Who Stole My Church: What to Do When the Church You Love Tries to Enter the 21st Century
A challenging, innovative approach to a delicate subject. It’s sure to benefit church leaders and members of all ages who dream of a “reinvented” church. —Publishers Weekly
Has your church been stolen out from under you?
A storm hits a small New England town late one evening, but the pelting rain can’t keep a small group of church members from gathering to discuss issues that lately have been brewing beneath the surface of their congregation. They could see their church was changing. The choir had been replaced by a fl ashy “praise band.” The youth no longer dressed in their “Sunday best.” The beautiful pipe organ sat unused. How will this group overcome a deepening rift in their fellowship and nourish the relationship between the young and old? Can their church survive or even thrive?
Who Stole My Church? is a fictional story that tells the all too real tale of many church communities today. In this book you can walk alongside an imaginary community, led by real life pastor Gordon MacDonald and his wife, Gail, and discover how to meet the needs of all believers without abandoning the dreams and desires of any.
Top Highlights
“‘Welch wrote somewhere, ‘When the rate of change inside an organization is slower than the rate of change outside an organization, the end [of that organization] is in sight.’ ’2.” (source)
“You need to think about the fact that any church that has not turned its face toward the younger generation and the new challenges of reaching unchurched people in this world will simply cease to exist. We’re not talking decades—we’re talking just a few years.’” (source)
“Tradition is a stage of shelf life where people do certain things over and over again but have no idea why. They’ve lost their memory of the original need and vision. You could say they’ve become addicted to institutional life and keep doing things over and over again without really asking why. And to stop doing those things would be like going through withdrawal. Churchwise, it’s the moment when the insiders—the folks who have always been there—see themselves as more important than the people outside the church whom we were supposed to be reaching.’” (source)
“Down through two thousand years, you have only one unchanging thing in the church: the gospel of Jesus that calls people to forgiveness of sins and to participation in a community of people who want to serve each other and go forward to make a statement about God’s love in their worlds. But the ways in which people organize themselves to actualize this one unchanging thing is changing all the time. Almost nothing can stay the same for long if you want to connect with people and introduce them to Jesus Christ.’” (source)
Product Details
- Title : Who Stole My Church: What to Do When the Church You Love Tries to Enter the 21st Century
- Author: MacDonald, Gordon
- Publisher: Thomas Nelson
- Publication Date: 2010
- ISBN: 9781418536664