Shrink

Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture

De: Tim Suttle

Narrado por: Mike Chamberlain

Among followers of Jesus, great is often the enemy of good. The drive to be great - to be a success by the standards of the world - often crowds out the qualities of goodness, virtue, and faithfulness that should define the central focus of Christian leadership. In the culture of today’s church, successful leadership is often judged by what works, while persistent faithfulness takes a back seat. If a ministry doesn’t produce results, it is dropped. If people don’t respond, we move on. This pursuit of “greatness” exerts a crushing pressure on the local church and creates a consuming anxiety in its leaders. In their pursuit of this warped vision of greatness, church leaders end up embracing a leadership narrative that runs counter to the sacrificial call of the gospel story. When church leaders focus on faithfulness to God and the gospel, however, it’s always a kingdom-win - regardless of the visible results of their ministry. John the Baptist modeled this kind of leadership. As John’s disciples crossed the Jordan River to follow after Jesus, John freely released them to a greater calling than following him. Speaking of Jesus, John said: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Joyfully satisfied to have been faithful to his calling, John knew that the size and scope of his ministry would be determined by the will of the Father, not his own will. Following the example of John the Baptist and with a careful look at the teaching of Scripture, Tim Suttle dares church leaders to risk failure by chasing the vision God has given them - no matter how small it might seem - instead of pursuing the broad path of pragmatism that leads to fame and numerical success.

©2014 eChristian (P)2014 eChristian

Fantastic.

Tim beautifully and prophetically articulates many things I've pondered, felt and thought for years. There's depth here. Profound depth. Dive in...

Utter WASTE of my time

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Stuttle makes openly biased claims about the mega church on the basis. He rightly says the call for all churches is to be faithful and seems to think the mega church is not being faithful because it is large. Why is it that being faithful has to mean small. When the majority of the american church is in decline it is easy for a Pastor or church to say "we are just being faithful" when they are not doing the things they are called to do in scripture. I have read 35+ books this year and this one was by far the worst one. Be faithful where God has placed you but don't go around bashing churches and leaders who don't do ministry like you do.

What was most disappointing about Tim Suttle’s story?

He is openly biased towards larger churches and gives isolated incidences in large churches as the basis for many of his arguments. Small churches also file for bankruptcy, have embezzling Pastors and commit suicide.