded format allows the reader to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each view and draw informed, personal conclusions. Evaluating the Church Growth Movement concludes with reflections by three seasoned pastors who have grappled with the practical implications of Church Growth. The Counterpoints series presents a comparison and critique of scholarly views on topics important to Christians that are both fair-minded and respectful of the biblical text. Each volume is a one-stop reference that allows readers to evaluate the different positions on a specific issue and form their own, educated opinion.

Every pastor wants their church to grow, but the reality is that most churches are stagnant or shrinking, leaving most pastors frustrated, weary, and discouraged. They continue to search for answers at conferences, in books, and on websites, but they don't find them. They don't realize that the answers that can actually make a difference in their ministry are the ones they need to give themselves. When Your Church Feels Stuck poses seven unavoidable questions church leaders must answer before they can chart the unique path to growth for their church. These challenging questions address the key subjects of mission, strategy, values, metrics, team alignment, culture, and services, and the way pastors answers these questions will help them discover the real reasons their churches are stuck--and what steps to take to facilitate real growth.

This book follows the journey of ten churches who underwent church consultancies, and explores in depth both the consultancy and its outcomes. Pre-consultancy and post-consultancy "snapshots," four to five years apart, of vitality indicators and attendance figures (using National Church Life Survey and other data) are used to compare these with churches that have not undertaken church consultancies. Theologies of church consultancy, church health, and church growth are also developed and examined, intersecting with a wide body of literature, including contemporary ecclesiologies. Consultancy outcomes are examined in detail. This includes interviews with pastors of some of those churches, reflecting on their perceptions of whether and how the church consultancy impacted the health and growth of their church. Conclusions are drawn about the efficacy of church consultancy in influencing the health and growth of churches, as well as contexts for the best use of church consultancy. This is a significant book for denominational leaders, theological lecturers, pastors, and church leaders as they encounter lack of health in churches and seek ways forward for greater health and impact in their local communities.

A startling 85% of churches in the US are plateaued or declining, a trend that has been building for the past fifty years. In the face of shrinking attendance and lagging spiritual growth, pastors and church leaders are understandably discouraged and demoralized. But the first step to turning things around is hope. Church health expert Gary McIntosh offers this hope by showing church leaders the first things they need to do to make a new start for their church. God can and does restore churches to new life, even as he restores individuals. The street-smart ideas and step-by-step instructions found in this book are ones that pastors and church leaders can put to use immediately in their churches to bring about solid growth and renewed hope for the future.