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| | | Elementary Teacher Resources | Home » » » Innovations in Ministry: Models for the 21st Century (Ministry for the Third Millennium Series) | | | | | | | Description: | | Asserting that the good news greatly exceeds the bad news, Innovations in Ministry celebrates what's working in American Protestantism. Lyle E. Schaller identifies the new and emerging models for ministry, with heavy emphasis on paradigm shifts toward laity-driven ministries.
These include:
(1) Market-driven "niched" ministry to reach diverse populations
(2) Ownership and initiative in ministry
(3) Regional definitions of church. The purpose of this book is found in chapter 5: A new partnership that redefines the role of denominations, raises expectations of the laity, and implements the Key Church Strategy (described in chapters 6 and 7). Another strategy similar to the Key Church model is found in chapter 8, where multi-site campuses are investigated. Key Benefits: Takes seriously the shift from small, local churches toward large, seven-day-a-week regional churches; presents several dynamic, effective, and successful models of ministry that are emerging within contemporary Protestant churches; contributes a voice of hope to ministers who perceive their churches as threatened or even dying; provides concrete examples of how effective ministry is actually taking place in the contemporary church; and illuminates the "Key Church Strategy" and provides support for those engaged in (or considering) a multi-site basis for ministry. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Lyle E Schaller | | Paperback:
| 160 pages | | Publisher:
| Abingdon Press | | Publication Date:
| 1994-03 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0687271053 | | Product Width:
| 140.5 centimeters | | Product Height:
| 217.5 centimeters | | Product Weight:
| 0.49 pounds | | Package Length:
| 8.7 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.62 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.41 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.48 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 1 reviews |
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Innovations In MinistryMar 31, 2009
By Gerard Reed
Lyle E. Schaller (one of the most highly regarded experts on church growth) gave us much good news in Innovations in Ministry: Models for the Twenty-first Century (Nashville: Abingdon Press, c. 1994). More people attended Protestant churches on "the typical week-end in 1993" (p. 12) than in the 40 previous years, more than keeping pace with population growth. Downtown churches thrive. Multicultural and multiracial congregations illustrate the success of the church in reaching and reconciling disparate peoples.
More young males now attend church than a generation ago. The "yuppie" generation is securely established in churches--though often attending different ones, generally independent or "non¬denominational," than those in which they were reared. Creative new forms of music and drama attract new audiences. The demand for higher quality ministries has prompted the churches to "upgrade the quality of their ministry to meet that demand" (p. 25). Such successes leave Schaller "convinced that congregational life in Amer¬ican Protestantism is healthier, stron¬ger, and sounder than ever before in my lifetime" (p. 15).
Schaller's celebration of Protestantism's robust health deserves attention, though some would wonder at the "evidences" for such health. And his diagnoses of those churches which are losing ad¬herents and declining into senility need attention. "Every institution that is designed to serve people must either win the allegiance of new generations or watch the clientele shrink in size" (p. 38). So true! Yet perhaps not the final truth!
Schaller then turns to strategies to gain such allegiance. One must, first, focus clearly on the community to be reached, as has the Willow Creek Community Church, which targets younger non-churched adults with "informality, drama, contemporary music, a thirty-five-minute sermon, theological conservatism, an exceptionally high-energy staff, an obsession with quality, an absence of traditional symbols, a low-pressure welcome to first-time worshipers, and an extensive range of outreach ministries" (p. 49). Lay-led AA-style recovery groups abound.
Other churches, such as the Saddleback Community Church in Orange County, California, follow somewhat different strategies. Pastor Rick Warren carefully interviewed residents, then designed a program to reach them which "included nonjudgmental love, warmth, beginning with the other person's agenda, practical and positive sermons, a minimum of organizational structure, a strong emphasis on lay ministry, high quality and relevant advertising, openness, contemporary music, investing money in staff rather than in real estate in the early years, and a strong teaching ministry" (p. 51).
What Schaller emphasizes is that different strategies suit different constituencies. Different strokes for different folks! Church growth is a matter of finding the right approach, touching the right "need," satisfying the most pressing desires of the people. It's important to go to people, "meeting them on their turf, and beginning with their agenda" (p. 89).
The good thing about this book is its hopeful stance. Schaller points to churches which are doing well and even suggests ways to help the "wounded birds" which seem destined to die. What concerns me is the tacit assumption so prevalent in such books that numerical growth and financial strength are the marks whereby we should evaluate a church. Schaller, naturally, denies this, for he insists there are more important issues. But, when all is said and done, the final word seems to be the "bottom line" rather than the Word of God.
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