When Church Stops Working: A Future for Your Congregation beyond More Money, Programs, and Innovation

by Andrew Root, Blair D. Bertrand

Overview

What if the solution for the decline of today's church isn't more money, people, programs, innovation, or busyness?

What if the answer is to stop and wait on God?

In When Church Stops Working, ministry leaders Andrew Root and Blair Bertrand show how actively watching and listening for God can bring life out of death for churches in crisis today. Using clear steps and practices, they invite church leaders to stop the endless cycle of doing more and rather to simply "be" in God's presence. They tell the story of two congregations who did this--and found new life in the process.

When Church Stops Working distills the core themes of Root's critically acclaimed Ministry in a Secular Age series in a more accessible form. Leaders and churchgoers who are burned out and hopeless will experience affirmation, encouragement, and empowerment as Root and Bertrand turn to the book of Acts as well as examples from contemporary congregational life to show what "active" waiting looks like and the saving grace it can hold.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493441945
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/16/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	403,682
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Andrew Root (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a frequent speaker, has written more than twenty books, and hosts the When Church Stops Working podcast.

Blair D. Bertrand (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is a lecturer at Zomba Theological University, teaching consultant with Theological Education by Extension Malawi, and adjunct lecturer at Tyndale University, Toronto. He has served various congregations as an ordained minister and lives in Ottawa, Ontario.
Andrew Root (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Faith Formation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, The Congregation in a Secular Age, Churches and the Crisis of Decline, The Church after Innovation, and The End of Youth Ministry? Root is also the coauthor (with Kenda Creasy Dean) of The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry. He is a frequent speaker and hosts the popular and influential When Church Stops Working podcast.
Blair D. Bertrand (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is a lecturer at Zomba Theological University, teaching consultant with Theological Education by Extension Malawi, and adjunct lecturer at Tyndale University, Toronto. He has served various Presbyterian Church in Canada congregations as an ordained minister and lives in Ottawa, Ontario.

Table of Contents

Contents
1. Why Your Church Has a Problem, but It Isn't What You Think
2. Busy People, Busy Church--A Killer Cocktail
3. Stop All the Having and Just Be
4. It's Time to Wait, but for What?
5. Waiting Brings Life, Not a Slow Death
6. Forget the Mission Statement--Get a Watchword
7. Out of the Family Basement
8. Nothing Can Separate You