Just Say Yes!: Unleashing People for Ministry

by Robert Schnase

Churches say No in a thousand ways to new ideas, ministry initiatives, and creative people. Churches struggle with committees that are no longer conducive to their mission while pastors and laity have become conditioned to view anythingnew with suspicion and resistance. Churches operate with a pervasive culture of No.Just Say Yes! Unleashing People for Ministry is written for people whose passion has been simmering for years, who yearn to be told Yes! It’s for those whose energy and ideas have been tamped down by systems and attitudes that restrain ministry and who have felt frustrated by attempts to start programs, reach new people, or experiment with alternative worship services, only to be told No.Robert Schnase examines the systems and attitudes that restrain and control ministry. He demonstrates practical ways church leaders can rethink fundamental assumptions about organizations and leadership. Real-church examples show how every church can unleash its people for ministry—encouraging, emboldening, and equipping them. “Significant turnaround could happen in churches everywhere if each congregation worked through this book, chapter by chapter.” —Sue Nilson Kibbey, Director of the Missional Church Consultation Initiative, West Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church “Just Say Yes! is a valuable resource for laity and leaders who want to make a real difference in their mission field. I’m making it required reading in every church I coach and work with.” —Ken Willard, Certified Consultant and Coach, Leadership 4 Transformation; author, Time Management for the Christian Leader from Abingdon Press“The energy of the Holy Spirit jumps off every page and right into your heart and mind in a way that could make all things new.” —Patricia Farris, Senior Pastor, First United Methodist Church, Santa Monica, CA“If we take this book seriously we will see people unleashed for ministry in the world. In the process we may just rediscover why our churches exist in the first place.” —Clay Oliphint, Senior Pastor, First United Methodist Church, Richardson, TX“Schnase examines how churches say No, then provides an inspiring and practical look at how they can say Yes. We need this book!” —Steve Harper, Professor of Spiritual Formation (retired); author, Five Marks of a Methodist from Abingdon Press

Genres: Church

130 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2015

About the author

Bishop Robert C. Schnase

Reviews

[Forrest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary and practical tools to keep your personal Ministry alive!

Extraordinary book don't miss it. This will give you personal encouragement and the tools to stay relevant in today's fast-paced world.

[Rebecca E Mentzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really helpful as I prepared a church retreat on mission statements and ministry.

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected but great. I thought it would have more tips, tools and principals for how a church could step by step get people into assisting in ministry. It was more about how a church can set itself up to make sure that it allows for ministry groups to come to pass without getting stuck in the approval process. It was an ok read, it was very denomination driven - meaning I am a part of a non-demoninantional church and this was written with a specific denomination structure in mind.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating perspective

As a lay person, I found this book inspiring and empowering. I feel like it gave me guidance to aid my church in its own attempts at transformation.but it also made me think of other relationships and other seasons where "yes" might be the most important word to say.

[Don Mauldin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Encourage

I believe the development of a n environment of encouragement
and creating an environment for saying yes is crucial in so many areas of life. This book helps to create that environment. The book is a great read..

[Micole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Repetitive. But the main idea is that we need get out of the ways of ministry and mission. So often it is the pastor and the laity who stand in the way of God. This book names the hundreds of ways churches say no and gives suggestions for how to say yes instead.

[Cynthia · Rating 2 out of 5]

good but repetitive of his earlier book for effective congregations

we used in a group setting and found the discussions difficult/repetitive since we had already covered most of this

[Dwayne Shugert · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent resource for pastors who want to unleash people for ministry.

[Nick Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This may be exactly the book I need to read with leaders in the churches I pastor to gain a more missional, Kingdom-oriented vision rather than life-support-oriented vision.