Reconnect Your Church

David Brown

Description

A practical, road-tested vision and process to equip church leaders to reinvigorate their church
Reconnect Your Church provides a practical, road-tested vision and process to equip church leaders to reinvigorate their church

How can churches stay healthy and dynamic over the long-term? What’s needed to avoid or reverse church stagnation and decline?

While some churches are vibrant and growing, many more are struggling, especially after Covid. The congregation might be declining and ageing, there’s little success in reaching out to with the gospel, and more time is spent on inward facing problems than loving God and loving others. But the potential that could be released is huge.

David Brown draws on his experience revitalising a church in central Paris to offer a vision and a process for church revitalisation, with a focus on UK and European contexts. Whether you are church planting, in a well-established and thriving church, or looking to turn around a church in decline, Brown provides biblically grounded wisdom along with change management principles for long-term health.

When we reapply God’s priorities to the church, we unleash new life and energy in following Christ in community.

Acknowledgments ix

Case studies 1
Introduction 5
Chapter 1 My revitalisation story 7
Chapter 2 The need for revitalisation 16
Chapter 3 Is revitalisation biblical? 30
Chapter 4 What should a healthy church look like? 42
Chapter 5 Getting started with change 59
Chapter 6 The process: developing a strategy for change 74

THE SOCIAL DIMENSION OF REVITALISATION

Chapter 7 The social dimension of revitalisation: community 90
Chapter 8 The social dimension of revitalisation: outreach 100

THE SOCIETAL DIMENSION OF REVITALISATION

Chapter 9 The societal dimension of revitalisation: plausibility 112
Chapter 10 The societal dimension of revitalisation: adaptability 123

THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION OF REVITALISATION

Chapter 11 The spiritual dimension of revitalisation 138
Chapter 12 Discipleship in a healthy church 153

IMPLEMENTING THE VISION

Chapter 13 Starting the movement 171
Chapter 14 Working towards lasting change: leadership 181
Chapter 15 Working towards lasting change: practical issues 194
Chapter 16 Working towards lasting change: strategic issues 200
Further resources 205

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Philosophie et théologie
• Growth
• Christian Church

Informations

• Publié par: IVP
• Date de parution: 16 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789744590
• Langue: English

Extrait

‘Evangelicals in Europe have much to learn from each other. Models developed in other contexts often don’t apply to our old, beautiful continent. In Reconnect Your Church , David Brown shares insights gathered over a lifetime of ministry in France and from the exciting revitalisation of a historic church in Paris. I noticed many points of contact with the ministry challenges I face in Rome. May European churches find new life by reading this balanced, hopeful and wise book!’
René Breuel , founding pastor of Hopera Church in Rome, Italy, author of The Paradox of Happiness
‘David Brown is a well-respected author in the French evangelical world with a dozen books to his name on subjects ranging from the Trinity to gender theory. But Reconnect Your Church is his first book in English, so non-francophone readers can finally benefit from his insights and practical advice accumulated over 40 years in ministry, including both church planting and church revitalisation. David’s extensive experience working with church leaders across Europe means that he is very aware of different cultural contexts for revitalisation: the process will look very different in a British city and in a Romanian village! Whatever your context, you will find gospel-focused wisdom and down-to-earth advice about the process of church revitalisation in this eminently practical handbook. As part of a church leadership team in the UK, David’s description of a holistically healthy church frequently caused me to reflect on how and why we do things. Anyone who cares about the state of their church, both in terms of its community impact and its role in forming Jesus-centred disciples, will find much food for thought, prayer and action in this encouraging book – change is possible and decline is not inevitable!’
Paul Cooke , UK Director of France Mission
‘Any book which gives the impression of proposing seven steps to Christian maturity or three keys to a successful marriage raises alarm bells in my thinking, but this book by my long-time friend, David Brown, is different! Why? Because I have observed David at work for almost half a century! He has both founded new churches and helped bring to life dormant existing churches. He knows what are the vital components of a healthy church and he has clearly and yet compassionately analysed the obstacles to change in second-generation churches. But, by far his greatest contribution in my opinion is his grasp of the formidable changes that have taken place in society and which need to be integrated into any strategy for revitalising the church. On a continent where Christianity is no longer perceived as being relevant, David is on the offensive and with both optimism and realism calls the church to fulfil her role as salt and light.’
Mike Evans PhD, former director of the Geneva Bible Institute, founder of Evangile 21 (European French-speaking branch of The Gospel Coalition)
‘In Reconnect Your Church, David Brown captures in a very realistic, relevant and biblical way the revitalisation of the church, making readers first aware of the need, but also providing a vision and a process for revitalisation. For me, this information, before it was written in a book, took the form of training lectures that David gave in different countries in Europe, including Romania, teaching many church leaders about this topic. I have personally learned a lot about what revitalization is and how it can become a reality in stagnated or declining churches. I guarantee that those who read the book and are ready to act based on it will be helped in a very practical way to experience positive changes in their church.’
Daniel Fodorean , pastor, Associate Professor and Academic Dean at the Baptist Theological Institute of Bucharest
‘What a gift to the church! Reconnect Your Church , is a theologically rich and intensely practical contribution to the desperately needed, worldwide conversation on church revitalisation. The Euro-centric focus will be especially helpful to a European audience, but will not be a hindrance to other readers. David Brown weaves together a solid biblical foundation, sig nificant cross-cultural insights, and practical suggestions, all based on his extensive background as a pastor and church planter in France and his broad involvement across the continent. Not surprisingly, the concepts in this book are helpfully applied through the tool of conversations taking place in different European countries. I plan to read this book again . . . and probably again after that. Thank you, David! A job well done!’
Revd Dr Jay Mosser , pastor of Sunset Bible Church, University Place, WA, USA and leader of the European Leadership Forum Disciple-Making Leaders Network
‘ Reconnect Your Church is an encouraging roadmap and expert travel guidebook for church leaders who want to see God do a new thing. If you are asking the Lord to use you in this area, this is the book you need, and David is your conversation partner. David is leading a church revitalization movement across Europe, and this book distils his wisdom. Read the book and then contact David and join the movement!’
Greg Pritchard PhD, Director of European Leadership Forum and President of the Forum of Christian Leaders
‘David Brown in Reconnect Your Church exhibits practical professionalism in the demanding task of church revitalising. The book is inspirational, visionary and educational. It provides a wealth of helpful guidelines to be implemented by any church revitalisation team across Europe. Much needed and timely publication!’
Revd Daniel Trusiewicz , Mission Coordinator, European Baptist Federation
‘Across Europe in recent years there has been evidence of significant growth of a new church-planting movement in many countries. There has been much less focus on church revitalisation, some arguing that it is easier to give birth to new body than to attempt to resurrect a dead one! But surely we should do all we can to engage in planting and revitalising? This book fills that gap/ redresses that imbalance. It may be a seminal text; perhaps even a watershed publication for hard-pressed leaders who do not wish to give up on churches which have thrived in the past but which, for whatever reason, have lost their way or drifted in the present.
‘Written in the light of widespread experience in France, and in a gracious, unthreatening spirit, David Brown judiciously combines biblical principles, case studies from across Europe, cross-cultural sensitivity, careful research and excellent practical suggestions. It will be studied with great profit by church leadership teams and will likely lead, under God, to the revitalisation of many churches –perhaps even yours!’
Lindsay Brown, former General Secretary, International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) and International Director of the Lausanne Movement.
‘Revitalization is one of the key themes for the renewal of the church in Europe. David Brown is personally involved in the revitalisation process and knows the European context very well. The book is practical, fresh and relevant. I am very grateful, that this book will be useful and inspiring for the renewal process of historic denominations.’
Marián Kaňuch , Lutheran pastor and regional leader, Slovakia
‘Every church, no matter it’s size, location, culture or context, would benefit from David’s insightful understanding and teaching on church revitalisation. His wise counsel is welcome counsel. Revitalisation inevitably means change. David carefully points out barriers to change and offers relevant strategic solutions. His approach is both balanced and biblical, helping churches develop a long-term culture of revitalisation. No church will ever be perfect, but every church can make progress and David lights a fire of hope for my church, your church and every church.’
Scott Poling , Senior Pastor of Harvest New Beginnings Church, USA
‘If Europe is to be re-evangelised, it is essential that the opportunities of church planting are accompanied by the opportunities for church revitalisation. David Brown has drawn on a lifetime of experience as a church pastor, planter and revitaliser in urban Paris to write this very helpful guide. He combines a compelling vision for church revitalisation with biblical principles for healthy churches and outlines a practical revitalisation process. A great strength of this book is that he shows, by example, how these general principles can be contextualized in very different circumstances. I pray that this book will be widely read by those with a heart to see the gospel advance in Europe, and that many churches will gain new life and renewed effectiveness as a result.’
John Stevens , National Director FIEC

INTER-VARSITY PRESS
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© David Brown, 2023
David Brown has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher or the Copyright Licensing Agency.
Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version (NIV).
First published 2023
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978–1–78974–458–3
eBook ISBN: 978–1–78974–459–0
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