Robust Church Development: A Vision for Mobilizing Regional Bodies in Support of Missional Congregations - Softcover

Regele, Mike

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0926850164 ISBN 13: 9780926850163

Publisher: Percept Group, Inc., 2003

Synopsis

This brief book sets forth the vision, the principles and the practices that, if embraced, will see your regional body on its way to a robust church development effort one that is effective today and will withstand continuous shifts in the mission environment over time. Percept s 2002 study of church development activity in U.S. denominations found surprisingly little evidence of focused, effective work. Yet, hidden in the research, a path to effectiveness was discovered in what we call the 10 Best Practices those development activities that most positively correlate to success.

About this title

About the Author

MIKE REGELE (M. Div.) studied at Seattle Pacific University and Fuller Theological Seminary. He is a co-founder of Percept, and an author and co-author whose published works include, Death of the Church (Harper Collins/Zondervan, 1995), Exploring Your Ministry Area, Your Church and Its Mission, Understanding Your Congregation, ReVision and Crossing the Bridge: Church Leadership in a Time of Change (Percept, 2000).

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Power of a Dream

Dreams can be of two kinds. Some dreams are wishful thinking. Other dreams are captivating visions. Dreams that are simply wishful thinking seldom become more than thoughts that pass. Dreams, however, that are captivating visions capture the heart and imagination and compel one to act. They urge one on to see the dream transformed into reality in some way. Dr. King s dream was a captivating vision.

I have a dream as well. It is a dream that the churches across North America would be vital centers of life and hope. It is a dream that they would be places where people want to be. I dream of walking into any church in this country and feeling life and healing and acceptance. I dream of churches that know who they are and why they exist.

I dream of churches that understand their calling from God and translate that calling into redemptive islands of hope for all people. I dream of churches that love their communities and lose themselves in the service of these communities. I dream of Christian churches wherein I can go and feel welcome and safe and accepted. I want this for myself. I want this for my children. I want this for others. It was the beauty of such a vision that made becoming a Christian and joining the church so compelling to me over 30 years ago. This same dream continues to drive me today.

I wonder how many of you reading this share a similar dream? If you are reading this book, you most likely work in some way with local congregations. Surely you do so because in your heart you have a dream for these churches as well. Is your dream all that different from mine? I doubt it. Do you not want this for your churches, first, because you love them, and second, because you yourself want to have such an experience?

But is our dream really only wishful thinking? Or is our dream a captivating vision, compelling us forward to see it in some way made real? Is our dream driven by the kind of hope and faith that drove Dr. King? Or is it more like a Californian looking at the withering, dry hills wishing it would rain? The answer to this question will be quite clear based upon what we do. You are most likely involved in the support and service of local congregations from the perspective of a regional or national agency. That does not mean you are necessarily a denominational staff person. I suspect some readers are either pastors or lay-leaders who in addition to efforts at the local level, also serve through a regional structure.

But even more specifically, if you are reading this, you are most likely involved in what is generally labeled church development and usually incorporates working with or assisting congregations in the growth and development of their local ministries.

The question I want to pose to you is this: What will it take? What will it take to have our dream become more than wishful thinking? Can the efforts we call church development be a tool in transforming our dreams for our churches into reality? That is a good question. It is also the question we want to wrestle with in these pages. I would begin our quest toward answering it by stating that we must not only have a dream for our churches that captivates and compels us, we must also have a captivating vision for the work of church development itself.

Edition details

• Publisher: Percept Group, Inc.
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0926850164
• ISBN 13: 9780926850163
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 132