Growth and Change

by Andrew Heard

264 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2024

Reviews

[Marcus Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great, helpful read. You can tell that Heard is gripped by a desire to see people saved, and that becomes infectious.
I think what this book does well is celebrate what we’re getting right and pushes us to make moves in other places. I went in assuming it would be a bashing of a certain pastoral mindset, but he does a good job of validating those ideas while also wanting people to see the desperate need to do otherwise.
Generally, I was already on board with what he writes, although I have two points of thought coming out of this book.
Firstly, I believe that the realities of heaven and hell are essential for motivating the Christian to wanting to see people saved and churches grow. Yet I think the central idea missing from an explicit chapter in this book is the motivation for growth to come from, and work towards, the Glory of God. It’s there, but it doesn’t come across as central. We and our people need to be gripped by Jesus glory, so much that we desire to have his heart for the lost.
Secondly, overall, there are some really well grounded exegetical and theological points made, but some do come across as very quick moves. I’m still thinking through some of these.
Worth a read, especially if you’re in full time ministry.

[Jon Pentecost · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heard spends a long time arguing that church leaders should desire to see growth, namely, people converted and saved. I appreciate his clarity on the topic. I was left wondering, who are these Christians that don't want more people to be saved? Or is he trying to redeem the term 'church growth' as not necessarily a dirty word?

Two chapters seem aimed at asserting not all churches have to look the same, but can order themselves according to what serves them best. While I agree each church has autonomy to make decisions for themselves, I would argue that the Bible gives a little more direction on how a church is to be structured than I think Heard believes. He also argues that pastors don't have to know the name of every person in their church.

He then argues that church leaders should be willing to work hard, and evaluate what they are doing if they are not seeing people saved.

While on the face, I don't disagree with this--again, who doesn't want to see people saved?
I'm left with a couple questions: By what measure do we evaluate whether our practices are working or not? Particularly, what is the timeline in which we should expect to see people saved? It seems to me, Heard needed to address more the reality/possibility of being faithful and still not seeing people saved for years or even decades. In light of that possibility, how then can we rightly evaluate our practices? I think we can and should. But passing over this reality sets people up for the rat race of chasing new ministry fads, despite his efforts to guard against that.

Moreover, while I think Heard would say his lack of clear directions for what a leader should do or consider is intentional (given his conviction there is no prescribed polity in the NT), I think the lack of examples or avenues to consider results in putting burdens on his reader he himself doesn't carry--ie it leaves the persuaded reader with an immense sense of duty to do something, but no direction on where to start, what questions might be useful, etc. This leaves me reluctant to recommend it to others, though I was edified and exhorted by his zeal to see more saved.

[Mr S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some people love books that are deeply provocative and challenge their viewpoint. Others find themselves fleeing from anything that might pose tough questions. It’s easy to assume therefore that anyone who doesn’t like a provocative book just doesn’t want their comfy status quo to be upset. The reality is a bit more complex.

There is much to like about this book. Andrew Heard has a passion for the gospel and a desire to see unreached people hear the good news of Jesus and be saved. He is clear that making disciples to the glory of God is to be the priority for the local church. He also rightly identifies that there can be a reluctance among evangelical ministers to take any responsibility for the output of their actions. In some respects these insights are not new - Heard came to the UK and shared them at a leaders gathering I attended a decade ago.

So why don’t I like this book? Because in his eagerness to challenge and spur people into action, I feel that Heard consistently overstates his case and makes a straw man of his detractors. As a reader you could be easily be left with the impression that if you don’t agree with his approach to ministry methodology then you either don’t care enough about the fate of the unreached or that you are lazy and unconcerned about excellence. My experience in pastoral ministry is that many people have been labouring hard for the gospel through a season where our culture has been unreceptive to the gospel. Without the resources of a large church they have faithfully kept plugging away at the work of discipleship. We must be careful that the impression we give about the ministry and motivations of others doesn’t write them off unjustly.

[Alastair Gooderham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrew Heard’s call in this book is to think more biblically about church growth. He calls us to be biblically passionate about it in biblical ways (discipleship in mission and maturity). He challenges the dangers of just settling for faithfulness and instead encourages us to look at the outcomes we can (new believers and maturing believers) and fear church up for that.

His chapter on the cost for pastors of being outcome driven was helpful. However, over all I was a little disappointed especially with the appendices.

It’s a good book, one that leadership teams would benefit from reading. It’s a helpful corrective and challenge and contains some useful insights.

[Seth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with the point the author seeks to make, but he takes too long to state the point.