Study Materials for Presbytery Transformation:
Hit the Bullseye: How Denominations Can Aim the Congregation At the Mission Field by Paul D. Borden. "Denominations in the U.S. were started to assist congregations. Local churches realized that often they could do more together than they could separately. For many years denominations provided invaluable services to congregations in missions, education, and church life. This is no longer the case. As many congregations diminish in size, they find themselves with aging constituencies and experience a decline in mission dollars. they also find denominations impotent in producing change, health, and growth. Denominations respond in various ways to this situation. This book offers three key strategies for change: training, recruitment of outside leaders, and pastoral mentoring."
Robust Church Development: a vision for mobilizing regional bodies in support of missional congregations by Mike Regele. "This brief book sets forth the vision, the principles and the practices that, if embraced, will see your regional body on its way to a robust church development effort - one that is effective today and will withstand continuous shifts in the mission environment over time.
Church Transformation:
A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith by Brian D. McLaren. "McLaren, one of the most visible faces of the emergent movement, examines 10 questions the church must answer as it heads toward a new way of believing."
Cracking Your congregation's Code: Mapping Your Spiritual DNA to Create Your Future by Richard Southern and Robert Norton. "Seminaries, denominational leaders, and ministers have a sacred charge to grow the membership of the church. Norton and Southern provide an outstanding - and proven - strategy for teaching both clergy and laypeople to accomplish the mission." The Rev. Robert Warren Cromey, trustee of the General Theological Seminary, New York, New York.
Emerging Worship: Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations by Dan Kimball. "If this church is to regain relevance with and connect to our rapidly, radically changing culture, it must pioneer new forms of worship and trailblaze alternative worship services for those up in this post-Christian age."
Five Challenges for the Once and Future Church by Loren B. Mead.
Leading Congregational Change: A Practical Guide for the Transformational Journey by Jim Herrington, Mike Bonem, and James H. Furr. "The authors...present a powerful, sequential process for moving a church toward renewal. They reveal how to deal with resistance from key members who do not understand why change is needed, show how to develop a "vision community" - a diverse group within the church who can collaboratively discern and help to implement God's vision for their congregation - and identify specific leadership disciplines required to successfully shepherd change."
Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry and Congregational Change. by Mark Lau Branson. This book integrates ministry and Appreciative Inquiry in a revealing, refreshing way.
No Perfect People Allowed: Creating a COME AS YOU ARE Culture in the CHURCH by John Burke. This book "shows you how to deconstruct the five main barriers standing between emerging generations and your church by creating the right culture."
Once and Future Church by Loren B. Mead.
Pathway to Renewal: Practical Steps for Congregations by Daniel P. Smith and Mary K. Sellon. This has a faithful, practical set of concrete steps for moving toward the renewal of a congregation.
Spiritual Vitality through Cooperative Ministry by Diana A. Stephen - produced by the Small Church and Community Ministry Office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Stepping Out in Faith: Small Churches Responding to God's Call by Diana A. Stephen.
The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch. Supports complete reorientation of the church around mission and apostolic church planting in the West.
The Ministry of the Missional Church by Craig Van Gelder. This is a richly biblical theological meditation on how the church should minister to the world, and how ministers should minister to the church.
The Sky is Falling by Alan Roxburgh.
The Thiin Book of Appreciative Inquiry by Sue Annis Hammond.
Transforming Congregations for the Future by Loren B. Mead.
Twelve Dynamic Shifts for Transforming Your Church by E. Stanley Ott. "Arguing that the crisis in the church today is due to a loss of personal spirituality and congregational vitality, Ott challenges pastors and church leaders to adjust the style of their ministries to attract new people while continuing to encourage current members...lays out inspiring yet practical proposals to help congregations to make the transition from traditional to transformational."
Twelve Keys to an Effective Church: The Leader's Guide by Kennon L. Callahan. "The purpose of this book is to help you help your church move toward action, accomplishment, and achievement, not more planning, more meetings, and longer reports."
Twelve Keys to an Effective Church: The Study Guide by Kennon L. Callahan. "This study guide discusses in depth new and useful ways to interpret and work through the main book....the guide presents material for twelve sessions - one for each of the characteristics of effective churches."
When Better Isn't Enough: Evaluation Tools for the 21st-Century Church by Jill Hudson. The author identifies 12 characteristics to measure effective ministry and gives the tools for evaluation.
