When you hear the word “recession”, you get the idea that something is receding. The thought is of something shrinking. The thought is of something disappearing. The thought is of something going away. The image that comes to mind is that of an outgoing tide. Standing on the beach, for a period of time, there appears to be more and more sand and less and less water. We are hearing the word recession linked to our national economy almost daily since 2009. We are seeing less money available for loans. We are seeing a decreasing number of homes being built. Paychecks are shrinking and confidence is our national leaders to remedy the situation is going away. The principles of recession are also being applied to the evangelical church today. In his new book, “The Great Evangelical Recession; Six Factors That Will Crash the American Church and How to Prepare”, pastor and journalist John S. Dickerson writes about the current state of affairs plaguing the evangelical church in America today. Drawing on his years of journalism skills and pastoral passion, Dickerson paints a picture of the evangelical church in crisis and in the midst of deep recession. Dickerson writes, “The problem with the Great Recession wasn’t that nobody saw it coming. The problem was that the people who needed to listen, to put on the brakes, to adjust course, never got the message. Or else they ignored it. The American church stands today in a similar position, on the precipice of a great evangelical recession.”

Dickerson separates his book into two clear, concise, and logical parts. In Part One, Six Trends of Decline, he lays before the reader factors causing the present decline. He identifies the six problem areas of the church as Inflated, Hated, Dividing, Bankrupt, Bleeding, and Sputtering. He devotes an entire chapter describing the symptoms and causes of each. Dickerson describes the evangelical church as Inflated. He says the church is not as large as we have been led to believe and as a result, our significance and influence in a changing world in waning. Dickerson describes the evangelical church as Hated. He says that society’s ever-increasing pro-homosexuality agenda is making evangelicals hated due to their biblical opposition. Dickerson describes the evangelical church as Dividing. He says that rather than elevating the kingdom of God, evangelicals have elevated political parties and their platforms as their defining criteria. Dickerson describes the evangelical church as Bankrupt. He writes that as churches have become so dependent upon donations and faithful givers, that very dynamic has become an Achilles heel as current giving generations pass away with no replacement.  Dickerson describes the evangelical church as Bleeding. He writes that the church is not keeping its own kids as they reach early adulthood. He writes, “Research indicates that more than half of those born into evangelicalism are leaving the movement during their twenties. And the majority of them never return.” Dickerson describes the evangelical church as Sputtering. He asserts that the church s failing in its primary mission which is marked by the simple biblical litmus test: reproducing disciples that share the good news with others.

In Part Two, Six Solutions for Recovery, he identifies six recovery strategies to be embraced  by the evangelical church in order to stem the tide of recession. They are: Re-Valuing, Good, Uniting, Solvent, Healing, and Re-Igniting. I won’t go into detail here on each one, after all, this is a review and not a report. However, in each these six chapters, Dickerson offers the proactive steps the church can take in order to pull herself out of the recessional grip she has found herself in. Throughout these two parts, it is obvious that Dickerson is not shooting from the hip, guessing, speculating, or carelessly sounding an alarmist’s bell. He is precise and thorough. He is well-documented. He is scripturally on point. He paints a portrait of the evangelical church’s future that is both frightening and stirring, without crushing the hope of God’s people.

I believe most experts in their field want to know everything they can about their business; the good, the bad, and the ugly. I believe that is what John Dickerson has done here. As the pastor of an evangelical Southern Baptist church, I needed to hear what Dickerson wrote. I can identify with a great deal in this book. “The Great Evangelical Recession” is a clarion call to the church that is sleep-walking through a commission in which she should be sprinting. I rarely label a book as “must read”.  John Dickerson has written just that. I believe every church leader would benefit at some level from what he has written. Sobering, humbling, and tempered with a measure of grace and urgency, The Great Evangelical Recession will serve as that “stake in the ground” for righting the evangelical ship. Very well done.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Baker Publishing Group as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

There is a great deal of discussion today about the health, effectiveness, passion, and future of the local church. It seems at every turn someone is offering a better, more effective, and smarter way to carry out the ministry given to the church. If you listen hard  and long enough you can hear anything you want to as it relates to what church leaders should and should not be doing. Thoughts ranging from mega churches are on their way out, to satellite campuses are the way to go to, to make the children happy and the parents will stay have been expressed in many different formats and venues. Rob Wegner and Jack Magruder, senior leaders at Granger Community Church in South Bend, Indiana have collaborated on a new book entitled, “Missional Moves; 15 Tectonic Shifts That Transform Churches, Communities, and the World” that address and speak the issues facing the local church today.

 Wegner and Magruder offer for consideration the point of view that the church today is very pragmatic, desiring the nuts and bolts of how to do effective ministry. This desire, and thus the sought after results, will be viewed through a certain paradigm that each church has established. They use the following working explanation of paradigm to make their case. “Our paradigm is our repeated life story that determines how an organization feels, thinks, and thus acts. This system story determines the way an organization behaves no matter how the organizational chart is drawn. The paradigm explains and then it guides behavior, and because of this it is the primary template that shapes all other things. Restructure the organization but leave the original paradigm in place and nothing changes within the organization.” In order for churches to be more effective, the authors propose and support certain paradigm shifts. They offer three which comprise the three main sections of the book: Section One – Paradigm Shift (Missional Imagination). Here the church is challenged to find its way into the bigger story. Section Two – Centralized Shift (Local Churches on Mission). Here churches are given a map of how to be empowered and unleashed for local and global mission. Section Three – Decentralized Shift (The People of God on Mission). Here the church is shown how to equip and then release people to accomplish the mission God has given to them.

The authors use earthquake language throughout this book. Citing the shifting of tectonic plates and resulting tsunami that struck the coast of India in 2004, they suggest certain “shifts” must take place in the local church today. Within the three main sections are fifteen “shifts”. These shifts are “from” something the church is presently doing or pursuing “to” something the should pursue or reevaluate. Each one breaks down the main section into bite-size digestible pieces. I found these shifts to be especially insightful, especially “From My Tribe to Every Tribe”, “From Professionals to Full Participation”, and “From ‘We Can Do It; You Can Help to You Can Do It; We Can Help’”.

Wegner and Magruder have written a smart book. I found it to be thought-provoking and interesting. Missional Moves is written in an easy to follow and logical format. Without a doubt the passion of the authors comes through. Most definitely worth your time. Engaging and timely, Missional Moves is one of those books that will remain in the church-health conversation for years to come.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Cross Focused Reviews as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

People can be hurtful. Christians included. Unfortunately, that hurts is sometimes intentional. Fortunately, it is not always intentional. It is sad to say that this hurt , at times, comes from those who should certainly know better and who have been given the strength and spirit to refrain from such practice. Dave Burchett, author of When Bad Christians Happen to Good People; Where We Have Failed Each Other and How to Reverse the Damage, has written a smart, honest, and insightful book that pulls no punches when calling out the bad behavior that Christians display today. Burchett offers no excuses. Instead he offers a fresh perspective on the fragile relationship between those he considers his target audience; those who have “been hurt by a judgmental person or church” and the “Christians who inflict the wounds”.

Burchett has smartly divided his book into three common sense sections: The Indefensible Things We Do to One Another (evaluation), Thoughts on How We Lost Our Audience (diagnosis), and Being Real in an Artificial World (prescription). Burchett does a great job in his evaluation of Christian conduct today. He writes that Christians are at times hypocritical, prone to fuss and fight, guilty of further harming the already wounded, and successful at majoring in the minor things. Chapter three (Would Jesus Spend His Time on This?) is the most powerful in this first section. It shows how easily distracted Christians are today from what should be their true focus in life. The author’s diagnosis, or the reasons Christians are losing their audience, is shamefully accurate. Issues such as an inconsistent witness, church language, and the contrasting portraits of love and forgiveness are given as reasons for the push-back. Chapter nine (Jesus Wept… And He Still Does) is especially powerful. In the third and final section, Burchett offers a prescription for Christians to become more genuine before a watching world. Stressed are embracing the hard-teachings of Christ as being vital to growth and witness, a return to biblical literacy, and the exercising of grace when dealing with those in whom we disagree. Chapter thirteen (All God’s Children Got Souls, Even the Annoying Ones) is truly convicting. His call to “hate the message and love the messenger” is spot on.

A book such as this one needed to be written. What I really like about this book is that the author’s views and critiques do not come from a sterile laboratory, nor is it simply an academic exercise. Instead, by his own admission, he has been hurt by Christians and as Christian has hurt others. His style of writing, containing humor, scripture, and real-life stories, is engaging and insightful. A great work on a serious subject. I highly recommend.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

If you have ever been part of what the Greeks knew as the ecclesia, or “the called out ones”, better known today as the New Testament church, then it is likely that you have witnessed or been involved in a church hurt. As a result, either you or someone you know, made a decision to walk away from the “church”. George Barna says this “decision to permanently withdraw from a congregation” can be called “ecclesia exitus” or church dropout. In Stephen Mansfield’s new book  “Healing Your Church Hurt; What To Do When You Still Love God But Have Been Wounded By His People”, he dives in to this issue and epidemic of hurt, offense, and discouragement within the body of Christ. Having been the pastor of a church who experienced a devastating church hurt himself, Mansfield is able to speak to this topic successfully.

Mansfield did not write this book to simply tell the reader that people get hurt in church. Instead, he writes to assure those who were hurt that it is possible for them to reconnect with the body of Christ. Mansfield begins by giving the root of the problem of offense and hurt: human nature and sin. He then takes a look at how we tend to look at others. He believes that how we look at others may determine our willingness to mend a relationship and length of time it might take. This chapter brings out these types of questions: Have our expectations of others that didn’t prove to be true given weight to our hurt? Are we guilty of forgetting how ugly the human nature can be?

Chapters four and five are the best chapters in the book and are very powerful. Chapter four entitled, “Lessons From a Season in Hell”, Mansfield asks the reader to do something. He asks, “I want you to take the most agonizing season of your life and examine it piece by piece.” He does this by asking five pointed and probing questions. They are:

1. Of the things your critics said, what do you know to be true?

2. How did you try to medicate your wounded soul?

3. Were you clinging to anything that contributed to your church hurt?

4. What did those closest to you do when you went through the fire?

5. During the bruising season, what fed your inspirations and your dreams?

In Chapter five, “The Throne Room of Your Mind”, Mansfield deals with how our minds process the hurt and how we tend to play the hurtful act over and over, rehearsing all the “should-have, could-have, and would-haves”. He demonstrates this by sharing a recurring dream that he has. As he sits on a grand throne, everyone who has wounded him becomes aware of their offense and they line up and come before him to make amends and tell him how sorry they are. As he enjoys having them in the palm of his hand, he touches them with his scepter and declares them forgiven. They exit thanking him for forgiving them, promising never to offend again. Of course, this is a fantasy. He says that we all have in our own minds a similar throne-room experience. Mansfield goes on to say that being hurt is about being offended, or suffering an offense. It is in this chapter that he gives to us a piercing word study demonstrating how devastating an offense can be. He concludes the book by dealing with forgiveness and restoration. He suggests that God may have a divine purpose for our hurt.

Stephen Mansfield has written a powerful book. It is efficient and to the point. His advice is practical and immediately helpful. Healing Your Church Hurt is a must read for those who have been wounded by the body of Christ. He sums up his reason for writing, “There is a myth that we need to knock in the head – and we need to knock it in the head now. When we’ve been hurt by the church we often tell ourselves that we are going to keep loving Jesus but that we no longer want anything to do with his people. The Bible makes it clear that we cannot love Jesus and hate his people.”

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Tyndale House Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Joshua Harris’ new book is entitled “Why Church Matters; Discovering Your Place in the Family of God” and is a re-print of his 2004 work “Stop Dating the Church”. “Why Church Matters” takes on the subject of the importance of and the need for commitment to the local church on behalf of each Christ-follower. As a pastor, I can appreciate the passion and enthusiasm for the local church with which Harris writes. He begins by stating that belonging to a local church does not save you. Instead, a person who has been saved by Christ should attach themselves to a local body of believers for encouragement, care, and service. Harris also writes that when a believer does not commit to a church, everyone is cheated. He says that “you cheat yourself, you cheat a church community, and you cheat your world.”

Two chapters stood out to me. In chapter three, Harris writes about the reasons why we need the church. He says on p.44, “This is why gathering to worship with other believers in a local church is so irreplaceable. It can’t be substituted with a great devotional time, a lively Bible study with friends, a meditative nature hike, or a live TV church service. When the church is together to worship and to hear God’s Word preached, nourishment and encouragement occur that can’t happen quite the same anywhere else. Our corporate worship edifies and strengthens us and glorifies God in ways nothing else can.” He also makes note of, in his opinion, three reasons why people stay away from church. He cites Self-Centeredness (what’s in it for me?), Prideful Independence (I can grow as a believer on my own), and a Critical Spirit (the church is broken). I believe chapter 5 is the most meaningful and beneficial chapter of the entire 120 page book. Entitled “Choosing Your Church”, Harris of ten important questions to consider before joining a church. Several include “Is this a church where God’s Word is faithfully taught?”, “Is this a church committed to reaching non-Christians with the gospel?”, and “Is this a church where members are challenged to serve?” These questions possess great potential. I believe them to be a great framework by which one can make a informed and meaningful decision about a church home. These are the questions I hope a potential member would ask before joining the church I pastor.

” Why Church Matters” is a good book. It is light, engaging, smartly-written, easy to read, and scriptural. If you are looking for an in-depth study of ecclesiology, go somewhere else. The only negative for me is that I would like to have seen certain areas and topics further expanded. Included is a study guide covering each chapter which lends this book to be a great small-group resource. This would be a great book for the church-skeptic or the believer who has been hurt by the church and may be considering giving up on the body of Christ.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”