Lays out the plan for a collection of readings from Scripture designed for the needs of seekers and the unchurched. The church has used lectionaries–lists of scriptures to be read on particular Sundays throughout the year–across its long history. Yet most lectionaries are inward-looking: they presuppose hearers who are familiar with the biblical story and accustomed to gearing their lives around the Christian year. Yet in the increasingly pagan world of North America, the church’s task is to reach out to those who are spiritually hungry, yet unfamiliar with the Christian story. In this important new work Tom Bandy has given those who plan and lead worship a new lectionary, specifically geared to the needs of seekers. He lays out a plan for a trip through the central biblical narratives, the purpose of which is to provide seekers with a basic understanding of the gospel, and to call disciples to a deeper experience of Christian faith.
Tom Bandy has come to be known as one of today's most insightful interpreters of congregational life and the cultural changes that are affecting it. In previous books he has addressed issues such as the addictive behaviors congregations exhibit, the cultural situation that makes this a "pre-Christian" era, and the organizational changes that must occur if bold new congregational systems are truly to work. By evaluating the responses to all of these concerns, the author has heard a recurring set of questions: How do I help people overcome the fear of change? How do I persuade them to accept the cost? Why is there a sense that change is inherently unfaithful? When I go to my church next Sunday and drink coffee with that little group of people God has gathered in our place, how in the world do I convince them to take such risks? Drawing on the penetrating analysis of contemporary cultural shifts that has come to be his trademark, Bandy offers detailed and pragmatic suggestions for how one can invite established church members into the mission of transforming their congregation into a place that calls and equips people to be disciples of Jesus Christ.
Existing congregations and denominations are so addicted to self-destructive practices that they cannot change until they admit their bondage. These practices include a hunt for doctrinal purity on the theological right, and a desire for political justice on the theological left. The answer is a complete systemic transformation of congregation or denomination, and consultant Tom Bandy offers twenty shocking truths that thriving churches have discovered. Tom Bandy helps addicted churches kick their habits with the deconstruction of the existing system, followed by an emphasis on small group ministry, multi-track worship experiences, the retraining of enabling pastors, and an abiding, relentless sensitivity toward people who are seeking a Higher Power but who have lost patience with conflicted, self-absorbed religious institutions. He argues in the final chapter, on a theology of the thriving church, that the gospel offers the culture "welcome relief," and not "good news.
Growing Spiritual Redwoods" is an effort to help church leaders answer the kinds of questions that confront congregations and Christians in this era of rapid and uncertain change. William M. Easum and Thomas Bandy argue that the congregations to whom the term "spiritual redwoods" can be applied are grown slowly, becoming vigorous centers of witness and mission.
Thomas Bandy continues his exploration of congregational life by arguing that the organization of a congregation - its boards and committees - constitutes a crucial ingredient in its vitality and mission. The way in which a church is organized will make all the difference in whether it becomes what Bandy has named elsewhere a thriving church system or a declining one. The book concludes with a compelling call for "turning the laity loose" through cell group ministry, unleashing the Spirit-driven Christian chaos by which a congregation can thrive in the challenging days ahead."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
95 Questions to Shape the Future of Your Church is a comprehensive commentary on systemic change for the church. It combines the spirit of Luther’s 95 Theses with depth of insight akin to Luther’s reformation catechism. This book will be essential for every congregational, denominational, and seminary bookshelf. Church leaders and members all yearn for a new Reformation that will realign Christian congregations with God’s mission. This book frames the right questions, and focuses the right answers. It helps church leaders do the hard work of assessment and planning. The next Reformation will be an extraordinarily practical endeavor. Leaders need to apply the tactics that will leverage the greatest change, and guide the church deeper into the mystery of Christ and further in companionship with Christ. We want to be faithful. Now we know how to be faithful.
For all those who ask the question, "How must my life be different if our church is going to be a vital witness to Jesus Christ?" Coming Clean is a study guide that explores the issues of church transformation described in the groundbreaking book, Kicking Habits. Using a series of Bible studies, group discussions, and group exercises, participants can customize and apply the insights on thriving church life to their own congregational context. "Coming Clean" means honest discernment of the realities of one's church and spiritual insight on the original purpose of the Body of Christ. It involves mutual support and a positive attitude for change, so that congregations find confidence for the future, and leaders no longer bear the stress alone. Coming Clean is part of Bandy's Church Transformation Trilogy, a comprehensive set of guides for congregational leaders. The trilogy includes Kicking Habits: Upgrade Edition; which provides a large overview of systemic change and the addictive behaviors that prevent it and answers the question, "What does a thriving church look like?" The third volume is Facing Reality, a comprehensive tool that examines all 11 sub-systems of congregational life and places the reader's church on the continuum of addiction and health by answering the question, "Where must we change our church?
I Got Empathy? Tom Bandy reveals the cultural wedges and apathies that separate denominations, congregations, and neighbors from each other and from collective social agency. Bandy describes the church in America as “sidelined”—observing cultural change but not participating in the game. He suggests proven provocative ways the church can re-engage and empathize with the people within their reach. By mining the lifestyle data revealed by the nation’s economic engines and social trends, this frank and ground-breaking sociological analysis is a must read for every church leader who embraces hope for a fragmented, diverse, and polarized world. “For years Tom Bandy has been attempting to get the once-mainline-oldline-now-sideline church back in the game. In this fast-paced, energetic book, Tom shows us how churches can be in missions to the diverse cultures that seem to respond to our stolid mainline moderation with a yawn.” —William Willimon, Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC "Sideline Church represents fresh perspectives in an often tired conversation. If the church hopes to speak compellingly to people today, it must learn first to listen again. Brandy’s insights will likely provoke the complacent, but it may also inspire church leaders to hear culture with new ears. This book is a worthy successor to Tex Samples’ work on US Lifestyles and Mainline Christians.” —Michael Jinkins, President of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and author of The Church Faces Death and The Church Transforming. "Bandy’s language of chasm aptly describes the current relationship of church and culture. Bridging that gap involves empathetic immersion with and love for the multiple cultures among us. For those willing to enter this challenging engagement, Bandy offers essential knowledge about how diverse cultural cohorts think about God and meaning in differing ways." --Lovett H. Weems, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Church Leadership, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC
The need to merge churches is growing ever more crucial as congregations assess how to thrive in cultural diversity and ever-changing times. Every denomination faces the urgency to shift from maintenance to mission, and from survival to renewal. Church Mergers offers churches of all sizes and traditions practical advice on how to merge successfully. Authors Thomas G. Bandy and Page M. Brooks draw on decades of experience to illustrate why and how missional mergers are possible. Church Mergers guides congregational leaders and regional planners through the process of successful mergers. It shares the stories of four churches in the merger process, explaining the steps to assess their situations, build trust, and discern vision. The book offers guidance to assess the potential for merger, explore contextual relevancy and lifestyle compatibility, overcome internal and external obstacles, define strategic priorities, create new boards, build leadership teams, combine assets, and more. Church Mergers shows that a faithful, healthy, missional merger is possible, and it illustrates that the whole can indeed be greater than the sum of its parts.
Travelers get up in the morning and ask three questions. Where am I now? Where am I going? What do I need to take with me? The same three questions apply to the Christian pilgrimage in daily living.Here is a clear and profound explanation of the three great anxieties that dog our footsteps every day, and the spiritual methodology through which we become open to the intimacy of God. Pilgrims go beyond the abbreviated "Serenity Prayer" that is so well known, to explore the entire prayer that has ancient origins.Learn how to reach up through intimate beginnings, life struggles, and spiritual coaching to experience Jesus Christ (fully human) ... the giver of hope for the hopeless, healing for the broken, and guidance for the lost.Learn how to see Christ (fully divine) reaching down through infinite beginnings, justice, and reason ... the giver of fresh beginnings, vindication, and dependable order.At different times, in different ways, each one of us lives life on-the-edge and life-in-between, but through it all we can occasionally experience life-at-peace. This book helps travelers support one another as a pilgrim band of true friends. Together we can find the way and arrive at a holy destination.
The goal of Christian mentoring is to discern personal mission in life. Along the way, seekers customize spiritual disciplines; explore their authenticity as human beings; confront manipulations and temptations; and live in accountability with a faith community. Here is a guide to build a mentoring relationship, and help one another travel the road into God 's grace. The search for meaning and purpose pervades our highly mobile, cross-cultural world. Beneath the veneer of secularity there is a great yearning to be touched by the Holy and to surrender lifestyle to a higher purpose. Whether today you are a seeker looking for a guide down the next spiritual mile of your existence, or tomorrow you are a mentor ready to share your limited experience so far with someone coming up behind, this is your guidebook.
Lays out the plan for a collection of readings from Scripture designed for the needs of seekers and the unchurched. The church has used lectionaries–lists of scriptures to be read on particular Sundays throughout the year–across its long history. Yet most lectionaries are inward-looking: they presuppose hearers who are familiar with the biblical story and accustomed to gearing their lives around the Christian year. Yet in the increasingly pagan world of North America, the church’s task is to reach out to those who are spiritually hungry, yet unfamiliar with the Christian story. In this important new work Tom Bandy has given those who plan and lead worship a new lectionary, specifically geared to the needs of seekers. He lays out a plan for a trip through the central biblical narratives, the purpose of which is to provide seekers with a basic understanding of the gospel, and to call disciples to a deeper experience of Christian faith.
The need to merge churches is growing ever more crucial as congregations assess how to thrive in cultural diversity and ever-changing times. Every denomination faces the urgency to shift from maintenance to mission, and from survival to renewal. Church Mergers offers churches of all sizes and traditions practical advice on how to merge successfully. Authors Thomas G. Bandy and Page M. Brooks draw on decades of experience to illustrate why and how missional mergers are possible. Church Mergers guides congregational leaders and regional planners through the process of successful mergers. It shares the stories of four churches in the merger process, explaining the steps to assess their situations, build trust, and discern vision. The book offers guidance to assess the potential for merger, explore contextual relevancy and lifestyle compatibility, overcome internal and external obstacles, define strategic priorities, create new boards, build leadership teams, combine assets, and more. Church Mergers shows that a faithful, healthy, missional merger is possible, and it illustrates that the whole can indeed be greater than the sum of its parts.
95 Questions to Shape the Future of Your Church is a comprehensive commentary on systemic change for the church. It combines the spirit of Luther’s 95 Theses with depth of insight akin to Luther’s reformation catechism. This book will be essential for every congregational, denominational, and seminary bookshelf. Church leaders and members all yearn for a new Reformation that will realign Christian congregations with God’s mission. This book frames the right questions, and focuses the right answers. It helps church leaders do the hard work of assessment and planning. The next Reformation will be an extraordinarily practical endeavor. Leaders need to apply the tactics that will leverage the greatest change, and guide the church deeper into the mystery of Christ and further in companionship with Christ. We want to be faithful. Now we know how to be faithful.
Do you really want the mission to succeed? Are you prepared to live within clear boundaries? Are you ready to align yourself with a greater purpose? Do you have what it takes? Winning on Purpose offers leaders a way to organize congregations for success by creating structures that enable church life and health. As a comprehensive and powerful application of the biblical call to mission, Winning on Purpose sets forth the Accountable Leadership strategy. This model of leadership brings together standards for mission, boundaries, and accountability, and then shows how these standards come to life through the performance of four key players: the board, the pastor, the staff, and the congregation.To read a sample from the book click here
I Got Empathy? Tom Bandy reveals the cultural wedges and apathies that separate denominations, congregations, and neighbors from each other and from collective social agency. Bandy describes the church in America as “sidelined”—observing cultural change but not participating in the game. He suggests proven provocative ways the church can re-engage and empathize with the people within their reach. By mining the lifestyle data revealed by the nation’s economic engines and social trends, this frank and ground-breaking sociological analysis is a must read for every church leader who embraces hope for a fragmented, diverse, and polarized world. “For years Tom Bandy has been attempting to get the once-mainline-oldline-now-sideline church back in the game. In this fast-paced, energetic book, Tom shows us how churches can be in missions to the diverse cultures that seem to respond to our stolid mainline moderation with a yawn.” —William Willimon, Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC "Sideline Church represents fresh perspectives in an often tired conversation. If the church hopes to speak compellingly to people today, it must learn first to listen again. Brandy’s insights will likely provoke the complacent, but it may also inspire church leaders to hear culture with new ears. This book is a worthy successor to Tex Samples’ work on US Lifestyles and Mainline Christians.” —Michael Jinkins, President of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and author of The Church Faces Death and The Church Transforming. "Bandy’s language of chasm aptly describes the current relationship of church and culture. Bridging that gap involves empathetic immersion with and love for the multiple cultures among us. For those willing to enter this challenging engagement, Bandy offers essential knowledge about how diverse cultural cohorts think about God and meaning in differing ways." --Lovett H. Weems, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Church Leadership, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC
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