Renovation: A Survey on Divine Design in the Life of the Church

by Dwight Smith

The church in America has wandered. In recent years we have forgotten the conviction of thousands of Christ followers, across two thousand years, who gave themselves to completing the last sending command of “In your going, make disciples of all the peoples of the world” (Matt. 28:19). Instead, in an effort to draw people to Christ, much of the Western church today has sought to become relevant through golden-tongued leaders, star-quality worship bands, large-scale buildings, and myriad social programs. God is on a mission to redeem lost men and women to Himself and restore them to relationship with and representation of Him, and we, the already redeemed ones, are servants in this mission. Relevancy is not the primary need of the church in our day; rather, it is to provide people accessibility to the gospel through our day-to-day lives. God’s ultimate design for the church is simply for every member of Christ’s church to live the gospel in whatever places God calls us, thus saturating every home, workplace, community, city, and nation with the gospel message through the people of God.

Genres: Church

117 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 6, 2020

Reviews

[Alan Rathbun · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a tremendously thoughtful and challenging book. We have long pursued bigger churches and assumed that more people watching the people up front is a sign of God’s blessing. But where did we get this idea?

Smith repeats over and over that the sole job of church leaders is to equip people to walk with God and represent Him in the world. He is convinced we can reach the world if we hold onto these as our main responsibilities as leaders and hold ourselves accountable to do it. It’s worth wrestling with these ideas and considering real change in approach to ministry.

I gave it four stars because there appeared to be sometimes in his efforts to make this version of the book an edited version of a longer book, that there were some missing thoughts and points left out.

[Bruce Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is his "significant edit" to the first Renovation from 2010. Smith has some tremendous insights into the purpose of the church and roles leadership needs to take. He has refocused some of his previous thoughts and continues developing strategy for the western church. He has good suggestions for the American church and leadership.

[Len Flack · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concepts in this book are gold, and this revision is a much smoother read than previous versions. Very helpful!

[Andrew Krom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful book on the church and how the church should function in the world. I read this right after reading Smith's "Alone at the Top".