Books @ Leadership Network

Viral Churches

                   
By Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird

Viral Churches is one of the most important books I’ve read in a long time and could possibly become a church planting classic. It’s message is so simple – “multiply everything.” 

The book is filled with myth busting information such as 68% of all church plants are still in existence after four years; or 70% of new plants gain financial independence by year five; or that more churches are being planted each year (4,000) than are closing (3500). But that’s not why this is such an important book.

The reason for its importance is the way the authors bang away at moving from addition to multiplication and how that might happen in the West with the goal being the beginning of a sustained church planting movement in the U.S.  In search of the “Holy Grail of church planting” (a movement) the authors develop a new scorecard for measuring the success of church planting that goes beyond the usual measurements.  I’ll leave it to you to discover the items of the new scorecard, but here is the primary hint – you measure the success of a church by how much change it causes to happen in its community and world not how big the church becomes.

 I jotted down a few of my thoughts generated by the new measurements. The new scorecard requires a shift from

• focusing on church size to focusing on an abundance of churches;
• “build it and they will come” to “send them and they will change the neighborhood and world”;
• “what’s your worship attendance” to “how many churches have you planted?”
• evangelism or social justice to evangelism and social justice;
• control to permission-giving;
• delegation to empowerment;
• maintenance to risk-taking;
• institutional to organic.

Viral Churches is like a breath of fresh air because it breaks new ground. It’s one of the few so far must reads of 2010.

Steering Through Chaos – Great New Book by Multi-site Church Leader @scottwilson7

My colleague @chris_willard and I (@gregligon) have spent the last couple of years journeying with churches that are experiencing exponential growth.  Pretty much every conversation is punctuated with two common themes – incredible leadership and “pain.”  The leadership is likely not surprising to anyone who understands organizational growth.  But the pain theme may seem foreign to those who have not been a part of leading or serving in a rapidly growing church.

Unfortunately the pain sometimes is demonstrated through broken marriages or movement away from a ministry calling.  In other cases it’s simply pain expressed in the question, “How can I faithfully lead, serve and love this church which God has called me to and now on most days feels like a “rocket ride?”

When I first met @scottwilson7 and the team at The Oaks Fellowship, they were asking the questions and riding the rocket.  In the pages of Scott’s new book, Steering Through Chaos,   you will find the story of a leader and church who have embraced the pain and in a healthy manner have successfully navigated the rocket trajectory and speed of change.

And through their story, you will see yours and be equipped with language and tools to steer through whatever chaos your church may be facing, 

Hear more from Scott here -

Scott Wilson and The Oaks Fellowship – real deal!

Steering through Chaos – great book!

Greg Ligon

Vice President and Publisher

Leadership Network

The Gathered AND Scattered Church

Today I’m asking Hugh Halter and Matt Smay to tell us about their new book AND, which releases next month at the Exponential Conference as part of our new Exponential Series. Hugh and Matt have also written The Tangible Kingdom, and the accompanying primer. You can catch up with the authors on their blogs: http://hughhalter.com/ and http://mattsmay.com/, plus hear them speak first-hand at Exponential.

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Why did you write AND?

We wrote the book at the request of a respected group of network leaders who felt that someone needed to call the church past the “missional/attractional” divide that has grown over the last 5-7 years. The message was confirmed at an informal gathering of mega and micro church leaders in Denver, where we saw the exact same passion for the explosion and expansion of God’s missional church across a wide range of forms. No one cared about “how” we were doing church. Everyone just wanted God’s church to re-emerge from the ashes of irrelevance.

Who is AND for?

The audience for AND primarily includes any existing church pastor looking to make a serious commitment to the missional paradigm of church. It will also be helpful for church planters needing to create structures that provide long-term sustainability while maintaining a missional focus. Our secondary audience group will be denominational leaders and church planting networks involved or interested in bridging the gap between emerging and existing church leaders.

Where did your ideas come from?

As with our first book, The Tangible Kingdom, our passion for this topic came from our own story. Early on, people assumed we were organic purists because our church started from scratch with most of our stories in homes, pubs, coffee shops, etc. As our story grew we felt uncomfortable being labeled by someone else’s “form” of church. We never tried to claim any type of church, but we were learning that there is a natural struggle to find a balance of scattering people into incarnational mission but that there is also a significant beauty and meaning in corporate gatherings…as long as they don’t pander to consumerism. As we navigated our own balance, we found that every chu rch leader we talked with had the same curiosity.

What new things do you write about in AND?

AND builds naturally from The Tangible Kingdom, which focused on the scattered aspect of mission, that is, creating incarnational communities of intentional mission. AND addresses how to hold decentralized communities together in a centralized mission and it doesn’t matter where you start or where you find yourself.

The reader will find a unique description of the concept introduced by Ralph Winter where he describes the two redemptive sides of the church that should always work together, but that have been separated for too long. Bringing back this message is the key in unlocking a tension that has divided denominations, churches, elder boards, and parishioners. AND will help leaders avoid the fights that seem to occur whenever “missional” comes up, and will provide a framework for any church to move toward God’s balance for them.

What’s something readers will be able to take away from AND?

There at two glaring takeaways in AND. First is the call to stop creating consumer church experiences immediately. They don’t produce disciples and therefore must be shepherded out of our present paradigms of church. Second, start piloting incarnational communities now. There’s no need to wait until you have complete buy-in; there’s no need to upturn the entire apple cart to start; and there are only positives to be gained by moving quickly into the balance of the AND.

What do you hope AND will accomplish?

We hope the readers will leave AND with a simple love for the church again but also a challenge not to “do church”. AND exposes the tragedy of consumer-oriented church and calls us back to the basics of making disciples, giving leaders a more faithful balance of incarnational communities and centralized structures that keep each church on mission.

How can readers connect with you and join the conversation? 

What’s next is to join the hundreds of churches that are already moving toward the balance by piloting communities through the Tangible Kingdom Primer which is a preparation for mission that finally combines missional practices within a spiritual formation framework. It’s where we start every church and every community. Leaders who desire to be coached through this process can also enroll in the MCAP (Missional Community Apprenticeship Practicum) which is an online training and coaching environment. 

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Stephanie Plagens is the Publications Manager for Leadership Network.

Viral Churches – Nothing to Sneeze at

Based on a study that was commissioned by the Leadership Network, Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers reveals the best practices in church planting and uncovers the common threads among them. A much-needed resource, this book will inform, guide, and even catalyze today's many church planting leaders. Authors Stetzer and Bird clearly show leaders how to plant churches that create a multiplication movement and offer inspiration for them to do so. The book addresses their questions about what to do next in their church planting strategies, in light of research on what's actually working best.

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As the publications manager for Leadership Network, I have the privilege of working with all our authors when their new books launch. I asked Ed Stetzer and his co-author Warren Bird (who also happens to be my boss) to give our readers some insight into the making of Viral Churches in the following interview.

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Why did you write Viral Churches?

Ed: It was our desire to write a book that would assist those involved or interested in church planting so that they might move beyond simply starting one church, toward the planting of movements. As such this book is intended for everyone involved in the church planting process: denominations, networks, local churches and church planters. Our ultimate hope is that we’ll move from addition to multiplication. We need to see true church multiplication movements take place.

Warren: Lots of great books show people how to plant a church. We wanted to show the how – and why – of planting a whole movement of churches. Church multiplication asks questions like “how many apples are in this one seed?”

Where do your ideas come from?

Warren: Leadership Network commissioned Ed to oversee what we think is the nation’s largest cross-denominational study of church planting. The study, along with his own work, pinpointed lots of exciting developments that need to be championed.

Ed: Over a six month period, with twenty-four interviewers, we surveyed hundreds and hundreds of people from denominations, networks and churches to ask questions about what is working in church planting. Also I have been involved in church planting in leadership roles for networks and denominations.

What’s new in Viral Churches?

Ed: We tried to create a standard for measuring a church multiplication movement. We define it as when a movement of churches has a 50% reproduction rate each year with 50% of the people coming to the new churches as new converts and then seeing that pattern through the third year. In other words, if one year there were 100 churches, the next year there’d be 150 churches and half of the new people in those churches would be new converts and that goes on for at least three years. We consider that to be a church multiplication movement.

Warren: Viral Churches tells a lot of great stories about how people are birthing networks that plant churches through a multiplication approach. It gives a bunch of specific examples of how church leaders shift from addition-thinking to multiplication-thinking. It offers a new lens for looking at the Book of Acts, calling the Apostle Paul’s travels his church planting journeys rather than his missionary journeys.

Were there any surprises in the research?

Warren: Each chapter begins with a specific research discovery, some of them rather surprising. For example, Ed’s research totally debunks the widely repeated myth that 80% of new churches fail. It also demonstrates that people who are assessed (before planting) and coached (after planting) have a noticeably higher success rate.

Ed: Probably the big surprise is we just don’t see a multiplication movement happening in North America yet. We see some hopeful signs and we see growth in the prominence of church planting but there’s potential and need for much more than what’s happening today.

What changes need to take place before a movement can happen?

Ed: One of the first things we need to do is give more people permission to plant churches. There are marks of the biblical church and those always need to be central to what we do, but we have “clergified” church planting. In other words, we have made it necessary to be a certain class of person in order to plant a church -- and I don’t think we see that in the New Testament. We see laypeople planting churches, we see pastors going out and planting churches and we see bivocational people doing it.

It’s amazing to me how many church planters think God’s will is determined by whether or not they can get enough funding to underwrite them in a full-time ministry -- this attitude is unhelpful. We must learn to give people permission to plant biblically-driven churches without a false class system.

What’s one thing readers will take away from Viral Churches?

Ed: The immediate takeaway from the book is that leaders shouldn’t come in looking to plant a tree but to plant an orchard. If you start with that passion and focus then you will go out there and start churches that plant churches. The way you make your first convert may just determine the shape and the focus of your movement. So beginning with the end in mind is critical.

What do you hope your book will accomplish?

Ed: I’d like to pass on to readers that God is at work through His church. Ephesians 3:10 teaches that God has chosen the church to make known His manifold wisdom in the world. The church is not the center of God’s plan, Jesus is, but it is central to God’s plan. And if you love church, you’ll love church planting.

Warren: Through working on this book, I met some very amazing people who readers need to know about. Their models and size of vision set the bar of church planting at a whole new level that places a far higher value on replication. We hope to persuade people that even the recent resurgence of church planting falls terribly short of what is needed to make the life-changing good news about Jesus Christ accessible to every North American today.

How can readers connect with you to continue this conversation?

People can interact with Ed at his blog Ed Stetzer.com, which also links to his Facebook and Twitter. It also highlights many places he’s speaking, often with links to videos of his talks. Warren blogs regularly at learnings.leadnet.org.

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Stephanie Plagens is the Publications Manager for Leadership Network.

Mixing Diversity into Your Local Church

Last week I received the first box of the latest title in the Leadership Network Innovation Series, Ethnic Blends: Mixing Diversity into Your Local Church by Mark DeYmaz and Harry Li. This is Mark’s second book with Leadership Network, and I really enjoy working with him. Below, Mark and Harry share a few thoughts about the book.

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Why did you write Ethnic Blends?

We wrote the book in order to address the day to day challenges of multi-ethnic ministry. The book is for the growing numbers of pastors, church planters, and ministry leaders, indeed, entire staff teams who are seeking to promote greater ethnic/economic diversity within the local church or ministry they lead.

Where did your ideas come from?

We wrote from our own personal experiences, having served for nearly nine years together in the multi-ethnic community of faith we call Mosaic (Little Rock). In addition, we invited 14 multi-ethnic church pastors from around the country (and even Australia) to weigh-in with us through 500 word sidebars scattered throughout the book. Mark also has extensive understanding of the subject from his travel and interaction with others via the Mosaix Global Network (www.mosaix.info), a relational network catalyzing the movement toward multi-ethnic churches throughout North America and beyond.

What is new about what you have to say in Ethnic Blends?

In Mark's first book, Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church, he establishes the Biblical mandate and seven core commitments of an effective multi-ethnic church. In Ethnic Blends, we address seven common challenges of the multi-ethnic church. In addition, we provide relevant questions for personal reflection and/or group discussion, making the book a must for entire teams desiring to grow in their understanding, and consequently dream, of a church that reflects the love of God for all people on earth as it is in heaven.

The book also provides great insight on just where the multi-ethnic church movement is and where it is likely headed in the years ahead, with validation from the latest research of Dr. Michael Emerson, perhaps the most prominent sociologists on the subject today. Charts and graphs make complex truths more readily understandable and have been designed for use by those who would teach others also.

Tell us about one idea from Ethnic Blends.

Intentionality is both an attitude and an action when it comes to mixing diversity into your otherwise healthy, homogeneous context. Yes, intentionality must permeate and inform every corridor of a multi-ethnic church. For instance, I have no doubt that people mean well when they say that they would gladly welcome others of varying ethnic or economic backgrounds to come be a part of “their” church. However, in practice, what they really mean is “… as long as 'they' like things the way we do them.” Therefore, you should recognize that a healthy multi-ethnic church is not established by assimilation but rather by accommodation.

Notice the subtle difference in terminology. The word, "assimilate" means “to integrate somebody into a larger group so that differences are minimized or eliminated.” Yet the word, "accommodate" means “to adjust actions in response to somebody’s needs.” In other words, you must not ask or expect diverse others to “check their culture at the door” in order to become part of “your” church. Rather, it is the responsibility of those in the majority to adjust themselves intentionally, their own attitudes and actions, in order to enfold diverse others into the life of the church.

What do you hope readers take away from Ethnic Blends?

From the introduction and validating statistics, we hope readers will recognize that the coming integration of the local church is not only an undeniable reality, but it is critical to the advance of the gospel in the 21st century. For in an increasingly diverse and cynical society, people will no longer find credible the message of God's love for all people when it's preached from segregated churches.

At the heart level we hope to ignite a passion in, and to equip readers, for leading their churches or ministries in becoming more reflective of Christ's love for all people beyond mere words, i.e., to establish communities of faith in which men and women of varying ethnic and economic backgrounds walk, work and worship God together as one for the sake of the gospel. What readers will come to recognize is that in a healthy multi-ethnic church, a missional mindset (i.e., living "on mission") is not programmatic; rather, it is a reflection of the very church itself, who we are. We aren’t just building bridges to the community, we are the community and consequently, a credible witness of faith, hope and love for hurting people from all walks of life in need of spiritual, social and financial freedom in Christ.

What can we look for next?

We’re anticipating growing involvement of church planting networks and denominations with the Mosaix Global Network in seeking to diversify their own organizations, church planting teams and new church starts. Membership in Mosaix is already on the rise with its relaunch scheduled for April 2010 at Exponential. This will include relational networking, substantial benefits and resourcing for those in pursuit of ethnic blends. In addition, don't miss the nation's first, truly Multi-ethnic Church Conference, hosted by National Outreach Convention and Outreach Magazine, Inc., coming to San Diego, November 2-3, 2010. Go to www.mosaix.info for complete conference info, registration and sponsorship opportunities.

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Stephanie Plagens is the Publications Manager for Leadership Network.

You and Your Friends CAN Start a Movement

Brothers Dave and Jon Ferguson, who wrote The Big Idea (with Eric Bramlett), talk about their second book Exponential: How You and Your Friends Can Start a Missional Church Movement, which is one of the inaugural books in the Exponential Series presented by Leadership Network, the Exponential Network and Zondervan. Dave and Jon will be at the Exponential Conference April 19-22.

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Why did you write Exponential?

We have always wanted to write this book, it really is our story of reproducing from a small group of friends to what is now becoming a movement. In the process we provide some great information and tools to help you reproduce leaders, artists, coaches, directors, campus pastors, churches and networks.

Who is the book for?

This book is written for any Christ follower who believes the Acts 1:8 vision can be accomplished and wants to reproduce other Christ followers.

Where did your ideas come from?

The idea for this book came from our story as a church and a network designed to help share the reproducing vision and provide tools and resources to make that vision a reality.

What is new about what you have to say in Exponential?

Our first book, The Big Idea focused mostly on our creative content development and how we communicate one clear and concise message across all campuses and all age groups. Exponential tells our story of how God brought a handful of friends together to start a missional church movement and how others could do the same. The principles we share come from the very message that Jesus communicated to His first followers when he said, “Come follow me.” So, there may be very little that is actually new about this book, but it is the one book you can read if you want to reproduce yourself, your ministry and your church.

Are there any big surprises in the book?

The surprise in this book is that you and your friends can start a missional church movement. I’m not sure most people get that but hopefully after reading this book they will believe that.

What’s something readers can start doing right away?

The one thing in this book that I think anyone can begin to apply today and make a difference immediately is to have an apprentice. It doesn’t matter if you’re leading a small group or the lead pastor of a very large church, you need to be asking the question, “Who is walking beside you? Who are you equipping to do what you are doing?” That is absolutely foundational to developing a reproducing culture in any church.

What do you hope the reader takes away from Exponential?

The “BIG IDEA” or take away from this book would be that you can do this! There is a perception that starting a church is hard or leading a network is only for the mostly highly gifted leaders, but I’m telling you that everything we’ve learned about reproduction started in a small group. We both (Dave and Jon) lead small groups, develop apprentices and invite people to join us in community. Soon our apprentices will start a second small group and so on and so on.

How can readers connect with you and/or join the conversation?

We are really excited about the reproducing leader assessment and the reproducing church assessment that we’ll have online soon that will aid readers in evaluating their capacity for reproducing leaders, artists, missional teams, small group, and even campuses, churches, and networks. We will also be introducing a tool through www.DailyDigital.me so that you can read the book along with us and interact with us; it will launch April 20^th. We hope to have many conversations with people based on their own findings and discoveries from the very practical principles they find in this book. Seriously, we can’t wait to talk to many of you so follow us on twitter at @daveferguson or @jonferguson or through Dave’s blog: www.daveferguson.org.

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Stephanie Plagens is the Publications Manager for Leadership Network.

New Spotlight Webinar – Sticky Churches

Yesterday I spent an hour with Dino Rizzo, Eric Swanson and Rick Rusaw talking about churches that serve on our monthly webinar, The Spotlight. It was a great discussion, and it was really neat when they were each taking notes from the others’ stories! If you missed it, don’t fret – you can download the recording and a copy of the notes (in slide format) here.

On April 14, 2010, The Spotlight will feature Larry Osborne of North Coast Church in Vista, CA. Larry is the author of several books, including Sticky Church (Zondervan, 2008) and his latest, Sticky Teams (Zondervan, 2010). The webinar is a one-hour, online presentation that lets participants interact with the presenter in a Q&A format. Got a question for Larry about stickiness in your church? Go ahead and email it to me now -- we’ll try to answer as many questions as possible on Wednesday, April 14 at 3:00 pm Central (convert to my time zone). The webinar is free, but you must register to participate, so register now!

• Sticky Church tells the inspiring story of North Coast Church's phenomenal growth and offers practical tips for launching your own sermon-based small group ministry. Topics include: Why stickiness is so important. Why most of our discipleship models don't work very well. Why small groups always make a church more honest and transparent. What makes groups grow deeper and sticker over time.
• Sticky Teams exposes the hidden roadblocks, structures, and goofy thinking that all too often sabotage the health and harmony of even the best intentioned ministry teams. With practical and seasoned advice, Larry shows what it takes to get a leadership board, ministry team, and an entire congregation headed in the same direction, sticking together, unified and healthy for the long haul.

Just for fun, here’s a short video about Larry’s new book, Sticky Teams.

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Stephanie Plagens is the Publications Manager for Leadership Network.

Mark Batterson’s Primal

My friend Mark Batterson leads a very exciting church in Washington D.C. with nine weekend services, writes a great blog, and in recent years has penned several outstanding books, most of which I’ve read. His latest book is Primal, released in December 2009. I’m just now reading it.

His subtitle is A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity. He develops the quest by exploring ways we’ve unnecessarily cluttered and complicated our faith, causing us to lose a vital focus:

We’re not great at the Great Commandment. In too many instances, we’re not even good at it.

That, I believe, is our primal problem. That is the lost soul of Christianity. If Jesus said that loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is the most important commandment, then doesn’t it logically follow that we ought to spend an inordinate amount of our time and energy trying to understand and obey it? (Primal, page 7)

Ouch. That’s probably the only “ought” statement in the book. Otherwise he tells stories – from his life, from his church, from Scripture, from culture, and from the many books he’s read. In a highly engaging style he goes back to the core values of life in Christ and the passion many of us experienced when we first became a follower of Christ. He probably says nothing new in the book, but he voices it in a way that grabs us, challenges us and motivates us that nothing is more important than loving God. As he says:

The last reformation was a reformation of creeds. The next reformation will be a reformation of deeds. The last reformation was symbolized by one central figure. The next reformation will be led by millions of reformers living compassionately, creatively, and courageously for the cause of Christ. It will be marked by broken hearts and sanctified imaginations. And the driving force will be the love of God.

The book was good for me personally, and if you think it might be helpful for your own spiritual quest, check out Mark’s website that introduces the book further: PrimalMovement.

Warren Bird, Ph.D., is Research Director at Leadership Network, and co-author of 21 books on various aspects of church health and innovation. His recent “Leadership Network” books blogs include Updated Publishing Updates, Beyond Christendom Says Migration Keeps Transforming the Church, Terrific Biography of Rick Warren, Picking the Best Graphic to Tell Your Story Well, What We’re Reading at Leadership Network, The Soviet Plot to Kill God, Migration and Churches in Europe, The Worst Moment in Most Church Services, Excellent Resources for Church-Based Grants, Multi-Site Church Roadtrip Released Today, Holy Mavericks, Don’t Let This Book Cover Fool You and Do White Churches Hold Others in Cultural Captivity?

An Interview with Neil Cole

In today’s issue of Leadership Network Advance, Neil Cole, author of Organic Church, talks about his new book Church 3.0: Upgrades for the Future of the Church.

Why did you write Church 3.0?
Ever since I wrote Organic Church, I have been asked the same set of questions wherever I go: “How do you prevent heresy in groups led by non-seminarian leaders?”, “What do you do for children?”, “How do you handle finances?”, “Do you have larger meetings of the saints?” and many others. Church 3.0 addresses all those questions, showing how we can actually do better, much better, than we have done in the past.

Who did you write Church 3.0 for?
As I was writing, I was thinking about Christian leaders who are wondering how they can be more effective in serving Jesus and His bride. Whether you are leading a rapidly expanding network of organic churches, or you lead in a church that has been established in a more traditional manner, the insights in this book will help you gain a more missional perspective and release more potent influence in your community.

To keep reading, check out the newsletter.

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Stephanie Plagens is the Publications Manager for Leadership Network.

Spotlight: Churches That Serve

This Wednesday at 3pm Central, join us for our free monthly webinar.

This month's Spotlight is on Churches That Serve, featuring authors Eric Swanson & Rick Rusaw, and Dino Rizzo from Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, LA.

Dino Rizzo is the author of Servolution, and Erick Swanson & Rick Rusaw have co-authored The Externally Focused Church.

The Spotlight is a monthly series presented by Leadership Network. Each one-hour, online webinar will highlight a specific aspect of our best learning, research and resources. The webinar series will give participants in-depth exposure to the best of this content and direct access to leading church practitioners through an interactive Q&A format. Guest presenters will include pastors, authors, thought leaders and experts in various ministry fields.

Register Now!