Shift: Helping Congregations Back Into the Game of Effective Ministry

by Phil Maynard

An exploration of 5 key shifts congregations must make to become vital, effective, and fruitful: 1. From Fellowship to Hospitality, 2. From Worship as an Event to Worship as a Lifestyle, 3. From Membership to Discipleship, 4. From 'Serve Us' to Service, and 5. From 'Survival Mentality' to Generosity.

Based on years of research, coaching, and consulting with local congregations this book provides helpful, practical methods for developing effective ministry.

Most twenty-first century churches are neither missional nor effective in reaching people with the gospel. That's just the truth of the matter. Most of our churches are stuck, declining, aging and struggling in various ways. SHIFT is written most explicitly for the church that thought they had ministry figured out 30 years ago, but where nothing today is working as well as it used to work. If this is the case in the place that you call church this book may get your church's leaders thinking through the key movements for effective ministry.

Genres: Church

149 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 4, 2013

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine compilation of some suggested perspectives on and strategies for strengthening standard areas of ministry: hospitality, worship, discipleship, service and giving. Nothing extraordinarily eye-opening here, but lots of helpful questions for church staff and members to use when navigating conversations about change.

[Steve Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a decent book that outlines five major shifts that churches must make if they are going to thrive. The shifts are ideological in nature and affect a church's culture and actions. The shifts are from fellowship to hospitality, from worship as an event to worship as a lifestyle, from membership to discipleship, from "serve us" to service, and from "survival mentality" to generosity. The author makes a great case for how churches that successfully make these shifts will enjoy greater health and vitality and will be more successful in fulfilling the Great Commission. He gives some good practical advice and offers a short bibliography at the end of his treatment of each shift for those who want to go deeper. The book is short, which means that there are a lot of ideas that it leaves out, but it gets the creative juices flowing.

[Brian White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book after attending a workshop with Phil Maynard. I found both the workshop and the book to be informative and thought provoking. While I did not agree with every point in the book I found many points to ponder as well as some very specific and practical suggestions that I could put into immediate use. I would recommend this book to any pastor or church leader.