It's time to RE...

Great ideas happen. Something works for someone, suddenly it seems like everyone is doing it; and then the momentum slows. In many ways that seems to be the pattern that the evangelical church has fallen into, the momentum has slowed. People have gotten used to the status quo, and may churches have become inwardly focused at the expense of the communities they serve. And unfortunately the people that evangelicals are supposed to be reaching don't see anything to get excited about either.

            Lance Ford as recognized that slowdown in the western church, and offers a prescription, an antidote to the decline of the evangelical church. "REvangelical: Becoming the Good News People We're Meant to Be" is Ford's take on the state of the church, along with some suggestions for restoring the original intent of the church. 

            Alliteration (recalibrate, repent, recommit, reconcile, …) is not my favorite literary device, but in this case it works, and works well, as Ford invites us to relook at the way we're doing things and how we might do them differently and better. He's not suggesting a lot of new ideas, rather that we return to some of the ways that things used to be done and that we've gotten away from.

            As I read, I was struck time and again, by the fact that the church has lost some of her enthusiasm for lost people. REvangelical is a recipe for reaching out to the people that don't walk through the door. It's a recipe for sharing Jesus with those for whom God's heart is broken. It may be time for the church to take a really good look at itself: what she's doing and she's not doing,; who she should be trying to reach, and what she needs to do to get to where Jesus wants to see His Church.

Pastors and leadership teams of any church who is stagnating or in decline might find the ideas in this book useful, that is if they are interested in leaving the status quo behind in favor of reaching people that don't yet know Jesus.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review. I was not required to post a positive review.