Eating the Elephant : Leading the Established Church to Growth. This item is unavailable.Eating the Elephant : Leading the Established Church to Growth

How Does an Established Church Grow?

Many church leaders have attempted the "latest" approach to growing a church, only to find the methodology is ineffective and the church members are divided. Sometimes the methodology is wrong. Sometimes the methodology is right but the pace and the timing are wrong. Internationally-recognized authorities Thom Rainer and Chuck Lawless have written Eating the Elephant to show that a church can change and grow if you move at a pace that fits the church's situation, if you eat the elephant one bite at a time.

"Unfortunately," the authors write, "many 'traditional' churches have been divided and demoralized by attempts to move the church too quickly toward relevancy. Is there a way to implement change without destroying the church in the process? We believe there is." For most of America's church leaders, that's an invitation to tie on your napkin and pull up a chair.

Thom S. Rainer holds the Ph.D. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he has served for over a decade as the founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth. The author of 15 books and hundreds of articles, Dr. Rainer also serves as president of the Rainer Group, one of the leading church and denominational consulting firms in the nation.

Chuck Lawless serves as the senior associate dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth. A Ph.D. graduate of Southern Seminary, Chuck also served as a senior pastor for fourteen years prior to joining the faculty at the Graham School. He is also the author of Spiritual Warfare: Biblical Truth for Victory, Discipled Warriors, Making Disciples through Mentoring, and Serving in Your Church Prayer Ministry.