100 Days to a Healthier Church: A Step-By-Step Guide for Pastors and Leadership Teams

by Karl Vaters

A 100-Day Plan That’s Practical, Realistic, and Actually Works

You see the problems in your church, and you truly believe it could be better. Not perfect, but healthier . If you want more for your church but aren’t quite sure how to get there, 100 Days to a Healthier Church was written for you. It teaches you how to:


Identify your church’s current level of health using the "Church Health Continuum"
Make big changes through small nudges rather than giant leaps
Grow your strengths and tackle your weaknesses one at a time
After years of trial and error, pastor and author Karl Vaters developed a tested and proven 15-week process that’s manageable, adaptable, and effective. It won’t fix everything overnight, but it will help you figure out what to do next. Great for individual pastors, perfect for church leadership teams!

Genres: Faith

288 pages, Paperback

Published March 3, 2020

Reviews

[Clint Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

***DISCLAIMER: I RECEIVED THIS BOOK FOR FREE FROM MOODY PUBLISHERS TO REVIEW***

Karl Vaters’ 100 Days To A Healthier Church: A Step-By-Step Guide For Pastors & Leadership Teams represents the second book I have reviewed for Moody Publishers this year. The book’s title explains what this book is; it is a step-by-step guide over a 100-day period meant to lead a church to become a healthier church. I have to admit that I did not read this book in 100 days. Instead, I read it in shorter time. Moreover, I did not use this book to experiment in any way, shape or form. Nevertheless, I believe one can still read this book to see if it may be used in practice as a means to help a church become healthier.

After the introduction, the book has seven sections:

Before The 100 Days (chapters 1-3)
Step 1: Assess Your Situation (chapters 4-7; weeks 1-4)
Step 2: Select A Target (chapters 8-10; weeks 5-7)
Step 3: Train The Team (chapters 11-13; weeks 8-11)
Step 4: Implement The Plan (chapters 14-18; weeks 12-14 + launch/celebration weekend)
After the 100 Days (chapter 19 and an afterword)
Resources (meant to be used for days 1 and 99)
In the introduction, Vaters states the principles in his book are “long-term principles” instead of “one-time, quick-fix solutions” (p. 11). In chapter one, Vaters states the goal of his book:

The goal of this book is not to help you start a new program, or pattern your congregation after another successful church. The goal is to take another step toward becoming the church God called you to be.

pp. 16-17
I appreciate Vaters’ clarity here. He states his book’s goal. Furthermore, he makes it clear the principles in the book are for the long haul. There is no uncertainty on what Vaters is trying to accomplish. Vaters continues his clarity in chapter two; he gives four reasons why he chose 100 days (pp. 29-30).

In chapter three, Vaters gives a weak argument for what the church is called to do:

After all, the church is not called to sell a product, make money, or build a bigger customer base. We’re called to love God, love others, and disciple believers who make other disciples.
Now I agree that the church is not called to sell a product, make money or build a bigger customer base. Having said that, Vaters’ definition of what the church is called to do is all law and no Gospel. Moreover, he gives no biblical text to back his position. I’ll give two; they are Matthew 28:18-20 and Luke 24:44-49. Jesus is the one speaking in both passages:

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 (NASB)

44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day,47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Luke 24:44-49 (NASB)

A healthy church will call people to repent and be forgiven.

Vaters’ definition of what the church is called to do is simply insufficient. One cannot have a healthier church if the message of Christ and Him crucified for one’s sins is not part of the plan. Moreover, you will notice that it does not take 100 days to proclaim that message of repentance and the forgiveness of sins; one can proclaim that message right now (talk about a quick-fix solution). Nevertheless, I still need to review the rest of Vaters’ book as a whole. Unfortunately, Vaters’ insufficient church definition begins what ends up being a slow decline through the rest of this book.

In chapter four, Vaters make what is essentially his thesis statement for the book:

Rediscovering God’s order for the church is the point of this book, starting with this, the first Saturday meeting.

p. 49

It is at this point of the book that the 100-day process begins. It is also at this point that the book starts following a pattern as follows:

Day 1 (Meeting)
Days 2-6 (Devotional)
Day 7 (Sabbath—-mainly a rest day)
repeat steps 1-3 until Day 100 reached

It is also beginning in chapter four that I notice several bad habits that manifest themselves throughout the rest of the book in spots. First, Vaters’ insufficient definition of the church perhaps continues with this statement (bolding done by me):

And that’s what we did. It took many steps over many years to get healthy and strong, but it started with that essential decision to do two important things: remind ourselves of why all churches exist and discover the role our specific congregation is called to play in that plan.

p. 48

Nowhere in Scripture is it taught that specific congregations are called to do certain things. All churches that make up the body of Christ are called to proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name to all nations (Luke 24:44-49; Matthew 28:18-20). All Christians that make up those congregations are called to walk in the good works Jesus Christ has called them to do (Ephesians 2:10; see also Ephesians 5:22-6:9; Colossians 3:18-4:6; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12). No congregation is exempt from that.

Here is another quote I found regarding Vaters’ definition of the church (or perhaps the church’s mission):

Effective churches aren’t driven by events, programs or schedules. They’re driven by the mission. And the mission is simple: Love Jesus, love others, share your faith, and disciple believers.

p. 114

I know this is annoying, but I have to ask: where is proclaiming repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name to all the nations? What is meant by “share your faith”? Faith in what? Faith in whom? The concept of repentance is certainly not absent from this book (p. 63). Why isn’t that also included in the church’s mission in this book? Vaters’ definition of the church/church mission is simply insufficient.

A second bad habit I saw was bad grammar/punctuation (p. 54). I noticed enough errors to conclude this is not the cleanest read grammatically (pp. 137, 161, 175, 189, 198, 218, 257). Vaters does present his ideas clearly (as advertised by my citations of examples of this in the first two chapters). They’re just not presented the cleanest.

A third bad habit I saw (and this is perhaps the most dangerous of the ones found in this chapter alone) was a practice that was mentioned during an explanation of what happens during the first big meeting day in the 100-day process (p. 52). When explaining what takes place during this meeting with the CLT (Core Leadership Team), Vaters states the following (bolding done by me):

Give every person a copy of the first page of Conversation Starters. This page will have a list of Bible passages about the Church and its mission. You’ll notice that the text of the passage is not written on the page, just the chapter and verse numbers. This ensures that every group has to look up the passages in the Bible. When we look up the passage for ourselves, it reminds us that we’re getting these ideas from God’s Word, not ourselves. It also allows people to see the context of the passages, mark their Bibles, and compare translations.
Each conversation group is then given half an hour, from 9:15-9:45am, to read the passages, talk about what the verses mean to them, and take notes on the conversation.

p. 52

Talking to other people about what a Bible verse means to them invites all kinds of potential errors to arise. One must understand that truth is outside of us. Truth is in the Scriptures (John 17:17; see also 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Numbers 23:19, Psalm 12:6, 2 Peter 1:16-21, John 10:35 and Malachi 3:6). I am glad Vaters points the reader to the Scriptures in his devotionals. Nevertheless, when it comes to Bible interpretation, one should not ask another what a Bible verse or verses mean to him/her. Rather, the question should be, “What do the verse or verses mean?”

It should be noted that devotionals represent five of the seven days in the week for this 100-day process. This brings up another bad habit introduced in this chapter; in some cases, Vaters employs allegorization and/or eisegesis into the biblical texts. For example, Vaters appears to read the church into Luke 2 (pp. 61-62). That text, however, has nothing to do with the church. Another example is Vaters’ reading the manmade doctrine of “Keep-Give-Toss” into the historical narrative of Acts 6:1-7 (pp. 144-153). I never heard of this principle until I read this book. My question for Vaters would be which of the apostles or the early church fathers taught the principle of “Keep-Give-Toss”?

In chapter five, another bad habit surfaces; this would be Vaters’ lack of discernment. Vaters positively cites Francis Chan when discussing what God wanted as His order for the church (p. 66). In a book review I did on Chan’s CrazyLove, I noted how his book was a lot of law with little to no Gospel (which ironically lined up with Vaters’ definition of the church’s purpose—-law and no Gospel). Pastor Gabe Hughes has detailed Chan’s defense of partnering with such heretics as Todd White, Mike Bickle, Bill Johnson and others. In chapter ten, Vaters cites Andy Stanley, a false teacher who has engaged in the unbiblical, New Age and nonsensical practice known as vision-casting (p. 171). In fact, one could argue that Vaters is guilt of double-speak in this book by comparing what Vaters said earlier in the book with the paragraph showing his citation of Stanley. I will show the quotes side by side (bolding done by me):

This book is not about vision-casting; it’s about rediscovering a vision that has already been cast. According to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “God hates visionary dreaming.” Those are strong, even extreme words. But they are worth considering. Bonhoeffer went on to say that visionary dreaming “makes the dream proud and pretentious…He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together.” (p. 65)

Andy Stanley may be one of the most well-known planners in church leadership, but even he says, “It is dangerous to become too preoccupied with trying to figure out how to bring about your vision. Plan the best you can. But remember, a divine vision necessitates divine intervention. (p. 171)

If this book is not about vision-casting as Vaters claims, then why on earth is he citing a guy who has no problem with unbiblical, New Age and nonsensical concept of vision-casting? Moreover, why is he exposing his reader to Stanley, a false teacher and theological liberal? This is confusing. Moreover, this confusion is brought about by Vaters’ clear lack of discernment.

Since I’ve offered quite a bit of commentary on the content within the 100-day process, I will offer commentary on the “After 100 Days” section. The lone chapter of this section assumes that the church who partook in the 100-day process has developed four new strengths (pp. 256-257). Given the Bible-twisting (via allegorization/eisegesis and introduction of manmade doctrine), lack of discernment and insufficient definition of the church and/or its mission throughout the chapters of the 100-day process, I lean towards questioning the strength of those new strengths. Nevertheless, since the devotionals did have chunks of Scripture (multiple chapters on occasion even; pp. 133, 181) for reading (which I appreciated) instead of single verses ripped out of context, it is quite possible that new strengths were developed despite the (at times) bad hermeneutics from Vaters. The “Afterword” of this section explains that this book is meant to be done, not set aside (p. 261). Vaters offers other suggestions for next steps (pp. 261-262).

CONCLUSION

Vaters presents his ideas clearly. Moreover, he does give chunks of Scriptures in his devotionals. Those are things to appreciate. However, the lack of discernment, the insufficient church/church mission definition, the (at times) bad hermeneutics, the bad grammar and perhaps even a faulty premise (do I really need 100 days to get to a healthier church?) make this book one I would not recommend despite Vaters’ own personal subjective experiences of success with the principles he gives. I do not need to take 100 days to know that proclaiming repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name to all nations should be the church’s business (Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:44-49). As a blood-bought born-again believer, I just need to obey Scripture and preach the Gospel by calling people to repent and be forgiven (and for believers to bear fruit in keeping with repentance; Matthew 3:8). That will make a church healthier. That will make a nation healthier. That will also makes books by Vaters unnecessary to write.

NOTE: I emailed this review to Karl via his website. I also tweeted my review. I tagged Karl in it.

[Jeff McLain · Rating 5 out of 5]

In addition to pastoring for over thirty years, Karl Vaters has also been encouraging, equipping, and empowering healthy local churches and innovative small church leaders for over the past decade through coaching, consulting, conferences, and writing blogs and books. Karl writes on church culture, small church ecclesiology, communal praxis, and missiology for Christianity Today, and has just released a step-by-step guide for pastors and leadership teams as his third published book. Karl’s latest work, 100 Days to a Healthier Church on Moody Publishers, joins an already impressive shelf with previously released and resourceful books such as The Grasshopper Myth and Small Church Essentials (Moody Publishers). Many churches and individuals have been impacted by Karl’s writings, influence, and experiences.

Karl’s new book is less something that you sit down to read over a few days, and any attempt to treat it like such a book will be a struggle for the reader. I was given this book for a review by Moody Publishers, and I sat down and read it over a few days. While there was still information to be learned and garnered, it’s better to treat this book the way it was written, as a step-by-step guide. This book serves as an intentional guide for pastors and church leadership teams, taking them on a one-hundred-day adventure and journey to envision a revitalized future, in which a church community might find a new depth of shared understanding and mission for their specific context. There is nothing about this book that is meant to be a formulaic silver bullet. This book is a set of tools to interpret your context with your team and it is not a call to copy-and-paste someone else’s ideas. Rather, it helps you discover what God has currently and uniquely equipped your church to do while learning how the Kingdom of God is breaking into your neighborhood, and planning how your church might develop a communally contextualized response to partner with God’s initiatives. This book is adaptable to many different church contexts and sizes, but it is obvious that the commitment to this journey of discovery must be high with your team, and all stages and steps must be taken intentionally by a whole team, or your outcome will be limited and compromised. Vaters believes “a healthy church is intentional about everything.”[1] I don’t disagree. Discipleship doesn’t happen by mistake, and neither does our individual or communal relational-growth with God. The journey outlined in this book is a rhythm and pattern that helps develop a healthy sense of intentionality, and awareness across a church leadership team and community.

Let me emphasize again that this book is not about church growth. Early on, the book clearly states that “bigger isn’t the goal. Better is the goal.”[2] Read that line again before you buy this book with the hope that it is going to help you break some imaginary boundary or threshold. Those who have encountered Karl Vaters’ early work will know his ministry has largely been with small and local churches, helping them to simply become effective in their unique mission, owning their size and mission, not about gaining numerical growth. This book follows that trend but offers Karl’s unique approach to developing health in a church context. You will find 100 Days to a Healthier Church is a resource that is about gaining momentum around understanding and mission as a church community. Karl teaches “health carries its own momentum-the momentum of hope.”[3] Followed intently and intentionally, I believe that this book from Karl Vaters and Moody Press will help your church community and leadership team achieve and develop four important and essential strengths.

“Your first strength is that you’ve learned more about Jesus and His church. You now have a clearer understanding that it’s not your job to create a mission for the church. It’s your calling to rediscover Christ’s mission for His church and your part in it…Your second strength…you know a lot more about your church, its weaknesses, its strengths, and its possibilities than you did 100 days ago….your third strength is that you have a team..Your fourth strength is a clearer sense of your church’s calling.”[4]

In addition to Karl’s four strengths that he pushes for in this book, I might even add a fifth strength that you will discover in this process. The possible fifth strength is that you and your team will have relational equity that has been developed through the investment of time, sweat, and tears – a work that has birthed a set of shared vocabulary and tools that will be foundational as you revitalize and reimagine your church’s health and mission.

All of our churches could be strengthened at some point. The truth is, “as long as we live in this broken world, even the healthiest church will have room for improvement.”[5] This book offers just one approach that we might develop as part of a yearly rhythm to train new leaders, envision new missional expressions, or develop a sense of ownership in a shared mission and/or in an understanding of mission in your specific church context. I’ve used and recommended Karl Vaters’ previous books with friends, leadership teams, and as recommended resources. I don’t doubt that this book will also become an established recommendation on my shelf. I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[1] Karl Vaters, 100 Days to a Healthier Church: A Step-by-step Guide for Pastors and Leadership Teams (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2020), 12.

[2] Karl Vaters, 100 Days to a Healthier Church: A Step-by-step Guide for Pastors and Leadership Teams (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2020), 22.

[3] Karl Vaters, 100 Days to a Healthier Church: A Step-by-step Guide for Pastors and Leadership Teams (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2020), 260.

[4] Karl Vaters, 100 Days to a Healthier Church: A Step-by-step Guide for Pastors and Leadership Teams (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2020), 256-257.

[5] Karl Vaters, 100 Days to a Healthier Church: A Step-by-step Guide for Pastors and Leadership Teams (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2020), 19.

[Tom Burkholder · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the book 100 Days To A Healthier Church, pastor and author Karl Vaters, takes us on a journey to bring our church to health. Vaters writes: “The church doesn’t exist merely to do no harm or be a safe place for hurting people (although it’s good when we are). We’ve been given a mission, and we need to take it seriously. Don’t mistake the absence of conflict for the presence of God.”
Vaters states there are “…three essential elements to a healthy and effective church: The Great Commandment, the Great Commission, and the Pastoral Prime Mandate ("equipping God’s people," from Ephesians 4:11–12).” These three elements make up the basis for the rest of the book, working our way to church health.
While mission statements and church purpose are not the focus of the book, Vaters does talk about them. But he writes: “…the truth is, mission statements don’t make great churches. Doing the mission makes great churches. The mission is already in place. It’s Christ’s, not ours.”
This is a very practical book, walking people through the process of becoming healthy church. Vaters gives great tools that can help any church. I would highly recommend this practical how-to-guide to becoming a healthy church. I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

100 Days to a Healthier Church is a step-by-step guide for pastors and leadership teams, although the voice of the book is definitely directed toward the pastor as leader of this process. As a lay person having been in various leadership positions in our church over the past forty years, I embrace the need for change in order to improve the health of the church. The weekly foci outlined in this book seem to be a good prescription for this. The author gives many useful tips to make the process go more smoothly as well as pitfalls to avoid. It does seem to me that a pastor and leadership team would have to decide if the actual structure outlined in this book is feasible for their setting. Building a team that can commit to fifteen consecutive weekends would limit our church to mostly senior citizens and even then to ones without grandchildren events to attend. Overall this process is Scripture-based, organized, and would indeed lead to a healthier church.

I am grateful to have received a copy of this book from Moody Publishers via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. I was under no obligation to provide a positive review and received no monetary compensation.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this extremely helpful for our church of about 200 people. Most church leadership books discuss vision casting or strategic planning but Vaters understands that doesn't work as well I'm the small church. We need specific and concrete steps to help us get from point A to point B. Pastors also need buy-in from parishioners before anything gets done in a small church. The process outlined in this book is an excellent way for pastors and church leaders to listen to each other and determine the next right thing to do in the church. The book is only a jumping off point. It won't tell you what you need to do, but it will help diagnose potential problems in the church and point you in the general direction you need to go.

[Scott Siddle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sub-title says it all, “A step-by-step guide…”
Karl Vaters is not just handing out random advice in 100 Days to a Healthier Church. He is sharing practical EXPERIENCE that he has lived through, good and bad. The results; ACTUALLY seeing what God can (and will) do through this process … a HEALTHIER Church.

I personally know this is Karl’s heart for ANY church, of any size, to become HEALTHIER in order to fulfill the call of God in our ministry to our community. We are looking forward to seeing these results in our community and church body through the 100 Day process!

Scott P “Paco” Siddle, Co-Lead Pastor, LifeSpring Foursquare, Ridgecrest, CA.

[Erik Brandt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Step-By Step Process for Church Renewal

An excellent guide that walks through a process for renewing your congregation as the body of Christ.

It brings you through a process that, if followed, will bring your church, or leadership group, through a season of prayer, assessment, searching the scriptures, discerning a project, implementation, evaluation and celebration.

I have used the structure Karl Vaters presents in this book as a template for a Doctor of Ministry project. I am indebted to the author for sharing this framework. I especially appreciate the Christ-centered perspective provided.

[Jonathan Mcleod · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really, the book was about diagnosing the health of a church and then deciding on one big project for the church. I'm not sure just one project (whatever it is) will improve the health of a church. The rest of the book was daily Bible readings that I skimmed over. Without the Bible readings, the book would have been only two or three chapters in length. Perhaps more space could have been given to improving church health.

[Jacob Sabin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a book I will have to read again, particularly if I am going to be doing it with the spirit as intended and doing a project at the same time. In the same regard, I did not read the book as much in a devotional style as it is (again, if it is being used during a 100 day project). It has a lot of helpful advice about churches carrying out a project to do in 100 days. I don't think earth shattering, but certainly a helpful guide to help pastors and leaders to try to accomplish a project.

[Rodney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to take a super committed team of people through determining the health of the church and plotting a move forward towards new. Packed with practical tips and devotional readings, it truly sets the stage for a church leadership team to have more focused conversation that leads to results. Not for a casual read- this book is meant for action.

[George P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Any church can become healthier in 100 days—not perfect, but healthier,” writes Karl Vaters. His book is a 100-day, step-by-step guide that will help your church’s leaders—pastors and lay leaders together—assess the congregation’s health and missionality, select a target for improvement, train teams for the task at hand, and implement the plan. Although 100 Days to a Healthier Church can be used by churches of any size, it is designed with the average church in mind, i.e., a church with 75 in Sunday attendance.

[Phillip Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Reading this book will be easy. Doing this book will be hard.” That is an accurate description of 100 Days to a Healthier Church.

Many churches are thriving, many are not. Whether your church is thriving or not, there are areas that can probably use some work. Just announcing that something is going to change won’t work in most cases. Neither will just talking about it. This book gives a process that you can use to help your church get healthier.

Each step is clearly written and simple to understand. Karl Vaters makes the process something that church leaders can use no matter the church size or condition. He does a good job of ensuring the process can be adapted for each congregation. Included with each step is a series of devotionals to help keep the team from straying from the true purpose of doing God’s will in their local church.

Seeing your church decline is never something you want to encounter, but there is always hope if you turn to God for guidance. 100 Days to a Healthier Church gives you a way to focus on seeking God’s will on how to use what He has provided.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.