Alan Hirsch The Forgotten Ways Chapter Summary

God loves his Church and Jesus is the one who builds the Church. Then, it goes without saying that God loves the local church and Jesus builds the local church. Unfortunately, there are many factors that come into play, causing churches to become complacent or stagnate before entering into a season of decline. Yet this can be avoided through the process of revitalization.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize Module 5 of the AOL program, specifically group 226, through the evaluation of a contemporary Christian leader. In this paper I will discuss the contemporary Christian leader I have selected, analyze their effectiveness in business performance, and discuss how they have inspired me. I will also talk about what I have learned from this module that most benefited me. My hope is that through this paper, my readers will have a broadened scope of Christianity in our contemporary world.

Western Christians in global missions by Paul Borthwick is about the interdependence and unity of the global Church. The book starts at the conclusion of an era of missions where North America has taken the helm. As the global missions community changes, North America needs to reassess its role. There are 4 main integrated points that Borthwick makes that should change the perspective of the white American middle class missionary.

Hull, Bill. The Disciple-Making Church: Leading a Body of Believers On the Journey of Faith. Updated ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2010.

“I have carefully and thoroughly read the entire book as assigned.” Throughout David Platt’s book, “Radical : Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream”, he encourages the reader to take a look at their life and see whether or not Christ is all they need to impact their life for Jesus in a radical way. He asks the reader to carefully examine their life, and see if there are areas that perhaps the Lord would desire for change to take place. Platt challenges the Church to step up and see the urgency in missions realizing that this is the way God designed the lost and dying world to hear the Good News of the Risen and Glorified Savior Jesus Christ.

A sentiment common to almost any organization is that the one fact that remains constant is change. As society changes, and human understanding grows, any organization that maintains a static posture, assures its demise. Churches and Christian organizations are no exception. The gospel may remain the same, but the method for communicating it must speak to the audience to assure understanding. The Christian leader must be prepared to meet this challenge by incorporating an effective model for change into his theology of leadership in order to keep the ministry relevant and effective. Searching for such a change agent can prove to be challenging as well. To aid in this search, four

Edward L. Smither, Ph.D., is a member of the staff of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, VA where he serves as assistant professor of Church History and Intercultural Studies. He has a great love for teaching as he has taught in such places as France and North Africa in his lifetime. Edward L. Smither has written a helpful book for those in Christian leadership today on mentoring focusing mainly on the early church bishop Augustine of Hippo entitled Augustine as Mentor: A Model for Preparing Spiritual Leaders. Throughout this book, Smither discusses the approaches that Augustine took to mentoring and strengthening others as well as the manner in which his mentors helped him mature as a Christian and as a leader. One of Smither’s main concerns is that “Many pastors today, especially in the West, are struggling in isolation without a pastor to nurture their souls. Sadly many of these, unless they encounter a radical change, will not finish the race” (p. v). This review will assess, critique, and apply the subject of mentoring from Augustine of

As expected, the reformed evangelical community was critically affected by the fall of Mark Driscoll and the closing of Mars Hill, but not like you may think. Rather than writing-off Christianity or drifting left towards the emergent or progressive movements, many young believers followed the compass of Holy Scripture towards

In an age when culture continues to lower standards of intellect, Marva Dawn makes compelling observations and suggestions for the Church to rethink its’ strategy on impacting society. How do we evangelize without weakening the message of what we are communicating? The majority of her text focuses on the worship environment generally, but later she focuses on music, preaching, and liturgy specifically. According to Dawn, a gathering of believers should emphasize God as the subject and object of worship, challenge each individual to grow in godly character, and accentuate the community of believers (not only in the room, but throughout history as well). Through this grid, she encourages leaders and participants to evaluate each worship

Where the contents of the book would be beneficial for all Christians, no matter how mature, the contents as a whole would be more beneficial for a more mature Christian, pastor, seminary student, missionary, cross-cultural worker, and or leader. This book provides a well in-depth study of the role of revivals in the growth of Christianity, specifically, during the twentieth-century. All Christians can be inspired and influenced by these incredible encounters and movements, yet, as a whole, this writer believes that there is some easier reads for younger Christians who are still beginning to understand world missions and their call of going to the nations with the

than the nineteenth century. Central to everything is our testimony of Christ and our identity as

David Wesley’s main idea is a set of best practices, or what he terms “healthy patterns,” in congregational mission partnerships. Wesley observes that in the emerging “third way” of missions that began at the end of the 20th century and is coming into its own in the early 21st century is focusing on congregational partnerships. As such, Wesley seeks to lay out “common patterns for healthy global partnerships observed in these congregational partnerships.” Consequently, Wesley presents five healthy patterns around which common mission can flourish.

Self-improvement industry is a $10 billion dollar a year industry. The self-improvement industry for pastors is the church-growth movement. The temptation is great for pastors to look to the latest strategies, books and programs to have growing ministries that look successful in the standards of the world and yet bares little resemblance to God 's mission and vision for His Kingdom. Into this divide Tim Suttle, as a recovering church-growth pastor now seeking to faithfully follow God and participate in God 's mission, interjects his voice in Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church Growth Culture. Sounding a call to a return to a faithful following of the teaching of the Scripture, Shrink challenges pastors to rethink success not in the terms of the world but by how well one chases after the vision God has given for His Church. The following examines Shrink and Suttle 's suggested paradigm shift through redefining success, insisting on three essential transitions to be made by the church and the virtues that pastors must embody in leading faithful ministry.

Furthermore, it is vitally crucial for the church leadership to clearly articulate its missional vision, which is to be embraced by the rest of the church’s community. The process of spiritual transformation starts from the invitation and continues through engagement and discipleship. This transformational process embodies the missional vision and the language for 'right now ' and 'here '. Surely, the church’s vision ought to be aligned with the missional attributes of the gospel itself, which are 'the good news is for everyone ' and 'belonging before believing '. Our witness should take place amidst relationship and listening. One principle that I consider to be exceptionally useful in my community is St. Patrick’s idea of Celtic Evangelism: establish community, engage in conversation, and invite commitment (2009, 101).

Effective leadership approaches from a biblical perspective consist of God’s nature in his manifested character. Christian leaders are willing to pay the price to lead in Christ’s affliction. Paul said there is a price to pay in order to lead and Jesus reminded us, “Remember what I told you: 'A servant is not greater than his master. ' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also” (John 15:20, New International Version). Christian leaders need core attributes of God’s styles and approaches, support and linkage from scriptures, and knowledge of his leadership models of truth for effective leadership. However, these perspectives will gave me a better appreciation and insight of who God is and who I can be with his guidance.