How To Change Your Church

by Alan E. Nelson, Gene Appel, Jim Mellado (Contributor)

If you sense that your church's best days are ahead, use this book's guidelines for deciding where and what kind of change to implement. Then tackle Mellado, Appel, and Nelson's strategy for wise planning and team building so your goals will find rich fulfillment.

The authors authoritatively cover the elements of initiating change in a church body, addressing such topics as:

Examining what motivates you Getting below the skin of improvement Honoring past traditions while developing new ones Understanding the emotional side of change Identifying opinion leaders in your church Determining where you want to go as a body Creating a transition plan Sailing the "leader ship" Making conflict work for you Enjoying the benefits of improved ministry

Though many American churches are fading in number and effectiveness, yours can stay on course. Take advantage of others' experience: How to Change Your Church (Without Killing It) contains many success and crash-and-burn stories, as well as pointed lessons about how to guide your church through innovation with the least pain possible.

Embark on the journey through church change with these able guides and make your local church body irresistible to believers and seekers alike.

Genres: Leadership

353 pages, Hardcover

First published September 19, 2000

About the author

Alan E. Nelson, Ed.D., is a social entrepreneur, professor, and young leader expert, who lives near Los Angeles, California. He has a graduate degree in psychology-communication and doctorate in leadership (University of San Diego). As an adjunct professor at USC Marshall School of Business, the Naval Postgraduate School, and Pepperdine University, he teaches leadership, org behavior and change, and related topics.

At midlife, Alan came to the conclusion that the best leadership development is used on adults, after they're set in their ways. He began his pioneering work on identifying and developing 10-18 year olds, gifted in leadership. "The goal is to get to leaders while they're moldable, not moldy," Nelson quips. He is the founder of LeadYoung Training Systems (www.LeadYoungTraining.com) and KidLead Inc. (a non-profit).

Dr. Nelson is the author of 20 books, over 200 articles, and 150 hours of young leader training curricula. He's a corporate trainer and keynoter, focusing on an array of topics, usually related to his writings. He lives with his wife of 36 years, Nancy, in Thousand Oaks, CA.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, Jim Mellado, great guy, but he didn't write this book. He just wrote the foreword. Gene Appel and Alan Nelson wrote the book. Gene is a terrific leader and the real deal when it comes to being a pastor full of integrity. Alan, kind of an ass in my opinion, but i'm sure he had something to do with this book, too. Much of this book comes right out of his life experience. this book is not just about church change, it's about leading for change in any organization. The principles are the same. I left the ministry years ago, but I find that in leadership situations, I still go back to what I learned from Gene and from this book.