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Title: Prepare Your Church for the Future by Carl F. George ISBN: 0-8007-5365-8 Publisher: Revell Pub. Date: 01 December, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 (5 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: What a Difference a Few Years Makes
Comment: "Prepare Your Church for the Future" hit the Christian community with a bang. It offered a fresh vision for church growth that allowed the church to grow larger (the sky is the limit) and smaller (through cell groups) at the same time. Many of us were trained in George's methods. We attended numerous seminars based on his teachings, and other church growth teachings from Fuller's Institute of Evangelism and Church Growth.
But that has changed. While few people disregard this valuable work, even fewer are still so single focused on church growth as they were a decade ago. Along came people like Eugene Peterson, and Marva Dawn, and Richard Foster's Renovare group, and Brian McLaren, etc. They began to preach another vision, a vision of church health and personal depth, and life transformation.
Some began to notice that George's methods worked in some churches, but not in others. Some people began to question George's ministry altogether. The winds of spiritual fads began to blow from a new direction. We pastors found a new flavor of the month.
So, what are we now to do with George's work? I gave it 4 stars because it is still valuable reading. I continue to come back to portions of it again and again. I have clips in a couple of places so I can turn to them when I want them. I did not give it 5 stars because it is not the whole story. We must not neglect the lessons learned from the church growth movement. We must also not ignore the newer voices that are the fads of today.
C.S. Lewis encouraged the Christian to alternate between old books and new books. "Prepare Your Church for the Future" is somewhere in between.
Rating: 4
Summary: Important Model for Church Growth and Vitality
Comment: Carl George wrote this book some time ago, but even today, it is a highly relevant and important book for many of today's churches. The concept of small groups is not exactly a new concept. Many churches have encouraged this for years. But few churches even now have turned the concept of small groups into a far reaching and fundamental tool of ministry, outreach, and caring that permeates the entire church mission. Even today, small groups tend to be a "back burner" concept among many churches.
This book tries to draw a direct relationship between small group ministry and church size. The theory is that a church can grow only so big and reach only so many people absent a vital and large emphasis on small groups. George cites a few megachurches as examples of the kind of ongoing growth and changed lives that occur when the church embraces small groups not with a recreational commitment, but with the kind of commitment that comes when something is considered a primary mission of the church.
The small group model for church growth is a model that works, not because George says so, but because several churches who have embraced this model are growing beyond many of the ceilings that the vast majority of churches who don't embrace this model can't seem to break through. Getting their people into small groups, when emphasized and encouraged, allows bigger churches to continue ministering to people and meeting their needs by allowing the congregation to minister to itself and not overtax the staff. This accomplishes the goal of the church not having to build up a huge staff of paid people to try and meet the needs of a big congregation. Therefore, allowing church funds to be spent not on an increased staff, but on more relevant activities that are more in line with the mission that God has imparted on the particular church. Further, small group multiplication allows the church to continue to grow and reach new people in the community in ways that are non threatening.
I did not give the book 5 stars only because the book does not appear to spend a lot of time discussing how a church can really establish a vital small group ministry and structure their staff in an effective way to cultivate it. Too often, growing churches want to do good things, but do not put the kind of infrastructure in place, whether people or facilities, to administer the programs with excellence. It's the classic problem of biting off more than we can chew. The motivations of the church are in the right place in these instances, but without a clear plan in place for administering a major small group ministry, George provides an incomplete strategy for implementing this approach. This may sound like a minor point, but it isn't. Ministries that are not undertaken with excellence are ministries that fail to fully fulfill the purpose for which the ministry was created. Having an administrative infrastructure in place that effectively manages a big small group ministry while also being an infrastructure that is frugal relative to church budgets is clearly one aspect of establishing a ministry with excellence. And this aspect is not easily addressable and thus, represents a significant challenge to George's model. It is solvable I believe, but George should have addressed this in more detail, in my view.
But clearly, George has hit on something that every church can benefit from if implemented correctly. At its core, Christianity needs to be about people. And in order to meet people's needs and transform people into fully devoted disciples of Christ, the church must place just as much a priority on meeting people's needs and providing care and support as it does on spreading the Gospel message. In fact, I would argue that those two things go hand in hand, and both are strengthened by the other. Having an active small group ministry that looks for small group solutions for a whole array of congregational concerns and interests is a proven model for church growth and evangelism, and something George describes very well. A good book, a good pastoral resource.
Rating: 5
Summary: Best reason for small groups
Comment: While some of the diagrams leave you wanting and wondering, the heart of the book solidifies the need for small groups. Especially in a era when there is so much demand on our time and so much stress in our lives. When George related the story of Jethro and his council to Moses, I knew our church HAD to get behind small groups in a big way. George shows how small groups are the key to a church family and how they are the true ministry of the church.
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Title: Nine Keys to Effective Small Group Leadership: How Lay Leaders Can Establish Dynamic and Healthy Cells, Classes, or Teams by Carl George, Warren Bird, Robert E. Coleman ISBN: 188390613X Publisher: Kingdom Publishing Pub. Date: 01 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.97 |
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Title: The Coming Church Revolution: Empowering Leaders for the Future by Carl F. George, Warren Bird ISBN: 0800755286 Publisher: Revell Pub. Date: 01 June, 1994 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Building a Church of Small Groups by Bill Donahue, Russ Robinson ISBN: 0310240352 Publisher: Zondervan Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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Title: Leading Life-Changing Small Groups by Bill Donahue, Willow Creek Community Church ISBN: 0310247500 Publisher: Zondervan Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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Title: How to Break Growth Barriers: Capturing Overlooked Opportunities for Church Growth by Carl F. George, Warren Bird ISBN: 0801038537 Publisher: Baker Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 1993 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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