Publisher's Synopsis
Handheld version. The goal of every church is to be as biblical as possible as the community seeks to follow Jesus and be led by the Holy Spirit to evangelize and make disciples to the glory of God the Father. And many attractional and program-driven churches do good job of making converts, but struggle to produce disciples equipped to make disciples who make disciples (Matt 28:19). Could this be because many churches have drifted from the biblical concept of "church" and redefined it as the place where ministry happens? "Use the event to attract a crowd and develop programs dependent on dynamic speakers and excellent music to keep people coming back," say church growth experts. While this may have worked to build large congregations in the mid-to-late twentieth century, it has also consumed many of the smaller churches like a Wal-Mart monopoly putting out of business the mom-and-pop shops. In such an environment, biblical community is fractured and young disenfranchised believers walk away disappointed wondering why the 21st century church doesn't look like what one reads about in the book of Acts. This book explores the challenges church leaders and congregants face in shepherding a program-driven church to begin to reach out to the community outside of the four walls of a church building. Take this journey with me as I evaluate Jesus' and the Apostles' method of outreach and discipleship and seek to find ways to apply their methodology in today's context. We will explore various small group models throughout history and in today's contemporary Western world. We will look at the necessity of corporate worship and small groups to stimulate spiritual growth. I have interviewed Jeff Vanderstelt, Steve Timmis, Joel Comiskey, and Dan Braga to glean wisdom from these leaders in how to successfully shepherded churches through this kind of recontexualization of the local church. In the end, I have mapped out a strategy for how church leaders can lead their churches through this transition from attractional events and programs to the missional home community and cell-driven model, which resonates with a generation disenfranchised with church. I believe there are many methods of ministry that can work to make converts, but in order to make disciples that multiply requires an authentic faith community. This is what an unbelieving world is longing to see, a church that has closed the gap between their rhetoric and reality. This work is the result of a Thesis Project for the Doctor of Ministry Program at Gordon-Conwell Seminary.
