Change the World
Recovering the Message and Mission of Jesus
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Clearly, something is not working. Despite the church’s place of prominence in American culture and the ubiquity of the church in every American town, misconceptions about the faith of Jesus Christ run rampant today. Christians are known more for exclusivity than for love, more for pot lucks than for solving world hunger. It’s time for churches to get over the cruise-ship mentality of being a program-provider, and reconnect with the true message and mission of Jesus: to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, and freedom to the oppressed. The church is called to be a mission outpost, living out Christ’s ideals in today’s world. Slaughter presents seven choices pastors must make as they consider the future of their congregations. Will you focus on building disciples or tallying decisions? Will you multiply your impact or expand your facilities? Will you step out in courage or comply with the status quo? Your answers to these and other questions determine how your church will focus its time, its energy, and its budget to work for real change in a hurting world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a time when the congregations of many mainline churches are ebbing in the U.S., the success of a booming multi-campus congregation in the Rust Belt is certainly worthy of analysis. In this provocative, passionate and often critical book, Slaughter, lead pastor at Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church, takes a hard look at the seeker-sensitive, attendance-focused strategies that have driven the church growth movement for the past 20 years-and finds them severely lacking. "Let's quit worrying about numbers in the pews," asserts Slaughter, "and begin to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our homes, our communities, and the outermost places of the world." In such chapters as "Disciples vs. Decisions," the author describes the mission-driven, locally-focused and challenging philosophy of congregational life that's made a significant impact in places like Darfur, Sudan. It has also, ironically enough, fueled growth in the Ginghamsburg congregations. Chapters conclude with questions for individuals and congregations. Because he writes chiefly from his own experience, and doesn't draw a lot on that of other congregations, readers are mostly going to have to figure out how to apply Slaughter's ideas to their own church communities.
