Northern Lights: Resurrecting Church in the North of England

by Jason Byassee, Samuel Wells (Contributor)

You may have heard that churches in Europe are vanishing. Yet church growth in London has been steady for decades, fueled by such innovations as Alpha and Fresh Expressions. What about outside the capital? Some, both inside and outside the church, say churches “cannot grow.” But here they are—growing churches—in the north of England of all places. This is not only a story about England. It is about growing churches wherever you’ve heard they “can’t” grow. God is always up to something precisely where (we think) God shouldn’t be.

Genres: Christianity

184 pages, Paperback

Published November 4, 2020

Reviews

[James Harnish · Rating 5 out of 5]

A refreshing and challenging account of places where faithful people are finding amazing ways to live and share the faith.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came to this book expecting something similar to the book Byassee wrote with Ross Lockhart (Better Than Brunch), which profiles a wide variety of successful churches in Cascadia and then summarizes their practices under eight overall principles. While this book has a similar aim (profiling unexpectedly successful churches in the north of England), it lacks the other book’s organization. Instead, Northern Lights often feels like I’m chatting with someone who went on an extended field trip to England and who can’t help but preach and teach to you while recounting stories from his trips. It’s helpful and interesting, but somewhat chaotic.

Still, there were some good nuggets of wisdom and lots of encouraging stories. It made me excited to go out and do church in new ways.

[Andy Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this storytelling of Jason's experience in England's churches both enjoyable and informative.