There's Hope for Your Church: First Steps to Restoring Health and Growth

by Gary L. McIntosh

A startling 85% of churches in the US are plateaued or declining, a trend that has been building for the past fifty years. In the face of shrinking attendance and lagging spiritual growth, pastors and church leaders are understandably discouraged and demoralized. But the first step to turning things around is hope. Church health expert Gary McIntosh offers this hope by showing church leaders the first things they need to do to make a new start for their church.

God can and does restore churches to new life, even as he restores individuals. The street-smart ideas and step-by-step instructions found in this book are ones that pastors and church leaders can put to use immediately in their churches to bring about solid growth and renewed hope for the future.

Genres: Leadership

206 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2012

Reviews

[Shaun Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book in May 2015, having borrowed it from my school's library, and enjoyed the read so much that I promptly purchased a copy to keep. Now in Aug 2016, I reread it to see if it deserved to stay on my bookshelf (anything less than 5 stars would mean it would be put up for sale to make room for new titles). I was pleasantly surprised to rediscover how good it was, and the 5 star rating remains unchanged.

For many of the church leadership books that I have read, I was puzzled as how such poor material ended up being published - for it was mostly smoke and mirrors... McIntosh on the other hand, writes with the verve of a seasoned veteran who has had thoroughly thought through and extensively worked on this subject matter.

This book is targetted at the pastor of a "dying" church (or church in need of revitalisation). Like fresh hot rations given to a battle weary soldier on the front line, the uplifting material provides some practical handles that the pastor or staff could hold onto.

I also appreciated McIntosh's succinct style of writing, which keeps the content highly accessible to all readers concerned about the health of their church. I found that the real life case studies were always insightful, and were an amazing fit with to practical advice presented. These were the most enjoyable and captivating part of the book that I most enjoyed.

I found the following methodologies highlighted in the book especially helpful:

- Identification of the signs of trouble in the church (Chapter 3) - low morale, downward momentum or plateauing growth, survival mode, passive attitudes, consolidated power, lack of vision, toleration of known sin and unproductive ministries
- Inclusion of a diagram (Page 75) that illustrates that God's Vision is an intersection of the pastor's leadership passion, passion/gifts of the congregation and the community needs
- Building a successful dominant coalition (Chapter 6) requires the right people (by approaching individuals personally rather than over the pulpit), who respect you, who are willing to receive the biblical training and replace disagreeable leaders
- After evaluating the church morale (Chapter 7), seek to lift it by being positive yourself, finding the silver lining (every situation no matter how dire, has its good aspects to highlight; eg. thank people who are overworked), celebrate all victories, require people who highlight problems to come back with three possible solutions, recruit encouragers, highlight heroes, stay close to the people, focus on the right people (Focus on the Very Important People, then the Very Trainable People, then the Very Nice People, and then the Very Draining People)
- Do not delay in confronting problem people (Page 112) who are: disloyal (on surface appear to be with you but speak against you when you are not present), belligerent (verbally or physically attack others), belittle (put others down to make themselves look better), undermine (who seek to draw others away to another church)
- Accept resignations immediately and do not allow them to change their minds (some influential staff or board members threaten resignations often to get their ways; Page 112)
- Evaluate and refocus on the core ministry (Chapter 9) and outreach/evangelism (because theological equipping of people does not always result in them desiring to bring in new people)
- In reference to church members being equipped for change (Chapter 10), I can relate personally that radicals arent a great source of feedback as they always bring a positive report; they are great for starting new things with great excitement and energy but burn out too quickly (Page 136)
- Watch out and deal with these 5 kinds of losses (Chapter 11): of identity (with the roles/positions/places they occupy in church), of control, of meaning (in places, programs and patterns of life), of belonging (when they are overwhelmed by numbers of newcomers they do not know), of a future (as people hope for a stable future and struggle with the idea that it is changing)
- Stay the course (Chapter 12)
- Church revitalisation chart and checklist (Pages 164-5)
- That 9 out of 10 church mergers fail (Appendix B)
- When church mergers work best (Pages 182-183): occurs because of mission and outreach rather than need to survive; consist of churches with common theology, philosophy of ministry, values, and corporate culture; both congregations sell their buildings and move into a new one; a single or new pastor is called to lead the congregation; when three churches merge and none is dominant (often when two churches merge, one feels shut out and loses its sense of identity); time is given to developing solid communication about a possible merger and addressing concerns; significant time for courtship is allowed to take place

[James Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every Church Needs a Checkup
In "There's Hope for Your Church", writer Gary McIntosh puts an emphasis on refocus. He suggests that your church get a “checkup” which is his way of saying that you should do an analysis of the statistics of your church. This includes evaluating the community, the ministries, and the focus of your church. Part of this focus should be on the finances of the church. In doing so, most are surprised at how little most churches spend on missions. McIntosh reminds his readers that there is hope for any church that is struggling. With God's help, your church can live and grow again.

[Marc Minter · Rating 2 out of 5]

McIntosh is much better equipped than me to lead a business or an organization, but his utter avoidance of biblical grounding for leading a local church was disappointing. I appreciate the pragmatic and experiential wisdom McIntosh offers throughout this book, but I would recommend several other books as much better guides to leading and revitalizing the local church.

[Mark A Powell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Far too pragmatic. There is a fine line between providing practical wisdom and dictating formulaic methods. This one largely misses the mark.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent work that is focused on church revitalization.

[Evan Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like McIntosh’s writing in that it is very practical. I sense that his wisdom far outweighs his writing ability and that’s ok. I have reference some of his books in the past in spite of their sometimes cliche writing style, and will add this one to that list.

[Michael Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

McIntosh borrows from many and adds thoughts himself as he seeks to train and encourage pastors and leaders in churches that have declined. It felt like it was more about hard work than hope, and I think he puts too much emphasis on the pastor in these situations, but overall, this is a useful work to think through when you are in a plateaued or declining or dying church. He does discuss many options that you can try when you are in this situation, but God must change hearts, bring the right new people and use imperfect people if turnaround is to happen.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book provided some great principles to follow if you looking at how to revitalize a church. It gave some personality profile information to help a leader better determine their style of leadership and how that relates to revitalization. The 13 principles provided can be read individually or in succession to each other. Either way, many if not all of them are helpful to consider.

[Jerry Bousard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read and resourceful for churches that are struggling or want to re-position themselves.