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Future Church: Seven Laws of Real Church Growth
Church growth models have often been long on promises and short on disciple-making. We continue to watch consistent church attendance shrink, and our desire to reach the lost is infected with a need for self-validation by growing our numbers at any cost. If we believe that God wants his church to grow, where do we go from here? What is the future of the church?Drawing from his 20 years and 15,000 hours of consulting, author Will Mancini shares with pastors and ministry leaders the single most important insight he has learned about church growth. With plenty of salient stories and based solidly on the disciple-making methods found in Scripture, Future Church exposes the church's greatest challenge today, and offers 7 transforming laws of real church growth so that we can faithfully and joyfully fulfill Jesus's Great Commission.
257 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 1, 2020
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202 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
October 16, 2023
A great critique on the pitfalls of program based, seeker sensitive church. However, I disagreed with Will in many of his ideas of what an alternative should be. He offered another church fad, rather than viewing the Bible as offering an unchanging vision for the church, for all people, everywhere.
December 4, 2020
“Faking disciples” is “the primary problem of every church today,” write Will Mancini and Cory Hartman. Too many church members are “overprogrammed and underdiscipled.” Instead, they need to become “emotionally attached to a sense of purpose beyond place, personalities, people, and programs,” a purpose shaped by the gospel itself. To help local congregations do that, Future Church articulates “seven laws of organized disciple making for real church growth.” This is a thought-provoking book to read as your church leadership team begins planning for 2021.
July 31, 2023
If you’re ready to admit that church as we know it isn’t working and are willing to put in the work to lead change from within the church, this is an enjoyable and super helpful read. If you’re burnt out or hurt by the church, this probably isn’t the book for you. I really enjoyed the chapters on church history, and the helpful frameworks to think about where the church has been, where it is, and where it’s going!
December 30, 2024
I would recommend this book to every ministry leader I know. It so clearly calls out the ways which we have forsaken the great commission as Church leaders for the sake of maintaining programs, and radically calls us back to the great commission by again focusing on Jesus’ model of discipleship. Its a difficult read because it cuts right to your heart, revealing the ways you have personally bought into program church at the expense of the life changing discipleship process. It makes the clear point that we need to stop faking disciples through measuring attendance and begin making disciples through modelling, practice, evaluation and accountability. In other words, by calling people to go into all the world and make disciples. Church growth isn’t about adding to the numbers of those who attend our services, it is about using our gifts to make disciples of the communities in which we live so that they might get a taste of the life of Jesus. There is still so much to process from this book and so much more to try and apply, but I am grateful I read this book and hope every church leader gets a chance to read this book and take it to heart.
March 20, 2024
I have read many books on church growth over the years and would rank this among my top three favorites. It is paradigm shifting, challenging, and refreshing. If you have been leaning into the missional church model that has emerged in the last twenty or so years, this book will help you articulate a fresh way to live out the missional strategies you have come to treasure. Really, it doesn't matter what your background. Whether your model has been purpose driven, seeker sensitive, or simple church structured, Future Church will provide you with the principles you need to forge ahead, not by giving you yet another model to shoehorn into your ministry, but by giving you tools that will help you realign your current ministry with God's Word. As Mancini writes, "This book does not describe a boilerplate ministry model to be imposed on every church. Rather, it describes the fundamentals that every church must hold and operationalize if its own unique model would take people where God yearns them to go" (p. 37). After reading the book, I can attest that he has delivered on that promise. Pastors, this is a must read!
April 14, 2021
Another insightful and helpful book by Will Mancini! I have been so helped by both "Church Unique" and "God Dreams" by the same author that I was looking forward to this book as well. Mancini described this as a kind of prequel to the other two, forming the theological and philosophical foundation for their practical content.
But this edition is edgy and full of sarcasm that borders on cynicism. Not full-blown cynicism, as the authors repeatedly describe their love for the church and note that they have invested their lives in the church. But they are very critical of our contemporary models of church. In their prescription for the future church they don't throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak, as they advocate for slow change, keeping many elements of current church experience and making visible changes very slowly.
If you are worn out, burned out, flamed out, or hurt by the organized church, thisbnooknmight not be for you. If you are a full-blown cynicism, you probably should read something else. But if you are ready to admit that churchbas wr know it isn't quite working AND you are willing to put in the work to leading change from within by modeling a better way, then you shoukd definitely get a copy and devour it!
But this edition is edgy and full of sarcasm that borders on cynicism. Not full-blown cynicism, as the authors repeatedly describe their love for the church and note that they have invested their lives in the church. But they are very critical of our contemporary models of church. In their prescription for the future church they don't throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak, as they advocate for slow change, keeping many elements of current church experience and making visible changes very slowly.
If you are worn out, burned out, flamed out, or hurt by the organized church, thisbnooknmight not be for you. If you are a full-blown cynicism, you probably should read something else. But if you are ready to admit that churchbas wr know it isn't quite working AND you are willing to put in the work to leading change from within by modeling a better way, then you shoukd definitely get a copy and devour it!
March 3, 2024
This is a good book with a lot of things to think about and challenge our current way of “doing church”. I recommend it for anyone serious about seeking God’s vision for Church. There were a few things I would disagree with, probably mostly a matter of emphasis or nomenclature, but overall, I recommend it.
October 24, 2022
Best book in 2022 that I’ve read on what church is supposed to be.
July 1, 2021
Tees up the issue but short on solutions or effective strategies to deal with the future.
July 22, 2021
Some good points were made, but, as is normal with books of this sort, most of what is said could be said in 30-50 pages.
June 19, 2021
Will Mancini is one of the most helpful leaders of pastors. His "God Dreams" was significant in moving me forward in how to effectively create and cast vision for the church. In "Future Church," Mancini considers how pastors can help the American church move into the next stage.
Mancini begins by retelling the history of the evangelical church in the past 100 years. His retelling follows the main trends of the evangelical church focused on the church's strategy for how the church did "church." Mancini then points looks forward to what he believes will be the next 20 years of the church.
Mancini suggests that the church's function can be divided into the lower room and the upper room. The lower room is what is first seen when one enters into the "house" of the church: the music, the preaching, the building, the pastor, the programs. The upper room is the discipline-making work of the church. Mancini believes that the church has invested her energy into the lower room, but she ought to be investing her energy into the upper room. Mancini believes that the lower room is necessary, but ought to be used to facilitate people into the upper room: the true, formational work of the church.
If you've read Francis Chan's "Letters to the Church," you might recognize these themes. The two books are very similar, although written by two different personalities and perspectives. I respect both Chan and Mancini, but I think they miss the mark in similar ways in these two books.
Ultimately, I don't think "Future Church" is particularly helpful. While Mancini's explanation of the history of the evangelical church is somewhat helpful, it is fairly reductionistic and caricatured. Mancini's belief that what awaits the evangelical church is a movement toward the "Future Church"-- an inflection point where the church is focused on the upper room and formation is hopeful, but also reductionistic.
Further, I'm not convinced that Mancini's lower v. upper room distinction is accurate nor helpful. Undoubtedly, many megachurches have misunderstood crowds and platform ministry for the work of the church. And yet, one ought not confuse form and effectiveness in either direction. Mancini is surely correct that the purpose of the church is for the formation of God's people into Christ's likeness. He's also correct that every church ought to be constantly evaluating herself as to whether she is effectively engaged in that mission. And yet, systems and structure are needed to fulfill that mission and needn't be seen as oppositional. In short, I don't see any corollary between the effectiveness of a church and the size of a church.
In short, while I am in agreement with Mancini regarding how churches ought to be evaluating themselves, I was put off by Mancini's reductionism. Mancini indicates at the end of this book that there is a forthcoming book that will help churches consider how to be more effectively shaped toward the end of disciple-formation. That is a book I think will be very helpful. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about "Future Church."
For more reviews see www.thebeehive.live.
Mancini begins by retelling the history of the evangelical church in the past 100 years. His retelling follows the main trends of the evangelical church focused on the church's strategy for how the church did "church." Mancini then points looks forward to what he believes will be the next 20 years of the church.
Mancini suggests that the church's function can be divided into the lower room and the upper room. The lower room is what is first seen when one enters into the "house" of the church: the music, the preaching, the building, the pastor, the programs. The upper room is the discipline-making work of the church. Mancini believes that the church has invested her energy into the lower room, but she ought to be investing her energy into the upper room. Mancini believes that the lower room is necessary, but ought to be used to facilitate people into the upper room: the true, formational work of the church.
If you've read Francis Chan's "Letters to the Church," you might recognize these themes. The two books are very similar, although written by two different personalities and perspectives. I respect both Chan and Mancini, but I think they miss the mark in similar ways in these two books.
Ultimately, I don't think "Future Church" is particularly helpful. While Mancini's explanation of the history of the evangelical church is somewhat helpful, it is fairly reductionistic and caricatured. Mancini's belief that what awaits the evangelical church is a movement toward the "Future Church"-- an inflection point where the church is focused on the upper room and formation is hopeful, but also reductionistic.
Further, I'm not convinced that Mancini's lower v. upper room distinction is accurate nor helpful. Undoubtedly, many megachurches have misunderstood crowds and platform ministry for the work of the church. And yet, one ought not confuse form and effectiveness in either direction. Mancini is surely correct that the purpose of the church is for the formation of God's people into Christ's likeness. He's also correct that every church ought to be constantly evaluating herself as to whether she is effectively engaged in that mission. And yet, systems and structure are needed to fulfill that mission and needn't be seen as oppositional. In short, I don't see any corollary between the effectiveness of a church and the size of a church.
In short, while I am in agreement with Mancini regarding how churches ought to be evaluating themselves, I was put off by Mancini's reductionism. Mancini indicates at the end of this book that there is a forthcoming book that will help churches consider how to be more effectively shaped toward the end of disciple-formation. That is a book I think will be very helpful. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about "Future Church."
For more reviews see www.thebeehive.live.
January 24, 2023
Future Church is such a refreshing book. The information in this book is possible and needed. My pastor recommended we read this material to help us see the implications of this book for our local body. This resource helps to keep one’s mind on Christ, but also to help one live out their faith with those around them. One thing I love about this author is that while he lets the readers see the holes within multiple models of church, he also displays the strengths that each one can have. Future church presents the idea that for the church to be on the mission of God that only do these models need to see each other, but they have to mingle with each other. I have been in ministry for over 20 years and have lead in an institutional traditional church, a nondenominational, charismatic church, a church planting pastor for the southern baptist, the lead pastor for a reformed home, church, movement model, and I’m currently serving as the family pastor of a charismatic reformed church. There are many things that I love about each one of these models that the Lord has put me in, and one thing I have learned that if every model of church is on point with the actual mission of God, then they can be the most beautiful and powerful places and people on earth. Jesus Has to be at the center. And we are called to follow him not the other way around future church is a great resource that will comfort you and also challenge you in the way that you have been thinking or doing church. The church is the body of Christ not the building by the building can be a place where the church gathers and God moves within his people so that they can be a light in the every day stuff of life. The church absolutely has a future.
The seven laws were presented in a very practical and enlighten way. If you want to be rocked in any way , then read this book.
The seven laws were presented in a very practical and enlighten way. If you want to be rocked in any way , then read this book.
January 22, 2022
3.5 Stars
Mancini lays out a case for what the next evangelical church paradigm will be for the next 20 years.
This work primarily critiques churches that rely on popular paradigms of the past and advocates for preaching of the complete gospel and a discipleship model that transcends existing church programs and structures.
Some of what Mancini (and his co-author Hartman) lay out falls flat for me, either because they were over-explaining the obvious or creating caricatures for the sake of an easy point.
One of the primary concepts in the book is that church can be broken down into upper and lower rooms. The lower room is the visible programs, the attending crowds, the music, essentially anything attractional. The upper room is truce disciples who are on mission with the church. And while I am not sure this word picture is nearly as helpful as the authors assume, I do love the focus on true disciples. Rather than focusing on how many people attend, Future Church admonishes church leaders to pay more attention to how many people are completely sold out to the mission of Christ.
My favorite parts of the book were the explanation of the attractional power of full gospel and the multiplication model of discipleship. Throughout the book I was often encouraged and sometimes challenged.
I would recommend this book to anyone who thinking deeply about church programming and discipleship models because it may be different enough to be helpful but would not put this book in the top 5 or 10 books on the subject.
Mancini lays out a case for what the next evangelical church paradigm will be for the next 20 years.
This work primarily critiques churches that rely on popular paradigms of the past and advocates for preaching of the complete gospel and a discipleship model that transcends existing church programs and structures.
Some of what Mancini (and his co-author Hartman) lay out falls flat for me, either because they were over-explaining the obvious or creating caricatures for the sake of an easy point.
One of the primary concepts in the book is that church can be broken down into upper and lower rooms. The lower room is the visible programs, the attending crowds, the music, essentially anything attractional. The upper room is truce disciples who are on mission with the church. And while I am not sure this word picture is nearly as helpful as the authors assume, I do love the focus on true disciples. Rather than focusing on how many people attend, Future Church admonishes church leaders to pay more attention to how many people are completely sold out to the mission of Christ.
My favorite parts of the book were the explanation of the attractional power of full gospel and the multiplication model of discipleship. Throughout the book I was often encouraged and sometimes challenged.
I would recommend this book to anyone who thinking deeply about church programming and discipleship models because it may be different enough to be helpful but would not put this book in the top 5 or 10 books on the subject.
December 6, 2022
Mancini and Hartman lay out the paradigms that have held the church back from relevant, significant spiritual growth, not just growth in the quantity of attenders. This book is helpful for staff, lay leaders (like deacons, elders, ministry leads, group leaders). They acknowledge a lot of what the organized church does is necessary but not sufficient to accomplishing its mission. I like how they suggest alternative metrics for ascertaining whether the church is doing well or not. I like how they focus us back on the important reasons the organized church exists. Because of my church involvement as a volunteer, I tried to focus on what they said about discipleship ("Development" as a disciple) and appreciate what they've learned on how you engage listeners to become learners and then become go-ers. One example of what they wrote shared an analogy one of their client pastors used. He is also a tennis coach and asks his potential clients, "Do you want to improve your weekend game or win a tournament?" The former requires a few tweaks; the latter, a complete revamp of our game. Mancini and Hartman are offering a way to revamp our game.
October 16, 2023
I think this is a transformative book written for a stale and ignored church. When I enrolled in seminary I had great ideas and thoughts and a goal to be the best pastor possible, but I just could not finger why the institutional church was so stale and why it left me wanting more. When I graduated a couple of years later I was no less excited, but I still did not have any idea or answers on how to challenge what I saw or why it needed challenging. I just knew something was wrong.
I think this book captures the last 100 years of the "church" in an excellent manner. While I do not fully think Mancini has captured the Future Church fully, I think he has done a better job in outlining what is holding the Gospel back and why people are not becoming effective disciples better than anyone else I have read. One thing I appreciated was he does not advocate for tearing everything down and starting from scratch, which would never happen. He advocates for looking to mission instead and shows how all the things the "church" is doing are not wrong, but the basis behind them is.
This is one of the better, if not the best books I have read on the "church" in my life.
I think this book captures the last 100 years of the "church" in an excellent manner. While I do not fully think Mancini has captured the Future Church fully, I think he has done a better job in outlining what is holding the Gospel back and why people are not becoming effective disciples better than anyone else I have read. One thing I appreciated was he does not advocate for tearing everything down and starting from scratch, which would never happen. He advocates for looking to mission instead and shows how all the things the "church" is doing are not wrong, but the basis behind them is.
This is one of the better, if not the best books I have read on the "church" in my life.
January 2, 2022
I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone looking to create a community of believers that not only converts but also matures its members. I have read many books that critique the “making of disciples”, and many have authentic points to make about the pit falls of an overemphasis on “making” over “maturing.” But sadly, I find that while they are able to give much advice on the maturing, they seem to abandon the making altogether. Finally, Future Church presents a model where both the seeker & the believer can be tended to with equal importance. The “upper room/lower room” analogy has been super helpful to our church as we have been striving to grow in our maturity without abandoning the mission of saving the lost.
January 18, 2022
I just was not connecting with what he was saying. The content is solid, but nothing really new. It didn’t seem to have a very vision casting into the future of how to connect with unchurched people and what things in society will get in the way. It was more how certain things are working now and how they could work in the future for churches. He takes a lot of solid inspiration from Hirsch and Ferguson. Writers I think write better about the missional movement and how it can benefit the church and they do it in a better way. If your new to the missional paradigm I would say read it. If your well versed I would pass on this one and maybe read a paraphrased one some where. Still a solid book just not what I was looking for.
March 22, 2022
2.5 stars.
There are moments in here that I appreciate the author's heart, but the book as a whole skews toward a "how to 'x' for dummies." I am not expecting a consultant to write as anything other, as I wouldn't expect a historian to be a motivational speaker, but something just feels off? Worshipping is almost looked at as an oddly defined negative (maybe?). There is room for healing in the discipleship making process, but it seems to just be one of 7 steps and breezed over. I have a hard time seeing someone with church hurt appreciating the "go go go" mentality. A lot of these thoughts are discombobulated... just a feeling of sadness (I don't see the future church being the church for me) and if it is indeed the future then what will follow will be a lot of disappointment.
There are moments in here that I appreciate the author's heart, but the book as a whole skews toward a "how to 'x' for dummies." I am not expecting a consultant to write as anything other, as I wouldn't expect a historian to be a motivational speaker, but something just feels off? Worshipping is almost looked at as an oddly defined negative (maybe?). There is room for healing in the discipleship making process, but it seems to just be one of 7 steps and breezed over. I have a hard time seeing someone with church hurt appreciating the "go go go" mentality. A lot of these thoughts are discombobulated... just a feeling of sadness (I don't see the future church being the church for me) and if it is indeed the future then what will follow will be a lot of disappointment.
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November 22, 2020Churches moving forward (2020-2040) will need to reorient around discipleship as a core element of DNA, as merely moving people through programs will no longer suffice.
***
Will says this is the "prequel" to Church Unique. That's a very helpful way to understand the content. In Future Church Will lays out the need for well-developed upper AND lower room identity in a church. The funnel fusion provides a helpful framework for exploring how to tend to both assimiliation and multiplication. Because I read an advance-copy PDF on my iPad as a part of a coaching course, the content feels a bit piecemeal. I look forward to re-reading the book in print.
***
Will says this is the "prequel" to Church Unique. That's a very helpful way to understand the content. In Future Church Will lays out the need for well-developed upper AND lower room identity in a church. The funnel fusion provides a helpful framework for exploring how to tend to both assimiliation and multiplication. Because I read an advance-copy PDF on my iPad as a part of a coaching course, the content feels a bit piecemeal. I look forward to re-reading the book in print.
August 25, 2021
I have read so many church leadership books that they all seem to blend together. Future Church, on the other hand, stands out. For all the aspects of the 21st-century model of church growth that leaves you wondering if this is the right way to be going about making disciples, Future Church charts a new way forward that doesn’t do away with existing structures (the “lower room”), but seeks to enhance them through renewed focus on the mission of disciple-making, which doesn’t necessarily need those structures (the “upper room”). The “lower room/upper room” distinction is so helpful in describing the tension for those in church ministry these days. This book has been a catalyst for discussion among my staff in charting a new vision for disciple making in our church. I have been recommending it to my pastor friends!
November 1, 2021
p205: “As you’ve discovered, this is a book of binary contrasts: Program Church and Future Church.”
At times his binary is helpful and points out important suggestions into how not to overly focus on programs. More often he puts up a straw man, lumps too many things into it, paints with too broad of strokes and then gives overly complex alternatives and solutions. The general impression is he over-simplifies and is reductionistic in diagnosis and overly-complex and convoluted in his prescription.
There are some good insights if you can sift them out of the church-consultant-speak and salesmanship. I wasn’t the biggest fan.
At times his binary is helpful and points out important suggestions into how not to overly focus on programs. More often he puts up a straw man, lumps too many things into it, paints with too broad of strokes and then gives overly complex alternatives and solutions. The general impression is he over-simplifies and is reductionistic in diagnosis and overly-complex and convoluted in his prescription.
There are some good insights if you can sift them out of the church-consultant-speak and salesmanship. I wasn’t the biggest fan.
January 19, 2022
Started out well critiquing the seeker model of church that was pioneered by the likes of Rick Warren and Bill Hybels but 2/3 of the way through the book it becomes obvious that he is merely trying to transition churches into a house church model (though the "future church" model is in between the two). I lost interest because it didn't provide an answer to the historical problems with house churches...mainly that of accountability and orthodoxy. Despite that, it is a great read to remind pastors to be focusing on the practical and actual growth of disciple-making disciples instead of merely shepherding programs.
May 10, 2021
Excellent summary of the modern church and where it needs to go. Not preachy or condescending, just instructive and inspirational. Mancini does a nice job of teaching that salvation's are one thing, discipleship is another, but the ultimate aim must be disciples creating disciples.
In modern analogy, your LIKES and VIEWS are fine but how are your SHARES and who shares the shares? That's what matters. Smaller is better, personal over process.
Sound reasoning. Difficult to execute I'd have to think.
(Note: I am not a pastor or church administrator).
In modern analogy, your LIKES and VIEWS are fine but how are your SHARES and who shares the shares? That's what matters. Smaller is better, personal over process.
Sound reasoning. Difficult to execute I'd have to think.
(Note: I am not a pastor or church administrator).
January 6, 2024
A book filled with the important reminder that discipleship, not just attendance in programs, is what really counts in the Church. Lots of great information along the way, but it doesn’t feel as much as a paradigm in how to do church as the book intends (it feels more like a spaghetti canon of bits and pieces of advice and ideas for how to do church the right way—maybe some will stick on the wall; the author admits the actual how-to component of the book is a forthcoming volume).
March 19, 2021
An excellent book for pastors and church staff as they plan for the future. The book begins by looking back over the past decades of the church and how church growth worked from the 1940s up until today. This helps you understand the mindset of various generations of church members and elders in your congregation. Once he has explained the past, Mancini explains Future Church and the seven steps necessary to facilitate real disciple making in your own context.
June 3, 2021
Strategic move into disciplemaking
He outlines how he sees the church paradigm changing (and needing to change) as we move out of the assimilation models of the last 20 years and into the future of the church. In reality, it’s about helping churches move away from thinking in terms of programs and instead think about building disciples.
He outlines how he sees the church paradigm changing (and needing to change) as we move out of the assimilation models of the last 20 years and into the future of the church. In reality, it’s about helping churches move away from thinking in terms of programs and instead think about building disciples.
August 26, 2021
Mancini steps forward and states that somehow the Great Commission has turned into this: “Go into all the world and make more worship attenders, baptizing them in the name of small groups and teaching them to volunteer a few hours a month.”
If you want to bring your church back to the true, Biblical, discipleship-founded floorplan, this is THE book for you to take in and digest.
If you want to bring your church back to the true, Biblical, discipleship-founded floorplan, this is THE book for you to take in and digest.
August 18, 2023
I should re-skim this every 5 years. Excellent reminder about the fundamental importance of visionary insistence on the mission of the local church.
The most unique and helpful nugget for me was the idea that each church has a unique calling within its community, "how is my specific church uniquely equipped and positioned to make a difference for Christ?"
The most unique and helpful nugget for me was the idea that each church has a unique calling within its community, "how is my specific church uniquely equipped and positioned to make a difference for Christ?"
January 22, 2024
A very biblical and gospel centered book about church growth. It challenges the paradigms of purpose driven church or simple church models. It felt a little negative towards multisite church but I think he just wants multisite to be better. Loved his lower and upper room perspective. I want to reread this every couple years as accountability as a pastor.
July 17, 2025
While I don't necessarily agree with every premise in this book, I think that Will Mancini is doing the hard yards of trying to get the global organised church to think about what it looks like to take attenders to actually being disciples of Jesus and not merely attenders of programs. A book worth reading to help leaders think about this space.
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