Transforming Church - Review

I just finished "Transforming Church - Bringing Out the Good to Get Great," by Kevin Ford.

It was recommended by our senior pastor, particularly for its discussion of effective staff relationships. I expected it would be like most of the other hundred or so "make your church great" books I've read over the past several years, but was pleasantly surprised.

Although I'm not sure the book answers all the questions it asks, it's definitely worth reading. Here are some of the things the book said that I thought were noteworthy:

• It's time to help our churches move from consuming churches to connecting and engaging churches.


• Church staffs must function as teams, not families. A team functions with a goal in mind, and is able to rearrange or reassign team members in order to achieve that goal. The family is comfortable with its black sheep, and is often unwilling to confront issues that prevent health because of the relationship with an individual.


• Community/collaboration is inextricably bound to creativity. It is impossible to be truly creative apart from community. It is also impossible to have true community without creativity.


• Churches have become a "dispenser of religious goods and services where people come to get" instead of a "missions station where people are launched to give."


• We should spend more time caring about church health than church success.


• We should be encouraging the people in our church that their "everyday life is an extension of our church's mission."


• True leadership means releasing power for the sake of empowering others.


• Churches fail when they offer an adventure instead of a quest. The adventure seeks treasure rather than transformation. A quest offers a changed life.


• The job of a leader is not to protect people from pain.


• Good leaders regulate stress and energy making sure there is always an element of anxiety and stress in the organization they lead. With too much stress and anxiety, the organization is rendered helpless. With too little stress and anxiety, the organization becomes complacent.

Overall, it was a good book and an easy read. If you're looking for a book on church health that is different from the others you've read, this one is one you should check out.