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From Embers to a Flame: How God Can Revitalize Your Church
Whether your church is healthy or struggling, the biblical principles in this book point the way to greater spiritual vitality. A pastor, seminary teacher, and conference speaker, Harry Reeder has long specialized in church revitalization. Reeder and Swavely deftly alert us to potential problems in our churches, help us to recognize our weaknesses and opportunities, and guide us in applying biblically based strategies for rekindling the flames of godly growth.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
66 people are currently reading
151 people want to read
About the author
Harry L. Reeder III
10 books3 followersHarry L. Reeder is Senior Pastor at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama. He is married to Cindy, and they have 3 children and 10 grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
May 20, 2025
I really appreciated a lot in this book. Some areas where I had some disagreement, but it was very strong.
September 19, 2011
It is common practice in today's organizational structures to create metrics; things by which success of agreed upon goals can be met. The nature of the church as a spiritual body, concerned with often-unseen results makes the development of measuring metrics difficult if not impossible. Presbyterian pastor, Harry Reeder, in From Embers to a Flame, is concerned with showing the church leader what the church can do to achieve its mission; but shows that the metrics for the church are best measured not by particular achievements, but by always coming back to where the church draws its strength. Building success in the church is always linked to the concept of returning to a Biblical source. Innovations come and go, and can be important as tools, but a living church is always marked by how close it is to its source.
In today's Western world, much of the church has slowed not only in numerical growth, but in drifting away from its mission. Even in conservative churches, it is not uncommon for needs other than centering the congregation on grace, or evangelizing and serving the community to be addressed. Sick churches, with focuses on personalities and programs (the seen things) often lose the heart for the gospel that grew them in the first place. Revitalizing a dying church body forces the members to be active and to take ownership of the ministry that the whole body has been called to. When a church gets to the point where a pastor must be the one who leads, but does the work; then there has been a terrible disconnect among the membership and the pastorate about the necessity of communal ministry.
Reeder's solution is one of remembrance and repentance. His emphais is to point out how a lack of vision can be deadly for future endeavors, but so is a lack of perspective about the past. Any church that believes its history began 50 to 100 years ago when the body was first organized has at best a myopic view of its past. It must see the wide scope of church history, the great cloud of witnesses who teach truth from their graves. The long gone must infect zeal towards those who are among the living dead. Repentance of the past and desires for future man-centered ministry must be done away with. No body can survive unless it is honest about the information it gathers about itself.
Church revitalization, a major concern for Reeder, always begins with the ending and beginning of the Christian faith in refreshing people in the gospel. It is impossible for an effective ministry to operate; from ruling to teaching elder to deacon, unless those charged with leadership know the Bible and how to apply it to the specific needs of their people.
Reeder's purpose in this book, to encourage and motivate Christians for the work of revitalizing dwindling and lethargic congregations, is done through reminding those who desire to revitalize their churches what their first principles are. The metrics for church revitalization are not necessarily accomplished through visible achievements, like new structures, programs or large numbers of people, but more actively accomplished through increased faith by congregations that shows itself in visible actions towards each other and the surrounding community.
In today's Western world, much of the church has slowed not only in numerical growth, but in drifting away from its mission. Even in conservative churches, it is not uncommon for needs other than centering the congregation on grace, or evangelizing and serving the community to be addressed. Sick churches, with focuses on personalities and programs (the seen things) often lose the heart for the gospel that grew them in the first place. Revitalizing a dying church body forces the members to be active and to take ownership of the ministry that the whole body has been called to. When a church gets to the point where a pastor must be the one who leads, but does the work; then there has been a terrible disconnect among the membership and the pastorate about the necessity of communal ministry.
Reeder's solution is one of remembrance and repentance. His emphais is to point out how a lack of vision can be deadly for future endeavors, but so is a lack of perspective about the past. Any church that believes its history began 50 to 100 years ago when the body was first organized has at best a myopic view of its past. It must see the wide scope of church history, the great cloud of witnesses who teach truth from their graves. The long gone must infect zeal towards those who are among the living dead. Repentance of the past and desires for future man-centered ministry must be done away with. No body can survive unless it is honest about the information it gathers about itself.
Church revitalization, a major concern for Reeder, always begins with the ending and beginning of the Christian faith in refreshing people in the gospel. It is impossible for an effective ministry to operate; from ruling to teaching elder to deacon, unless those charged with leadership know the Bible and how to apply it to the specific needs of their people.
Reeder's purpose in this book, to encourage and motivate Christians for the work of revitalizing dwindling and lethargic congregations, is done through reminding those who desire to revitalize their churches what their first principles are. The metrics for church revitalization are not necessarily accomplished through visible achievements, like new structures, programs or large numbers of people, but more actively accomplished through increased faith by congregations that shows itself in visible actions towards each other and the surrounding community.
August 9, 2023
I have been a fan of Harry Reeder for several years now. This book was refreshing because, while so many people offer church growth models (most with good intentions), Reeder's is a church health model. He provides biblical methods for improving the health and vitality of the congregation, with the understanding that "growth" is a natural outcome of a healthy church. As pastors, we should seek to have a healthy church over a large one. Size does not necessarily equal health.
January 24, 2019
There are some really good pointers in here on how to revive your church... as long as you are the senior pastor, held accountable by a plurality of elders. What hope does that leave me with?
January 22, 2014
Long time pastor Harry Reeder provides pastors and church members alike with biblical principles for revitalizing the local church. Reeder explains that the key to revitalizing any local church should not be with a focus on church growth, but on church health. A tree only bears good fruit when the tree is healthy. Likewise, churches only bear good fruit when they have good health. For any pastor or layman interested in bringing health and vitality to your local congregation, From Embers to a Flame is a must read.-Jeremy Craft
“You do not need a ‘marketing plan’ to grow the church; you need a ‘biblical fitness plan’ to promote its health. And you should be preoccupied not with programs designed to produce numbers, nickels, and noise, but with biblical principles by which the Holy Spirit can bring health and vitality to the body of Christ. And while statistical growth is likely to be experienced, the functional ministry of the church is the real
“You do not need a ‘marketing plan’ to grow the church; you need a ‘biblical fitness plan’ to promote its health. And you should be preoccupied not with programs designed to produce numbers, nickels, and noise, but with biblical principles by which the Holy Spirit can bring health and vitality to the body of Christ. And while statistical growth is likely to be experienced, the functional ministry of the church is the real
January 17, 2014
Some pretty sound and solid material in here. If there was a leaky tire anywhere on this bus, it was chapter 6, "Leadership Multiplication" - but that may just be me. After 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, loads of management and leadership classes and a Bachelor's degree in Human Resources Management, I take a pretty bleak and view to using "Business Principles" and incorporating them into the Church. Beyond that chapter, the rest were delightful, insightful, encouraging and though-provoking. I recommend the book.
April 1, 2023
Harry Reeder III does the Church a service by writing this book which explores the Revitalization of the dying Church. At some point or another all of us will have to respond to a Church which is challeged. This book gives helpful and practical advice on how to best respond.
January 5, 2016
Very good. I recommend reading it as a complement to The Leadership Dynamic (also by Reeder). This is a book that has really stimulated my thinking on how to lead the church and one that I will return to regularly.
July 5, 2014
I strongly commend this book to pastors and elders of small, struggling churches. Some of the things Reeder says may sting but they are very insightful. I don't agree with everything offered but much of what he says is valuable.
January 16, 2018
This book has been very helpful to me. It possesses a wonderful balance of a commitment to Biblically faithful theology with practical application that is not pragmatic. Wonderful work on this important topic that I'll likely be revisiting often.
April 1, 2009
A good primer on mobilizing your church with a few gimmicks and stupid tricks along the way.
November 17, 2012
This is a very readable book; it flows. It has some practical advice and some personal experiences to balance the theory. Church leaders can benefit from reading it.
February 26, 2013
A good gospel centered approach to church revitalization.
July 13, 2015
Great principles and useful for any church environment. Too many illustrations using Southern generals took me out a bit as a Northerner, but minor complaint.
February 1, 2015
Took long enough but finally finished it! Very good book with lots of practical info. Highly recommend.
March 11, 2014
A probable classic on the topic of church vitality. Loyal to Scripture; thus much of this is common sense. But I appreciated his fidelity to truth and his priority to health first and growth second.
January 14, 2017
From Rev 2:1-5, the authors developed the principles and strategies of church revival, also giving the examples of how he applies these principles and strategies to his own church.
March 16, 2017
We should do this
I was encouraged throughout this book to use it for my church. It's not an immediate fix but a process we need to go through. Looking forward to it.
I was encouraged throughout this book to use it for my church. It's not an immediate fix but a process we need to go through. Looking forward to it.
August 17, 2017
Very helpful. Practical. Encouraging. Great illustrations. Good for getting church leadership on the same page.
December 8, 2018
Fantastic overview of a church and how it should be. I can’t recommend this highly enough for anyone in church leadership.
March 20, 2020
Harry Reeder has some important things to say about the mission of the church, the centrality of preaching, the primacy of the gospel, the character of leaders, the power of prayer, the necessity of the Spirit, and much more. Even a relatively healthy church could likely benefit from this book; ones with more obvious issues most certainly will.
It's almost impossible to publish a book about "church growth" (even the good kind, as here) without seeming gimmicky at times (or at all times, as not here, thankfully). And Reeder's examples and illustrations were probably antiquated the day the book came off the press. But the bones are very, very good. Harry Reeder is a man of character, courage, and conviction (see, even I can do it), and we ought to be grateful for his leadership in the PCA at this time. And pastors and elders everywhere ought to pick up this book, at least for a good skim.
It's almost impossible to publish a book about "church growth" (even the good kind, as here) without seeming gimmicky at times (or at all times, as not here, thankfully). And Reeder's examples and illustrations were probably antiquated the day the book came off the press. But the bones are very, very good. Harry Reeder is a man of character, courage, and conviction (see, even I can do it), and we ought to be grateful for his leadership in the PCA at this time. And pastors and elders everywhere ought to pick up this book, at least for a good skim.
November 5, 2024
The ideas in this book are much better than the typical revitalization stuff. But that's not saying much.
Reeder does well in many ways: he emphasizes health over growth and principles over programs. Thus, he focuses on such things as repentance for sin, gospel-driven ministry, prayer, and other aspects of biblical church life.
However, there are at least two critical flaws in the book that will prevent me from recommending it to others. First, even though he has abandoned programs in favor of principles, he still makes these principles inputs into a formula for success: do these and your church doors won't close. Second, his use of Scripture is uneven: sometimes it's spot on, but other times it is wrangled to his own purposes (such as in chapter 9, on having mission and vision statements).
Overall, you'd benefit from reading this book... but you'd benefit more from reading the 9marks journal issue on the same subject.
Reeder does well in many ways: he emphasizes health over growth and principles over programs. Thus, he focuses on such things as repentance for sin, gospel-driven ministry, prayer, and other aspects of biblical church life.
However, there are at least two critical flaws in the book that will prevent me from recommending it to others. First, even though he has abandoned programs in favor of principles, he still makes these principles inputs into a formula for success: do these and your church doors won't close. Second, his use of Scripture is uneven: sometimes it's spot on, but other times it is wrangled to his own purposes (such as in chapter 9, on having mission and vision statements).
Overall, you'd benefit from reading this book... but you'd benefit more from reading the 9marks journal issue on the same subject.
June 24, 2020
This is a really great book on the work of church revitalization and has great relevance to the work of church planting. It's not that there is anything earth shattering, but Harry Reeder helps to demonstrate that the "basics" of the ordinary means of grace are what the Lord uses to build a faithful and fruitful church. There is no guarantee of success in applying these principles but, since they are so rooted in Scripture, committing to them in your own church should fill you with hope that God will bless them.
June 3, 2025
The book is alright. It provides a structured approach to church revitalization with a good focus on exalting Christ and building his church through the ordinary means of grace. I did not disagree with anything in principle although some of the book smacks more of modern leadership manuals than classic Christian devotion. Recommended for a quick read and helpful nuggets of wisdom.
September 10, 2023
Lots of fundamentals
A good text on overall organizing and executing renewal attempts in church, very good overall. Much more based on fundamentals, rather than the big box m church of the happy clappys
A good text on overall organizing and executing renewal attempts in church, very good overall. Much more based on fundamentals, rather than the big box m church of the happy clappys
December 30, 2022
10 paso a la rehabilitación De la Iglesia
Un gran libro lleno de sabiduría y experiencia. Nos ayuda centralizar y ordenar los pasos a seguir en el desarrollo De la Iglesia
Un gran libro lleno de sabiduría y experiencia. Nos ayuda centralizar y ordenar los pasos a seguir en el desarrollo De la Iglesia
January 14, 2023
Remarkable book on church revitalisation
August 30, 2023
A really good book for those seeking to revitalize their local congregation. Really appreciate Pastor Reeder’s heart, experience, & expertise in this area.
November 19, 2023
read for class— had an interesting amount of Robert E Lee leadership references
March 3, 2020
The key to church growth is church health. Healthy churches grow. Healthy churches reproduce (29-30). Therefore, we need to focus on both church planting and church revitalization. As Reeder notes, “If Paul’s churches suffered from decline, we should not be ashamed or reluctant to admit that our are hurting, too” (20).
The importance of this should not be underestimated. The majority of Paul’s letters to the churches were letters of revitalization, calling the churches to remember the past, repent of sin, and recover the first things. This is the same pattern of Jesus’ “letters” to the churches in Revelation 2-3. If churches established by the Apostle Paul were in need of work, this should give us a much-needed hopeful perspective. Church revitalization, like our own continual repentance and faith, is an ongoing work.
To effectively pursue church revitalization, church leaders must seek to remember the past, repent of sin, and recover the first things – the gospel and Christ centered discipleship (35). The greatest strength of From Embers to a Flame, is the focus on the centrality of Christ and his work, the gospel (57-82). The gospel is not only where church life begins, but it is also the lifeblood of how churches are brought back to life. And God is in the business of raising the dead!
Church revitalization is a never-ending work, this side of eternity. Faithful elders and leaders will always need to call Christ’s people to remember our past, repent of our sins, and recover the gospel. This is the regular rhythm of the Christian life and the regular rhythm of church life. But we may have confidence and hope that, to paraphrase Paul, he who began a good work in our church will carry it on to completion and perfection until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil 1:6).
On a personal note, I’ve had the chance to read through this book from both perspectives. I read it last year as an urban church planter-missionary. And most recently, I have read it as a new pastor of a 112-yr. old church in need of revitalization. In both cases, From Embers to a Flame has proven valuable. And yes, even church plants need continual revitalization.
The importance of this should not be underestimated. The majority of Paul’s letters to the churches were letters of revitalization, calling the churches to remember the past, repent of sin, and recover the first things. This is the same pattern of Jesus’ “letters” to the churches in Revelation 2-3. If churches established by the Apostle Paul were in need of work, this should give us a much-needed hopeful perspective. Church revitalization, like our own continual repentance and faith, is an ongoing work.
To effectively pursue church revitalization, church leaders must seek to remember the past, repent of sin, and recover the first things – the gospel and Christ centered discipleship (35). The greatest strength of From Embers to a Flame, is the focus on the centrality of Christ and his work, the gospel (57-82). The gospel is not only where church life begins, but it is also the lifeblood of how churches are brought back to life. And God is in the business of raising the dead!
Church revitalization is a never-ending work, this side of eternity. Faithful elders and leaders will always need to call Christ’s people to remember our past, repent of our sins, and recover the gospel. This is the regular rhythm of the Christian life and the regular rhythm of church life. But we may have confidence and hope that, to paraphrase Paul, he who began a good work in our church will carry it on to completion and perfection until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil 1:6).
On a personal note, I’ve had the chance to read through this book from both perspectives. I read it last year as an urban church planter-missionary. And most recently, I have read it as a new pastor of a 112-yr. old church in need of revitalization. In both cases, From Embers to a Flame has proven valuable. And yes, even church plants need continual revitalization.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews