Synopses & Reviews
There are no sacred models of church, no specific molds into which God pours blessings, and no special leadership styles that are holier than others. Too often, though, church leaders attempt to pattern their ministries after either tradition or the successes of a few prominent trendsetting congregations.
In Church Turned Inside Out, Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr push back on the one-size-fits-all approach. They invite leaders of all kinds of churchesnew and existing, megachurches and microchurchesto walk through an inside-out design process. Instead of starting with models and methods, they insist that every sphere of church life resonates with and communicates what you really believe.
As the book unfolds, it moves from abstract concepts toward concrete suggestions. It considers the uniqueness of individual leaders, their teams, and their particular communities, cultures, and contexts while taking seriously both spiritual and practical dimensions. This process results in more potent and effectively organized churches. Perhaps more important, it helps church leaders discover ways to live and work more wholly and faithfully, according to how God created them. It really is possible for a church to be so beautifully designed that every structure, program, and relationship reflects what it intends. Sometimes this requires a whole new design, and other times it only takes re-aligning or refining what already exists. This thoughtful and systemic approach opens a wider array of possible church paradigms than most people ever imagine, but the real goal is not innovation but transformation.
Using a blend of theology, biblical imagery, and metaphors from culture and creation, Church Turned Inside Out provides respectful ways to consider adaptation and change. It offers a hopeful vision of what the church can and must become. It not only positions the church for its future mission to the twenty-first century but offers timeless principles for the church of today.
Synopsis
A practical, creative guide for planting or redesigning a church and developing leaders
Written by Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr, two experienced church planters and mentors/teachers, Church Turned Inside Out offers church leaders a new way to think about how their churches are run. Taking cues from the world of business and offering a multi-disciplined and leading-edge approach, the authors stress the importance of incorporating the design process when establishing a new church or planning the ongoing future of an established church. This groundbreaking book also includes ideas for becoming a more effective church leader.
- Offers a practical perspective and a multi-disciplinary approach to establishing a new church or running an existing one
- Includes important lessons for nurturing church leadership skills
- Shows how to honor a church's purpose while embracing its unique culture
- Contains a wealth of illustrative models, examples, charts, and other visual aides
Synopsis
Praise for Church Turned Inside Out
"What an extremely hopeful, heart-lifting, and practical book for anyone who loves the church. We must never be afraid to look at our church from the inside out as that is where true change will happen." —Dan Kimball author, They Like Jesus but Not the Church
"I think Linda and Allan do a great job of giving an overview of our world and context. They show the different approaches to church, but they don't stop there. Instead they deal with design and what it would look like! Every church is an original, and they show how yours can be, too." —Bob Roberts Jr. author, The Multiplying Church
"In this thought-provoking and insightful book, the authors . . .provide us with useful tools that help us think strategically. They examine how God is using people to design new models and refine or re-align existing models of church, and how, working together cooperatively, these churches can reach out to . . . diverse communities surrounding them. I recommend this book to anyone interested in a culturally relevant church in today's society." —Felicity Dale author, An Army of Ordinary People, coauthor, The Rabbit and the Elephant
"This book provides a savvy challenge for design work to be taken more seriously in the quest for fresh forms of the church. The call to embody and commend the gospel and the importance of people, place, and moment are held tightly together. Church planters as well as re-aligners and refiners will benefit immensely from this book!" —George Hunsberger coordinator, the Gospel and Our Culture Network in North America, and author, Bearing the Witness of the Spirit: Lesslie Newbigin's Theology of Cultural Plurality
Synopsis
A design-thinking book for planting or redesigning churches and incubating a new generation of leaders.
Written by Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr, two experienced church planters and mentors, the book is full of wisdom, practical advice, and creative counsel. Instead of a business-model-as-usual approach, the authors challenge readers to begin with the raw materials of beliefs, values, individuals, teams, and culture, and to then move outwards to draw from a rich palette of real and potential church paradigms. This book is meant to provoke church leaders to think outside of the box and to imagine how their churches might better reflect the image and the mission of God in the world.
- Contains a wealth of illustrative examples, charts, and other visual aides
- Offers a creative practical perspective and a multi-disciplinary approach to establishing a new church or leading an existing one
- Shows how to honor a church's purpose while embracing its unique culture
- Includes important lessons for nurturing church leadership skills
About the Author
Linda Bergquist has been a church planter and church planting teacher for twenty-five years. She also has experience in the area of church consultations and urban ministry to the poor and assists her husband, who is a ministry center director in the Lower Haight district of San Francisco.
Allan Karr is currently an associate professor of missional/church planting at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and a practitioner of church planting and community development. Allan has also served for ten years as a national missionary of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
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The mission of Leadership Network identifies and connects innovative church leaders, providing them with resources in the form of new ideas, people, and tools. Contact Leadership Network atwww.leadnet.org.
Table of Contents
Figures and Tables.
About Leadership Network.
Foreword (Alan Hirsch).
Preface.
1 The Once and Future Church.
2 Acknowledging Self.
3 Cultivating Community.
4 Patterns That Honor God.
5 Designing Around Beliefs.
6 Releasing Communitas.
7 Designing in Culture.
8 Embracing Culture.
9 A Palette of Models.
10 Discovering Congruency.
11 Organizing by Design
12 Organizing as Living Systems.
Notes.
Acknowledgments.
About the Authors.
Index.