Transformational Church

Ed Stetzer, Thom S. Rainer

• Publisher: B&H Books
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781433671791
• Topic: Teologia e religione
• Subtopic: Chiesa cristiana

How are we doing? The church, that is. And how are we doing it? Congregations have long measured success by "bodies, budget, and buildings"--a certain record of attendance, the offering plate, and square footage. But the scorecard can't stop there. When it does, the deeper emphasis on accountability, discipleship, and spiritual maturity is lost. Ignoring those details, we see fewer lives transformed, Christian influence wane, and churches thin out--a situation that is all too familiar across North America today.It is time to take heart and rework the scorecard.According to Ed Stetzer and Thom S. Rainer, the authors of Transformational Church, "Too often we've highlighted the negative realities of the declining American church but missed the opportunity to magnify the God of hope and transformation."Based on the most comprehensive study of its kind, including a survey of more than 7, 000 churches and hundreds of on-site interviews with pastors, Transformational Church takes us to the thriving congregations where truly changing lives is the norm.Stetzer and Rainer clearly confirm the importance of disciple making for all through active biblical engagement and prayerful dependence on God alongside of ever-increasing, intentional participation in mission and ministry activities. As the church engages these issues, the world will see the change: * More people following Christ
*More believers growing in their faith
*More churches making an impact on their communitiesThe transformation starts now.

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Hope for Transformation

TRANSFORMATION + CHURCH

For followers of Jesus, these are two of the most important and powerful words in the world.

We treasure the concept of “transformation,” because radical change is the heart of the Christian message and because the power of the gospel changes everything—lives, churches, and communities.

Christians love “church,” because God has chosen the community of Christ followers to make known His manifold wisdom (Eph. 3:10). When God transforms lives, He doesn’t just build temples of the Holy Spirit in individuals, He builds His church by adding more lives to the body. God uses the individuals in the church to bring about the transformation of more individuals and, consequently, the growth of the church. The church is God’s tool and instrument for His kingdom agenda.

The concepts of transformation and church play off each other, complement each other, connect to each other. And when you put not just the nouns transformation and church together (as we have in the title), but put together the actual occurrence of transformation and the community of people called the church, the result is powerful. It’s amazing. The result is transformation and church the way God designed them to be.

The truth is that transformation is non-negotiable for the Christian church. But change is not the norm for many of our churches. We are supposed to see transformation, but too often we see stagnation. God’s plan is that “We all, with unveiled faces, are reflecting the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). That means that we (as individuals) and “we all” (as the church) are supposed to see this transformation. Transforming “from glory to glory” should be normal, but too often it is exceptional. Our passion is to help the church see, aspire to, and achieve biblical transformation.

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We are supposed to see transformation, but too often we see stagnation.

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Our longing to understand how God transforms people and communities through His church led us to undertake this research project—the largest ever of its kind. We, alongside dozens of other leaders, threw ourselves completely into this project in order to better understand how some churches are experiencing this transformation today.

Change

There is no avoiding change. Ever heard the saying “The only constant is change”? It’s a truism built upon the reality that change is built into life itself. Most times we don’t even have to do anything to bring change about—change just happens. Every day we encounter all sorts of new developments, good and bad. No matter what we do, change comes to all of us. In fact, you don’t have to do anything. Just sit there; change will find you.

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Our longing to understand how God transforms people and communities through His church led us to undertake this research project—the largest ever of its kind.

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We can’t choose whether change will come or not. But we can choose whether to embrace it or resist it. We can choose the kind of change that advances the kingdom of God into our world, or we can retreat into a subculture that attempts to insulate us from the world. In our day we face an opportunity for change that can deliver transformation to individuals, churches, and whole communities. Will we engage? Or will we resist? What will the church do?

We have spent most of our adult lives as leaders serving churches. During those years, like many of you, we have watched God transform people with the power of the gospel. Transformation is at the heart of God’s mission to humanity. He delights in moving us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light—and then empowering and directing us as agents of His kingdom. And He has chosen the church as His instrument in this world. We, the body of Christ, are God’s chosen method to deliver the message of transformation to our neighbors both in the local community and around the world. Delivering this message is our mission.

The alternative to this biblically-mandated transformation is to pick a rut and make it deeper. And this is just what many churches have done, preferring, even if not consciously, repetition or even stagnation. As leaders, we sometimes fool ourselves into thinking that just managing the status quo is good enough. Some leaders take the merry-go-round approach to church. They think if they can just keep everyone moving, the flashing lights shining bright, and the music happy, they won’t get any complaints. Some leaders try to take the “don’t rock the boat” approach. They think that if we all remain very still in the boat, it won’t turn over. But it also won’t go anywhere.

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Rather than missionary disciples for Christ going into the world, we have a group of people content to go in circles.

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The big problem? Whether still or busy, too few are making any real headway. Rather than missionary disciples for Christ going into the world, we have a group of people content to go in circles. God calls us to make a transformational impact on the world, not provide a carnival of frenetic activity for ourselves. But to make this impact, we must engage in His mission for His sake and on His terms. Pastors and church leaders must move beyond entertaining consumers and into engaging Christ’s mission.

We believe that God is not done with the church—He is continuing His work. Right now it’s en vogue to look down on the church. If you take a look at certain sections of the blog and book worlds, or just peruse the Christian Twittersphere, you can find all kinds of people taking all kinds of shots at the Bride of Christ. And they’re doing it for all kinds of reasons. Many are disillusioned with the church of their upbringing. Some are discouraged by decline or scandals. A younger generation is frustrated with the church’s apparent apathy about social justice causes. Some are upset that the church won’t get more modernized; some are upset because the church has lost its ancient ways. There are criticisms abounding of emerging churches, seeker churches, missional churches, traditional churches, Boomer churches, multi-site churches, old churches, new churches, and the list goes on. Sometimes it seems there are as many complaints as there are Christians, and some of these complaints are well meaning.

But in any event, the response to transformational inactivity for many Christians appears to just be criticism. If you can’t do, teach. And if you can’t do or teach, become a critic. For all kinds of reasons and with all kinds of motives, many are swinging away at the church like a low hanging piñata on Cinco-de-Mayo. Yet despite the beating Christ’s Bride is taking, despite the daily write-offs she receives, God is not finished with His church. Far from it.

In Philippians, Paul speaks to the church and says, “I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). Although we often make this a verse about us, individually, it is about the church as well—God started the work, He is working in the church now, and He will someday finish the work. It is, after all, His church. And, we are “partners . . . in grace” (Phil. 1:7) now, sharers and bearers of the grace that brings transformation. For Spirit-filled believers, there is no more compelling mission, and this mission is what drives the body of Christ. What we lack, keeping us from moving from ruts and routines to transformational mission, is the clarity of focus that comes from finding the grace of God more enthralling and exciting than anything else.

A Personal Mission

You may not think so, but we all know what a mission is like. We all know what it’s like to be on a mission. When you’re on one, your focus is consuming.

I remember when my (Thom’s) first grandchild was born. It was absolutely incredible to watch the transformation in my wife when we got the phone call that our daughter-in-law Rachel was in labor. They live in Wake Forest, North Carolina, and it was too late at night to catch a flight.

But Nellie Jo said anyway, “Let’s go.”

I said, “You’re not packed.”

She said, “I’ll pack right now.”

I’m thinking, I have three, six, eight hours to wait. But twenty minutes later she says, “I’m ready. What’s wrong with you?”

I said, “We’ll never make it in time. It’s a good eight- or nine-hour drive over the mountains, and we’re going to be traveling all night.”

She says, “I’ll drive. I don’t trust your driving at nighttime.”

At this point, I’m thinking about all the trips we’ve made in the past. I am remembering all the stops for sodas, shopping, and stretching our legs. I was anticipating this eight- to nine-hour trip would turn out to be a twelve- to fifteen-hour marathon. But I was wrong. We made the trip with only one ten-minute stop. Nine hours we drove, in the dark of night. We didn’t make it in time for our grandchild’s birth, but we arrived shortly thereafter. How’d we defy the odds and the customs of the past to achieve something so amazing? We were on a mission. And when you are on a mission, you get focused.

When we embarked upon the Transformational Church initiative, we wanted to go somewhere. In one sense we wanted to get there fast. But in another sense we wanted to get there properly. Along this journey we have discovered that the mission of some churches becomes complicated by distractions, accidents, and disasters. But we were also able to witness the successful journey many churches are making. The goal of a Transformational Church is to make disciples, and nothing will deter them from this task. Though roadblocks and hazards abound, these churches find ways to stay on track. They are able to bring about a convergence of values and activities that results in transformation of individuals and of the community.

We believe that what is taking place is a viral movement of transformation. People possess a deep hunger for change. On the surface, it shows up with job changes, buying a new car, or finding a new hobby. Superficially, this simply shows the restless nature of humanity. Spiritually, this evidences each soul’s God-shaped hole. When churches are spinning their wheels, they are merely reflecting their superficial restlessness. But when churches move forward on God’s mission, they engage our spiritual restlessness, the sort of untapped anxiousness inside that is eager and waiting to respond to the command, “Come, follow Me.”

The churches we discovered in this initiative share the desire for transformation—but on a deeper level than most churches. Where many churches desire to make a difference, Transformational Churches actually do. They possess an increasing awareness for the need of change in the people, the church, and the community.

Now, before you conclude this is simply another methodology book, keep reading. Although you will encounter numerous practices from Transformational Churches, these practices do not take shape in formulaic packages. Biblical practices transcend cookie-cutter copying. For example, when we report the particular way a church in South Dakota prays together, the principle to take away is that the church in South Dakota connects with God in authentic prayer. The real focus is not the particular way they pray together but the reality that they are praying together. While we showcase the method, we mean to recommend the principle inside it.

Too often the church has become a symbol of gathering for one another rather than scattering for the sake of others. The church was designed by God to be on the move in the world, not sitting in the corner of the neighborhood waiting for the needy to show up on its doorstep. The Bible casts Christians as a mobilizing people. And what happens in the individual life of a Christian should happen in the church at large, right? Furthermore, what happens in the church should happen in the community. The lives of believers should authenticate the message we proclaim and the ministries we engage. The alternative authentication is typically more church programming, which gives the illusion of mission. But activity is not always productivity, and in fact in today’s church it seldom is.

Our ministry passion is simple: to get God’s people on mission. It’s why we write and speak on church revitalization, the missional church, and even church planting. All of these matter, but they are the results, not the mechanism. Transformation is the mechanism and the gospel is the means. The gospel is itself power; Paul says it bears fruit and grows (Col. 1:6). The gospel changes us, our churches, and then the world. That’s why it matters and matters most.

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The Bible casts Christians as a mobilizing people.

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Unfortunately, many of you reading this book may not feel like you are in a Transformational Church. Nellie Jo’s determination in our first visit with our grandson may strike you as entertaining but not illustrative of your church at all. Perhaps you found more resonance in my (Thom’s) seeing our journey as daunting and difficult; the idea of the passive church sitting on the corner of the neighborhood intersection seems to descrbe your current ministry. But it does not have to be. You can engage in God’s mission of transformation.

Now for the News

Many of us have been the bearers of bad news. We have spoken and written about the problematic state of North American churches. And there is no reason to be unrealistic about the situation now. There’s no ignoring the facts. Conversion growth is declining. The cultural influence of local churches is waning. Leadership in churches is often embattled....