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Cracking Your Church's Culture Code: Seven Keys to Unleashing Vision and Inspiration
Strategies for transforming a toxic church culture Why is it that the best strategic plans and good leadership often are not able to move churches in the desired direction? Sam Chand contends that toxic culture is to blame. Quite often, leaders don't sense the toxicity, but it poisons their relationships and derails their vision. This work describes five easily identifiable categories of church culture (inspiring-accepting-stagnant-discouraging-toxic), with diagnostic descriptions in the book and a separate online assessment tool. The reader will be able to identify strengths and needs of their church's culture, and then apply practical strategies (communication, control and authority, selection and placement of personnel, etc.) to make their church's culture more positive. This important book offers a clear guide for understanding and recreating a healthy church culture.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published September 14, 2010
22 people are currently reading
214 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 29, 2020
An excellent guide for leaders of all kinds. It's church-based, but it seems to be easy to apply it to all leaders.
April 16, 2012
Really enjoyed this. Gave me a practical, concrete way to describe the feelings I had/have about current and previous cultures I've worked in. Also have seen Dr. Chand speak in person. He is a funny, insightful, and very intelligent man.
February 12, 2019
A must listen for church leaders (it's only available as an audiobook).
January 24, 2024
I wasn't familiar with this author but gave the book a chance. It was great. Very timely with church culture changing...
March 15, 2017
A very easy ready, but challenging nonetheless. As I prepare to plant a church, I am looking forward to implementing many of the ideas shared. This is a great read for pastors and those looking to begin a call to ministry.
January 16, 2021
The author’s main reason of writing Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code - 7 Keys to Unleashing Vision and Inspiration was to help leaders uncover the nature of their existing culture and help identify how to make the proper steps toward the change that the leader is looking for.
After reading this book I am taking away that I need to get better at asking better questions. Even the hard questions “to engage the hearts and minds” (Chand S. R., 2011) of those in leadership. I have found that as the leader it is important to ask the hard questions of all leadership as needed. If things are to change in an organization the senior leadership needs to be able to have honest, open and transparent conversations about culture. However, I realize that this cannot happen unless better questions and even hard questions are asked.
Culture and what culture really is has me thinking. It was the thought that Chand said, “culture – not vision or strategy – is the most powerful factor in any organization” (Chand S. R., 2011). I have come to the realization that all vision and no culture keeps you stuck in the same place spinning your wheels. This is something that I have found myself to be in currently. Or at least it feels that way.
Another eye-opening thought was “culture is what flows in the organizational bloodstream, not just what’s skin deep” (Chand S. R., 2011). This has me asking the question of, “What is flowing in the bloodstream of my current church? And is it something that I have set in motion or is what is in the blood stream from the past? There are some things that our team is working through as we begin to create a new culture. A culture that is willing to experiment and take risks that are far beyond each of us. But as the leader of the organization I know that I have to create the culture of honesty, openness, and transparency. I have to create a place that is controlled, understanding, be a leader rather than a manager, build trust through every opportunity that comes my way, be unafraid to take the risks that God is calling us to take, be responsive and execute what is needed to take place for the better of the organization.
On a scale of 1 to 5 I would give this book a 5. There are so many things that were stated that I want to implement them all. However, “Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code” really challenged my perspective on things when it comes to culture. In order for the culture to change the culture has to start at the top and then go down from there. If you are looking to create a healthy culture in your church or organization this book is for you. I would recommend this book for senior leadership and staff members.
After reading this book I am taking away that I need to get better at asking better questions. Even the hard questions “to engage the hearts and minds” (Chand S. R., 2011) of those in leadership. I have found that as the leader it is important to ask the hard questions of all leadership as needed. If things are to change in an organization the senior leadership needs to be able to have honest, open and transparent conversations about culture. However, I realize that this cannot happen unless better questions and even hard questions are asked.
Culture and what culture really is has me thinking. It was the thought that Chand said, “culture – not vision or strategy – is the most powerful factor in any organization” (Chand S. R., 2011). I have come to the realization that all vision and no culture keeps you stuck in the same place spinning your wheels. This is something that I have found myself to be in currently. Or at least it feels that way.
Another eye-opening thought was “culture is what flows in the organizational bloodstream, not just what’s skin deep” (Chand S. R., 2011). This has me asking the question of, “What is flowing in the bloodstream of my current church? And is it something that I have set in motion or is what is in the blood stream from the past? There are some things that our team is working through as we begin to create a new culture. A culture that is willing to experiment and take risks that are far beyond each of us. But as the leader of the organization I know that I have to create the culture of honesty, openness, and transparency. I have to create a place that is controlled, understanding, be a leader rather than a manager, build trust through every opportunity that comes my way, be unafraid to take the risks that God is calling us to take, be responsive and execute what is needed to take place for the better of the organization.
On a scale of 1 to 5 I would give this book a 5. There are so many things that were stated that I want to implement them all. However, “Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code” really challenged my perspective on things when it comes to culture. In order for the culture to change the culture has to start at the top and then go down from there. If you are looking to create a healthy culture in your church or organization this book is for you. I would recommend this book for senior leadership and staff members.
February 2, 2011
The starting point for this whole book is a quote from Dick Clark - no, not the "it has a good beat, you can dance to it" Dick Clark but instead the head of Merck Pharmaceutical:
Dr. Chand takes that conceptual idea and expands it into a multifaceted examination of how churches work (and how they don't) in his new book, Cracking Your Church's Culture Code. A great vision for ministry is worthless if the current culture of the church won't support that vision - the author compares it to trying to drive a car from Chicago to London, England... it doesn't matter how much you want to get there, you don't have a vehicle that can make the trip.
One of the strengths of the book is this wide-angle glimpse of how a myriad of factors shape the culture of a church - and Dr. Chand offers wise counsel from years of consulting on how to deal specifically with a number of these issues, from improving communication skills to planning ahead of the stagnation curve.
However, that strength is also a weakness - there is so much information here, presented in 2+ page "nuggets" & loosely organized by theme, that it's difficult to wrap your brain around all that the author is trying to instill in you & in your church.
With that said, I still found the book incredibly useful - esp. in dealing with questions about the nature of the culture of the church I pastor and what actions I can take to continue shaping that culture in order to build an authentic Biblical community. The chapter on "Changing Vehicles" (and Dr. Chand's admonition not to change the vision to suit the messed-up culture) is very convicting.
One note for small church pastors: unlike some church leadership books, the ideas presented here are applicable in our non-mega-church situations. While Dr. Chand uses examples from larger ministries, the principles he suggests are not restricted to big organizations.
"The fact is, culture eats strategy for lunch. You can have a good strategy in place, but if you don't have the culture & the enabling systems, the [negative] culture of the organization will defeat the strategy."
Dr. Chand takes that conceptual idea and expands it into a multifaceted examination of how churches work (and how they don't) in his new book, Cracking Your Church's Culture Code. A great vision for ministry is worthless if the current culture of the church won't support that vision - the author compares it to trying to drive a car from Chicago to London, England... it doesn't matter how much you want to get there, you don't have a vehicle that can make the trip.
One of the strengths of the book is this wide-angle glimpse of how a myriad of factors shape the culture of a church - and Dr. Chand offers wise counsel from years of consulting on how to deal specifically with a number of these issues, from improving communication skills to planning ahead of the stagnation curve.
However, that strength is also a weakness - there is so much information here, presented in 2+ page "nuggets" & loosely organized by theme, that it's difficult to wrap your brain around all that the author is trying to instill in you & in your church.
With that said, I still found the book incredibly useful - esp. in dealing with questions about the nature of the culture of the church I pastor and what actions I can take to continue shaping that culture in order to build an authentic Biblical community. The chapter on "Changing Vehicles" (and Dr. Chand's admonition not to change the vision to suit the messed-up culture) is very convicting.
One note for small church pastors: unlike some church leadership books, the ideas presented here are applicable in our non-mega-church situations. While Dr. Chand uses examples from larger ministries, the principles he suggests are not restricted to big organizations.
August 15, 2012
The starting point for this whole book is a quote from Dick Clark - no, not the "it has a good beat, you can dance to it" Dick Clark but instead the head of Merck Pharmaceutical:
Dr. Chand takes that conceptual idea and expands it into a multifaceted examination of how churches work (and how they don't) in his new book, Cracking Your Church's Culture Code. A great vision for ministry is worthless if the current culture of the church won't support that vision - the author compares it to trying to drive a car from Chicago to London, England... it doesn't matter how much you want to get there, you don't have a vehicle that can make the trip.
One of the strengths of the book is this wide-angle glimpse of how a myriad of factors shape the culture of a church - and Dr. Chand offers wise counsel from years of consulting on how to deal specifically with a number of these issues, from improving communication skills to planning ahead of the stagnation curve.
However, that strength is also a weakness - there is so much information here, presented in 2+ page "nuggets" & loosely organized by theme, that it's difficult to wrap your brain around all that the author is trying to instill in you & in your church.
With that said, I still found the book incredibly useful - esp. in dealing with questions about the nature of the culture of the church I pastor and what actions I can take to continue shaping that culture in order to build an authentic Biblical community. The chapter on "Changing Vehicles" (and Dr. Chand's admonition not to change the vision to suit the messed-up culture) is very convicting.
One note for small church pastors: unlike some church leadership books, the ideas presented here are applicable in our non-mega-church situations. While Dr. Chand uses examples from larger ministries, the principles he suggests are not restricted to big organizations.
"The fact is, culture eats strategy for lunch. You can have a good strategy in place, but if you don't have the culture & the enabling systems, the [negative] culture of the organization will defeat the strategy."
Dr. Chand takes that conceptual idea and expands it into a multifaceted examination of how churches work (and how they don't) in his new book, Cracking Your Church's Culture Code. A great vision for ministry is worthless if the current culture of the church won't support that vision - the author compares it to trying to drive a car from Chicago to London, England... it doesn't matter how much you want to get there, you don't have a vehicle that can make the trip.
One of the strengths of the book is this wide-angle glimpse of how a myriad of factors shape the culture of a church - and Dr. Chand offers wise counsel from years of consulting on how to deal specifically with a number of these issues, from improving communication skills to planning ahead of the stagnation curve.
However, that strength is also a weakness - there is so much information here, presented in 2+ page "nuggets" & loosely organized by theme, that it's difficult to wrap your brain around all that the author is trying to instill in you & in your church.
With that said, I still found the book incredibly useful - esp. in dealing with questions about the nature of the culture of the church I pastor and what actions I can take to continue shaping that culture in order to build an authentic Biblical community. The chapter on "Changing Vehicles" (and Dr. Chand's admonition not to change the vision to suit the messed-up culture) is very convicting.
One note for small church pastors: unlike some church leadership books, the ideas presented here are applicable in our non-mega-church situations. While Dr. Chand uses examples from larger ministries, the principles he suggests are not restricted to big organizations.
February 6, 2014
For churches with a fairly large leadership team or one with some kind of board/Council system, this is a great book. It's high-performance fuel to get the leadership team aligned and running in top shape. But our team is small, tight, and running fine. I was hoping for a book on changing the culture of the congregation as a whole, but the concepts within don't translate well to the whole group, so we continue to struggle with a culture that's thinking in one direction and a leadership team that's thinking in a different direction.
March 15, 2012
A good book for Christian leaders, both ministry and marketplace, to have on the shelf. Personally, not life changing. Can drag at times with all the lists of what to do and what questions to ask, but they are good action points and good questions. A good reference book. If I was in a situation of needing to change a culture, I would probably still feel like a daunting task was ahead. But I would have a good framework to start from.
October 17, 2013
Realizing that today's church must learn how to embrace culture in order to do the job that God has planned, I recommend this book. The first half of the book provides a wealth of information that causes one to do a self assessment and to think outside the box. The second half is redundant but gives a few new twists to honesty etc. This book will provide the leadership team a blueprint for an honest and powerful discussion of how the church can crack the code and move forward.
December 8, 2015
I really enjoyed this book. It provided some great insight into creating or changing a culture into the type of culture you want it to be. As the author pointed out, every place has a culture why not control the type of culture your place has.
June 30, 2011
The first half is really good. The second half is ok. My guess is the more practical minded soul will like the second half more than I did.
March 6, 2013
thoughts from #crackingyourchurchsculturecode @samchand @josseybassbiz @leadnet http://justinfarley.blogspot.com/2013...
October 4, 2024
Another time reading throug this book. It's an annual read and reflection book for me. Culture is so important.
August 18, 2013
I really enjoyed the first part of the book, but found the rest of the book repetitive. Still some very important insights to be gleaned.
October 11, 2012
Brilliance on display!!
December 18, 2014
Great book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 31, 2015
Keys to understanding every church's code here.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews