In our communities composed of people from various cultures, countries, and backgrounds, where does the church stand? How representative is it? And how can local churches best minister and evangelize within an increasingly multicultural society? 'Cultural Change and Your Church' is an invaluable resource for understanding the transformation of our cultural landscape and, most importantly, for learning how to embrace the resulting opportunities to minister to all people. Michael Pocock and Joseph Henriques consider the Bible's examples and teaching related to diversity, introduce several churches currently modeling cross-cultural ministry, and suggest hands-on ways for church leaders to encourage change and proactive thinking.

If you are a pastor and want your church to make a much bigger spiritual impact on your community, you will need to become better informed about your community and focus on improving it, rather than using your resources to increase the size of your church. You must have the blessings of God, and that is attained by obedience to God. Your priority must be to equip elders and boomers and disciple parents and students. If you are a staff member and want to change your church to have more spiritual effectiveness on her members and her community, you should boldly proclaim the need for an obedience-driven mind-set and set the pace with your personal example. If you are a layperson and want to change your church to have more spiritual impact on you, your family, and your community, start a more disciplined lifestyle by becoming Christlike and by aggressively acting on the obedience assignments in this book. All must forsake good traditional projects and focus on the bestobedience to Christ. Your church can be more active as a spiritual influence in her culture. Work to break down barriers of separation between Christian denominations, ethnicities, and economics. Download and apply the obedience assignments in the free copy of Lets Change Your Church workbook from www.equippingstudents.com.

Strategies for transforming a toxic church culture Why is it that the best strategic plans and good leadership often are not able to move churches in the desired direction? Sam Chand contends that toxic culture is to blame. Quite often, leaders don't sense the toxicity, but it poisons their relationships and derails their vision. This work describes five easily identifiable categories of church culture (inspiring-accepting-stagnant-discouraging-toxic), with diagnostic descriptions in the book and a separate online assessment tool. The reader will be able to identify strengths and needs of their church's culture, and then apply practical strategies (communication, control and authority, selection and placement of personnel, etc.) to make their church's culture more positive. Discusses how to diagnose the state of a church's culture Reveals what it takes to put in place effective strategies for creating a more positive church culture Author served on the board of EQUIP (Dr. John Maxwell's Ministry), equipping five million leaders world-wide. This important book offers a clear guide for understanding and recreating a healthy church culture.

Focusing on what facilitates effective leadership, church growth, and retention, this book sets forth a process-oriented framework for understanding the dynamics of church growth and what works for and against it. The author, who is currently serving as the senior pastor of a local church in the City of Brampton, Ontario, for more than twenty years, highlights basic concepts and practices related to church leadership and growth. He considers questions such as: Why do some churches grow in numbers while others lag? What are the dynamic processes, strategies, and pathways that underlie effective leadership, church growth, and retention? How can the answers to these questions inform endeavors to increase and retain church membership? The author also asks if it’s true that God is in partnership with his leaders, why are so many of our local churches not growing but declining? The world the church was established in more than two thousand years ago is not the world we live in today. Rethink what it means to lead, grow, and retain membership in a changing world with this important book.

The church is the hope of the world when it's working right...and therein lies the problem. Most aren't. This has led both Christians and non-Christians to give up on the church entirely; it has led many others to give up on all existing churches-and maybe even start new ones. But all church can and should be transitioned to a new life. A church is never beyond hope. This book will provide principles and practices that can lead to a resurrection of any church, in any setting. It will provide the inspiration and information needed to lead a church successfully through the necessary changes of tradition and culture without compromising God's timeless truth. When this happens, the church will once again be what God intended...the hope of the world.

Innovative spiritual practices that establish the foundation for durable, missional change Many congregations recognize their need to bring about change in order to become or remain vital, both spiritually and organizationally. They have a sense of what they need, and what might keep them from changing. But they don’t know how to change. How Change Comes to Your Church draws on the practical experience, stories, and examples from two experienced church leaders. Patrick Keifert and Wesley Granberg-Michaelson have helped scores of congregations as well as larger denominational organizations identify key elements that are a necessary part of transformational change. Rather than a superficial approach with a simplistic formula, How Change Comes to Your Churchfocuses on the important work of changing church culture, with innovative spiritual practices that establish the foundation for durable, missional change.

Picture your church as a place where the priesthood of believers finds its expression in creative and powerful ways. Picture leaders and staff equipping and unleashing people to minister in ways consistent with how God designed them. Think of the effectiveness, vitality, and contentment that come when the body of Christ nurtures itself through the healthy give-and-take of each member. In The Equipping Church, Sue Mallory describes the benefits, the structure, and the culture of an equipping church and shows how your congregation can become one. This book is about limitless possibilities. Think "vision." What might your church look like if its members became vital, fully empowered partners in ministry? How can you help them discover and release their full potential? How would their roles change--and yours? AN EQUIPPING CHURCH IS A CHURCH WHERE: * pastors and leaders enable church members to share in ministry * people’s gifts, talents, and life callings are matched with areas of service * ministry opportunities are recognized and developed * the culture encourages the growth of a broad array of ministries *a well-designed system addresses needs of every kind, both individual and corporate *the pastor doesn’t have to be all things to all people Unpacking insights and principles uncovered by Leadership Training Network over the last several years, Mallory helps you customize an equipping system and culture in your church. You’ll proceed from preparation (what you need to know), to foundations (what you need to change), to construction (what you need to do). In the process, Mallory takes you inside the story of her own church, Brentwood Presbyterian, to observe the different stages of their trial-and-error journey and how it has transformed their approach to "doing church." See how they dealt with various concerns that arose along the way, and meet men and women whose lives have been changed because Brentwood took the ministry road less traveled. Each chapter includes a section of "Equipping Principles," questions for discussion and reflection, and a summary of different equipping churches from around the country. With the accompanying Equipping Church Guidebook, this book will be a mile marker in your church--and the gateway to a more effective and biblical approach to ministry.

By culture, George B. Thompson Jr. means not just racial, ethnic, economic, or regional culture, but also a congregation's way of doing things--its history, customs, conventions, and procedures. In order to launch and maintain a successful ministry, pastors and other church leaders must come to grasp that unique culture of their parish. They must develop a "culture capital" within their congregations, meaning that they invest themselves deeply in how their church does its work and goes about its ministries. The author presses clergy to answer such questions as "How well do I know what I'm getting into?" and "Have I been adopted yet?" and even "Is it time to move on?" The book is ideal for pastors in solo settings, but pastors in multiple staff settings will also find the author's insights helpful.

As a companion to Spiritual DNA of the Church On Mission, this workbook will provide teaching outlines, questionnaires, and other practical helps aimed at equipping pastors and church staff to prepare their churches to engage missionally in their communities.

Leading is a calling from God, but that doesn't mean it is easy. There are choices to be made about what your congregation believes, how your church organizes for effective ministry, and how your church serves the settings of which you are a part. The good news is that others have gone before you. Author Larry L. McSwain's forty years of experience can help guide you through these choices. Rooted in research, The Calling of Congregational Leadership teaches a three-pronged approach to congregational leadership: being a good leader, the knowledge needed by the leader, and the managing of ministry leadership. By using this practical, holistic approach to leading congregations, McSwain shows you how to use your church's potential for conveying the power of God in the lives you touch. The Calling of Congregational Leadership is for those who seek to enlarge the understanding of their leadership to make their communities of faith more vital and more reflective of the mission of God in the world.