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When Church Stops Working: A Future for Your Congregation beyond More Money, Programs, and Innovation
What if the solution for the decline of today's church isn't more money, people, programs, innovation, and busyness?
What if the answer is to stop and wait on God?
In When Church Stops Working, ministry leaders Andrew Root and Blair Bertrand show how actively watching and listening for God can bring life out of death for churches in crisis today. Using clear steps and practices, they invite church leaders to stop the endless cycle of doing more and rather to simply "be" in God's presence. They tell the story of two congregations who did this--and found new life in the process.
When Church Stops Working distills the core themes of Root's critically acclaimed Ministry in a Secular Age series in a more accessible form. Leaders and churchgoers who are burned out and hopeless will experience affirmation, encouragement, and empowerment as Root and Bertrand turn to the book of Acts as well as examples from contemporary congregational life to show what "active" waiting looks like and the saving grace it can hold.
What if the answer is to stop and wait on God?
In When Church Stops Working, ministry leaders Andrew Root and Blair Bertrand show how actively watching and listening for God can bring life out of death for churches in crisis today. Using clear steps and practices, they invite church leaders to stop the endless cycle of doing more and rather to simply "be" in God's presence. They tell the story of two congregations who did this--and found new life in the process.
When Church Stops Working distills the core themes of Root's critically acclaimed Ministry in a Secular Age series in a more accessible form. Leaders and churchgoers who are burned out and hopeless will experience affirmation, encouragement, and empowerment as Root and Bertrand turn to the book of Acts as well as examples from contemporary congregational life to show what "active" waiting looks like and the saving grace it can hold.
168 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 16, 2023
73 people are currently reading
1,309 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Root
56Ìýbooks110ÌýfollowersAndrew Root joined Luther Seminary in 2005 as assistant professor of youth and family ministry. Previously he was an adjunct professor at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington D.C., and Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N.J.
Root received his bachelor of arts degree from Bethel College, St. Paul, Minn., in 1997. He earned his master of divinity (2000) and his master of theology (2001) degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Calif. He completed his doctoral degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2005.
Root's ministry experience includes being a gang prevention counselor in Los Angeles, youth outreach directed in a congregation, staff member of Young Life, and a confirmation teacher. He has also been a research fellow for Princeton Theological Seminary's Faith Practices Project.
Root has published articles in the Journal of Youth and Theology, The International Journal of Practical Theology, and Word and World.
He is a member of the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry and the International Bonhoeffer Society.
Root received his bachelor of arts degree from Bethel College, St. Paul, Minn., in 1997. He earned his master of divinity (2000) and his master of theology (2001) degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Calif. He completed his doctoral degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2005.
Root's ministry experience includes being a gang prevention counselor in Los Angeles, youth outreach directed in a congregation, staff member of Young Life, and a confirmation teacher. He has also been a research fellow for Princeton Theological Seminary's Faith Practices Project.
Root has published articles in the Journal of Youth and Theology, The International Journal of Practical Theology, and Word and World.
He is a member of the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry and the International Bonhoeffer Society.
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May 15, 2023
The odds are fairly strong you've been in a church that stopped working, though certainly there are exceptions.
I thought about these experiences often while reading "When Church Stops Working: A Future for Your Congregation Beyond More Money, Programs, and Innovation" by Andrew Root and Blair D. Bertrand.
As a Christian with a disability, I'll admit that I've gotten myself caught up wanting the church to do more for access, more for equity, and more programs for this or that or the other.
I've been guilty of wanting more.
Yet, as I was reading "When Church Stops Working" I began to realize that what I really want is less "doing church" and more "being the church." I want a church less concerned with programs and more concerned with prayer. I want a church less concerned with activity and more concerned with stillness. I want a church that seeks God's presence rather than offers more presents.
Root and Bertrand ask the question "What if the solution for the decline of today's church isn't more money, people, programs, innovation, or busyness? What if the answer is to stop and wait on God?"
Working with Root's themes from " Ministry in a Secular Age series," "When Church Stops Working" explores the theological roots of actively waiting for God and imagines a world where struggling churches will use such waiting and listening as a way of moving out of crisis and into God's presence.
I found myself consistently captivated by "When Church Stops Working" almost precisely because it's so counter to the way we live in American society these days. There's a pervasive attitude of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps and we've come to apply this to church life. If one program doesn't work, start another. If one slogan doesn't work, create another. Get a new sign. Start a new program. Attract a new audience.
Do something. Do more.
What if more is not the answer?
As a person with a disability, I've often felt that "being" the church is actually more inclusive and accessible. When we apply performance standards to church life, we inevitably exclude. When we simply invite people to be in God's presence, we cast our nets more widely and sit quietly in a safer place. We're children of God who've forgotten how to be childlike. For me, what Root and Bertrand are basically writing about is allowing ourselves to be children of God again.
It's weird, I suppose. It seems like as adults it's counter to actually being adults. Yet, time and again scripture calls us into just such a relationship with God and it makes sense that just such a relationship would also be the calling of the church.
Instead, we get caught up in a numbers game. We see attendance decline or offerings decline or service decline and we go into panic mode. According to Root and Bertrand, what we're doing is actually making everything worse. In an accessible and understandable way, they offer a theologically grounded explanation of what's really happening and how we can move forward. The examples, steps, teachings, and guides are practical yet immersed in faith and surrender and trust.
I must confess that I initially struggled to get into the rhythm of "When Church Stops Working," yet as I wound down my closing pages I found myself deeply moved both in terms of how I viewed church life and how I viewed my own journey.
There were so many things I loved about "When Church Stops Working," yet perhaps what I loved most was that I felt like the church that leans into this type of future is a church that would feel accessible, welcoming, and safe for me and a myriad of others.
There's simply no question that "When Church Stops Working" is a book I'll be referring to again and again and again.
I thought about these experiences often while reading "When Church Stops Working: A Future for Your Congregation Beyond More Money, Programs, and Innovation" by Andrew Root and Blair D. Bertrand.
As a Christian with a disability, I'll admit that I've gotten myself caught up wanting the church to do more for access, more for equity, and more programs for this or that or the other.
I've been guilty of wanting more.
Yet, as I was reading "When Church Stops Working" I began to realize that what I really want is less "doing church" and more "being the church." I want a church less concerned with programs and more concerned with prayer. I want a church less concerned with activity and more concerned with stillness. I want a church that seeks God's presence rather than offers more presents.
Root and Bertrand ask the question "What if the solution for the decline of today's church isn't more money, people, programs, innovation, or busyness? What if the answer is to stop and wait on God?"
Working with Root's themes from " Ministry in a Secular Age series," "When Church Stops Working" explores the theological roots of actively waiting for God and imagines a world where struggling churches will use such waiting and listening as a way of moving out of crisis and into God's presence.
I found myself consistently captivated by "When Church Stops Working" almost precisely because it's so counter to the way we live in American society these days. There's a pervasive attitude of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps and we've come to apply this to church life. If one program doesn't work, start another. If one slogan doesn't work, create another. Get a new sign. Start a new program. Attract a new audience.
Do something. Do more.
What if more is not the answer?
As a person with a disability, I've often felt that "being" the church is actually more inclusive and accessible. When we apply performance standards to church life, we inevitably exclude. When we simply invite people to be in God's presence, we cast our nets more widely and sit quietly in a safer place. We're children of God who've forgotten how to be childlike. For me, what Root and Bertrand are basically writing about is allowing ourselves to be children of God again.
It's weird, I suppose. It seems like as adults it's counter to actually being adults. Yet, time and again scripture calls us into just such a relationship with God and it makes sense that just such a relationship would also be the calling of the church.
Instead, we get caught up in a numbers game. We see attendance decline or offerings decline or service decline and we go into panic mode. According to Root and Bertrand, what we're doing is actually making everything worse. In an accessible and understandable way, they offer a theologically grounded explanation of what's really happening and how we can move forward. The examples, steps, teachings, and guides are practical yet immersed in faith and surrender and trust.
I must confess that I initially struggled to get into the rhythm of "When Church Stops Working," yet as I wound down my closing pages I found myself deeply moved both in terms of how I viewed church life and how I viewed my own journey.
There were so many things I loved about "When Church Stops Working," yet perhaps what I loved most was that I felt like the church that leans into this type of future is a church that would feel accessible, welcoming, and safe for me and a myriad of others.
There's simply no question that "When Church Stops Working" is a book I'll be referring to again and again and again.
April 27, 2023
Andrew Root's "Church in Secular Age" series is a tour de force, looking theologically and socially at context in which the Western church finds itself (drawing on thinkers such as Charles Taylor, Karl Barth, Luther, Jenson and Hartmut Rosa). It is also notoriously technical in places - Root's footnotes often stretch to more than half the page. And sometimes the reader is left asking 'yes, but what does this all mean'? This new book (cowritten by Root and Blair Bertrand) aims to solve this problem.
Root breaks his big ideas down into easy to digest summaries - ably illustrated by carefully selected illustrations from popular culture. And he always has an eye to his audience: someone who is involved in church leadership, who feels the 'crisis of decline' in a very real way, and who is wanting to know what it means to be faithful in their context. Root & Betrand don't end up giving step-by-step instructions - this would be to mistake the crisis of decline as the real crisis. Instead, they urge the church to return to a posture of active waiting - waiting for God's action in the world. They talk about the spiritual habits of listening, encounter, storytelling, prayer and confession - and they urge churches to hold less tightly to the future, and instead be attentive to God's action in the present.
This is a provocative read, as it challenges the dominante idea that a declining church needs more innovation. And precisely for that reason it is an essential read.
(This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic via NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.)
Root breaks his big ideas down into easy to digest summaries - ably illustrated by carefully selected illustrations from popular culture. And he always has an eye to his audience: someone who is involved in church leadership, who feels the 'crisis of decline' in a very real way, and who is wanting to know what it means to be faithful in their context. Root & Betrand don't end up giving step-by-step instructions - this would be to mistake the crisis of decline as the real crisis. Instead, they urge the church to return to a posture of active waiting - waiting for God's action in the world. They talk about the spiritual habits of listening, encounter, storytelling, prayer and confession - and they urge churches to hold less tightly to the future, and instead be attentive to God's action in the present.
This is a provocative read, as it challenges the dominante idea that a declining church needs more innovation. And precisely for that reason it is an essential read.
(This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic via NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.)
May 26, 2023
It is common knowledge that religious institutions have been in decline for many years. Where once it was liberal mainline churches that suffered, now even conservative ones (SBC) are experiencing significant decline. It's not just among Christians, as other faith communities are experiencing challenges. The fact is, institutional religion is not what it used to be. That doesn't mean people don't believe in God (gods), it's just that institutions don't have the same cache as they once did. Though it is true that an increasingly secularized society has contributed to the challenges.
Andrew Root has been addressing the challenges posed by an increasingly secularized world in his . These books, most of which I have appreciatively read, remind us that even as the world around us speeds up, our efforts to keep up have fallen short. In his most recent book in that series, he addressed the feeling that the solution is innovation. Yet, that has yet to prove to be true. One of the critiques of that series is that the books are rather dense reading. In other words, they tend toward the scholarly side. While clergy find them valuable, they may not be usable with congregations. I agree with that assessment. These are not the kind of books I would hand over to a group of lay leaders without pretty strong theological training. Nevertheless, the message needs to be heard.
Now there is a resource that brings together that wisdom in a format that can be engaged with by lay leaders. That book is "When Church Stops Working: A Future for Your Congregation Beyond More Money, Programs, and Innovation." This book, written by Andrew Root, together with Blair D. Bertrand, invites us to navigate this increasingly secular world, not by focusing on bringing in more money, developing more programs, and busying ourselves with innovation, but by actively listening and waiting for God to act. That is not an easy task, especially for task-oriented American Christians. This is especially true for pastors and leaders of congregations that see a rather bleak future ahead. We are always feeling the pressure to do something to stave off the inevitable. For many mainline churches, with aging memberships (I've served those congregations and assist in another one at the moment) I know that feeling well. Waiting for God to act just doesn't seem responsible.
"When Church Stops Working" will not impress those who feel the time for waiting on God has ended. What is needed is innovation, nothing more and nothing less. However, those in leadership who have exhausted themselves seeking to innovate may find this book a breath of fresh air. What the authors have attempted to do here is translate the message of the Ministry in Secular Age books for congregational leaders, offering helpful guidance that can assist these churches, many of which are small, to move forward with confidence and even boldness. What it doesn't do is provide a detailed map that promises success. Thus, what they offer here is "an invitation to find the stories and visions that can lead the church beyond the crisis of decline and into the crisis of an encounter with the living God" (p. xiii).
While the basic ideas that form the foundation for this relatively small and accessible book written with lay leaders in mind come from Andrew Root's books, his coauthor, Blair Bertrand has helped give form to this version of the work, having been engaged with Root over the years and because he has been teaching this material to churches. There is a synergism that brings the insights of the more academic series to an audience that needs to hear the message.
The authors begin in chapter 1 laying out the challenge before the church. That is, identifying the crisis faced by the church. It is a crisis of influence, loss of people, and even belief. While many would like the make the church great again, that is a problematic quest, especially in the post-COVID era. So here is the foundation, the introduction to the challenges posed by this increasingly secular age. While this is a challenge, they believe there is good news. The church has faced these kinds of crises before, including those very first Christians who weren't sure what to make of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
With the foundation laid, Root and Bertrand address this feeling on the part of so many (including me at times prior to my retirement ) that the church needs to be busy. In other words, more is better. As the world accelerates, we need to follow suit. As we work harder, we do so not to get ahead, but so we don't fall further behind. While they suggest that we might want to slow down, that isn't the entire solution to the problem. We need not only slow down, but to wait so we can pay attention to what God is doing. One of the signs that God is there is joy, even laughter---see Sarah and her laughter about the promise of a child. They had tried innovation (Hagar and Ishmael) but that wasn't God's plan. Waiting is difficult, as most clergy know so very well. We're paid to keep things moving, not sit still and wait for God to act. Nevertheless, that is the invitation.
In chapter 3, titled "Stop All the Having and Just Be," Root and Bertrand, call for us to just be, and in doing so receive life as a gift. We miss out on this gift because we feel the need to move faster and faster lest we miss something, even if we're not sure what that something is. The first step in being begins with recognizing the reality of death, for "only dying can stop acceleration." Thus, the call for a humble death. That is, we confess our need for something/someone outside ourselves to save us. Step two involves confession, which is a move to repair/restore a broken relationship. It is an act of "letting go, stopping, admitting, and waiting" (p. 48). Step 3 is gratitude. At the root, they suggest, of gratitude is connection. Thus, "a waiting church is waiting for God, waiting for the Spirit to move, and waiting to connect with God. Our crisis becomes the crisis of God's action. As we wait for God's action, we open ourselves to God's arriving by ministering to one another" (p. 50).
In chapter 4, Root and Bertrand attend to the question of what it is we're waiting for. We find it difficult to wait, they suggest because we've made the church the star of its own story. Thus, we experience anxiety about its future. While getting busy doing things makes sense, they again tell us that the solution is to be found in waiting, because waiting allows us to experience God's actions. As we move into Chapter 5, they address the suggestion that waiting will lead to a slow death. They believe that rather than leading to a slow death, it brings life. While most of us want to avoid conflict, the authors believe that conflict in the church is a sign of life. Tension is part of the program in the body of Christ. Thus, if there is no conflict there is no community. That's because real communities are made up of real people who live real lives that involve tension. As for crisis, they suggest that no crisis means no God. That is crises come as we enter the crisis that is God's own life. This sounds odd, but they want us to know that while God might be intimate to us, God is also outside us and unknowable to us. To get back to the church being the star of its own story, Root and Bertrand, tell us that this cannot be true "because God who makes the church can never be caged or captured by the church' (p. 99).
I found chapter 6 to be fascinating because we're always being told to develop a mission statement. Without a mission statement, we won't know what to do as a church. Mission statements, they suggest, "direct everyone's attention and activity, unifying them toward a certain future" (p. 102). Instead of a mission statement, they tell us that we need a watchword. While we don't talk much about a watchword these days, they believe it is time to reembrace that concept, which originated in the 14th century. A watchword is designed to encompass a larger story. It is " a shorthand for a story of a deep experience that has shaped a group of people." (p. 105). The watchword helps form us because it contains within it the story that forms us. It is "the lens through which we look out into the world for the living God" (p. 106). I have not thought in terms of a watchword, but it makes great sense. A word or phrase carries within itself a larger story that comes to life when we ponder the watchword. The authors note a few things about watchwords. First, they come from real-life experiences. They come through waiting because they come from God. Finally, they are for a time and not eternity (normally).
Chapters seven and eight offer us two stories of churches that discover their watchwords and live out of them. One church is very small and the other medium-sized. Both congregations were struggling when they discovered their watchwords that proved, at least for a time transformative.
Those of us who have been reading Root's books know that much of what he offers is counter-intuitive. Most of what we hear from the experts suggests we need to get busy with innovation. Let's be like Starbucks. Efficiency is important (I like efficiency). But, it appears that God doesn't work for Starbucks. God isn't necessarily efficient. But, God does act.
I'm glad that Andrew Root heard from pastors that they needed a resource to share with their churches, a resource that draws on the important scholarly work he had been doing, and brings that work to a larger audience.
Andrew Root has been addressing the challenges posed by an increasingly secularized world in his . These books, most of which I have appreciatively read, remind us that even as the world around us speeds up, our efforts to keep up have fallen short. In his most recent book in that series, he addressed the feeling that the solution is innovation. Yet, that has yet to prove to be true. One of the critiques of that series is that the books are rather dense reading. In other words, they tend toward the scholarly side. While clergy find them valuable, they may not be usable with congregations. I agree with that assessment. These are not the kind of books I would hand over to a group of lay leaders without pretty strong theological training. Nevertheless, the message needs to be heard.
Now there is a resource that brings together that wisdom in a format that can be engaged with by lay leaders. That book is "When Church Stops Working: A Future for Your Congregation Beyond More Money, Programs, and Innovation." This book, written by Andrew Root, together with Blair D. Bertrand, invites us to navigate this increasingly secular world, not by focusing on bringing in more money, developing more programs, and busying ourselves with innovation, but by actively listening and waiting for God to act. That is not an easy task, especially for task-oriented American Christians. This is especially true for pastors and leaders of congregations that see a rather bleak future ahead. We are always feeling the pressure to do something to stave off the inevitable. For many mainline churches, with aging memberships (I've served those congregations and assist in another one at the moment) I know that feeling well. Waiting for God to act just doesn't seem responsible.
"When Church Stops Working" will not impress those who feel the time for waiting on God has ended. What is needed is innovation, nothing more and nothing less. However, those in leadership who have exhausted themselves seeking to innovate may find this book a breath of fresh air. What the authors have attempted to do here is translate the message of the Ministry in Secular Age books for congregational leaders, offering helpful guidance that can assist these churches, many of which are small, to move forward with confidence and even boldness. What it doesn't do is provide a detailed map that promises success. Thus, what they offer here is "an invitation to find the stories and visions that can lead the church beyond the crisis of decline and into the crisis of an encounter with the living God" (p. xiii).
While the basic ideas that form the foundation for this relatively small and accessible book written with lay leaders in mind come from Andrew Root's books, his coauthor, Blair Bertrand has helped give form to this version of the work, having been engaged with Root over the years and because he has been teaching this material to churches. There is a synergism that brings the insights of the more academic series to an audience that needs to hear the message.
The authors begin in chapter 1 laying out the challenge before the church. That is, identifying the crisis faced by the church. It is a crisis of influence, loss of people, and even belief. While many would like the make the church great again, that is a problematic quest, especially in the post-COVID era. So here is the foundation, the introduction to the challenges posed by this increasingly secular age. While this is a challenge, they believe there is good news. The church has faced these kinds of crises before, including those very first Christians who weren't sure what to make of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
With the foundation laid, Root and Bertrand address this feeling on the part of so many (including me at times prior to my retirement ) that the church needs to be busy. In other words, more is better. As the world accelerates, we need to follow suit. As we work harder, we do so not to get ahead, but so we don't fall further behind. While they suggest that we might want to slow down, that isn't the entire solution to the problem. We need not only slow down, but to wait so we can pay attention to what God is doing. One of the signs that God is there is joy, even laughter---see Sarah and her laughter about the promise of a child. They had tried innovation (Hagar and Ishmael) but that wasn't God's plan. Waiting is difficult, as most clergy know so very well. We're paid to keep things moving, not sit still and wait for God to act. Nevertheless, that is the invitation.
In chapter 3, titled "Stop All the Having and Just Be," Root and Bertrand, call for us to just be, and in doing so receive life as a gift. We miss out on this gift because we feel the need to move faster and faster lest we miss something, even if we're not sure what that something is. The first step in being begins with recognizing the reality of death, for "only dying can stop acceleration." Thus, the call for a humble death. That is, we confess our need for something/someone outside ourselves to save us. Step two involves confession, which is a move to repair/restore a broken relationship. It is an act of "letting go, stopping, admitting, and waiting" (p. 48). Step 3 is gratitude. At the root, they suggest, of gratitude is connection. Thus, "a waiting church is waiting for God, waiting for the Spirit to move, and waiting to connect with God. Our crisis becomes the crisis of God's action. As we wait for God's action, we open ourselves to God's arriving by ministering to one another" (p. 50).
In chapter 4, Root and Bertrand attend to the question of what it is we're waiting for. We find it difficult to wait, they suggest because we've made the church the star of its own story. Thus, we experience anxiety about its future. While getting busy doing things makes sense, they again tell us that the solution is to be found in waiting, because waiting allows us to experience God's actions. As we move into Chapter 5, they address the suggestion that waiting will lead to a slow death. They believe that rather than leading to a slow death, it brings life. While most of us want to avoid conflict, the authors believe that conflict in the church is a sign of life. Tension is part of the program in the body of Christ. Thus, if there is no conflict there is no community. That's because real communities are made up of real people who live real lives that involve tension. As for crisis, they suggest that no crisis means no God. That is crises come as we enter the crisis that is God's own life. This sounds odd, but they want us to know that while God might be intimate to us, God is also outside us and unknowable to us. To get back to the church being the star of its own story, Root and Bertrand, tell us that this cannot be true "because God who makes the church can never be caged or captured by the church' (p. 99).
I found chapter 6 to be fascinating because we're always being told to develop a mission statement. Without a mission statement, we won't know what to do as a church. Mission statements, they suggest, "direct everyone's attention and activity, unifying them toward a certain future" (p. 102). Instead of a mission statement, they tell us that we need a watchword. While we don't talk much about a watchword these days, they believe it is time to reembrace that concept, which originated in the 14th century. A watchword is designed to encompass a larger story. It is " a shorthand for a story of a deep experience that has shaped a group of people." (p. 105). The watchword helps form us because it contains within it the story that forms us. It is "the lens through which we look out into the world for the living God" (p. 106). I have not thought in terms of a watchword, but it makes great sense. A word or phrase carries within itself a larger story that comes to life when we ponder the watchword. The authors note a few things about watchwords. First, they come from real-life experiences. They come through waiting because they come from God. Finally, they are for a time and not eternity (normally).
Chapters seven and eight offer us two stories of churches that discover their watchwords and live out of them. One church is very small and the other medium-sized. Both congregations were struggling when they discovered their watchwords that proved, at least for a time transformative.
Those of us who have been reading Root's books know that much of what he offers is counter-intuitive. Most of what we hear from the experts suggests we need to get busy with innovation. Let's be like Starbucks. Efficiency is important (I like efficiency). But, it appears that God doesn't work for Starbucks. God isn't necessarily efficient. But, God does act.
I'm glad that Andrew Root heard from pastors that they needed a resource to share with their churches, a resource that draws on the important scholarly work he had been doing, and brings that work to a larger audience.
April 17, 2023
There are a lot of theories to explain the decline in participation in mainline christian churches. One common idea is that struggling churches just aren’t doing enough to keep their memberships actively involved. Today we see any number of activities that compete with the church for our time and church is simply getting prioritized last (symptom 1 of the secular age). The other two “symptoms� are variants of the same theme (churches simple have less influence and our belief has simply changed/evolved and church hasn’t left up). The success of Meg Churches seem to highlight the truth of all this; however, this book strikes a different tone.
Doing for the sake of doing doesn’t work and just leads to burn-out. What is needed is the patience to wait for God’s action instead of acting on our own. This is a particularly difficult task in a society that has grown accustom to instant gratification. In our capitalized society, we know speed is a significant factor for success. Here the author provides a few practical ideas on waiting. Here also, there is a discussion about crisis that was a struggle for me to completely understand/agree with (No crisis = No God); however, one aspect of this discussion provided an interesting insight. Simply point, the drive for uniformity can be detrimental to the church community and some "tension, discord and even conflict� is actually healthy for the community to grow in faith. Getting comfortable with diversity is important; however, it can also be true that extreme opposites with some for of uniform belief just doesn’t work � and this tension was not covered at all.
The book then finishes up throwing away the “mission statement� that is so common in business and replaces the concept with the watchword. I haver to admit that it took me awhile to discern the difference, but as far as I can tell � mission statements drive what we do and watchwords drives what we believe (core ideals) which indirectly influence what we do. Not every community will always have a watchword (so they need to wait until they can discover what it should be) and no watchword last forever (so there is a time to abandon it and look for another). This ideal was completely new to me and very thought provoking.
1. Why Your Church Has a Problem, but It Isn’t What You Think
2. Busy People, Busy Church � A Killer Cocktail
3. Stop All the Having and Just Be
4. I’s Time to Wait, but for What?
5. Waiting Brings Life, Not a Slow Death
6. Forget the Mission Statement
7. Out of the Family Basement
8. Nothing Can Separate You
I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#WhenChurchStopsWorking #NetGalley
Doing for the sake of doing doesn’t work and just leads to burn-out. What is needed is the patience to wait for God’s action instead of acting on our own. This is a particularly difficult task in a society that has grown accustom to instant gratification. In our capitalized society, we know speed is a significant factor for success. Here the author provides a few practical ideas on waiting. Here also, there is a discussion about crisis that was a struggle for me to completely understand/agree with (No crisis = No God); however, one aspect of this discussion provided an interesting insight. Simply point, the drive for uniformity can be detrimental to the church community and some "tension, discord and even conflict� is actually healthy for the community to grow in faith. Getting comfortable with diversity is important; however, it can also be true that extreme opposites with some for of uniform belief just doesn’t work � and this tension was not covered at all.
The book then finishes up throwing away the “mission statement� that is so common in business and replaces the concept with the watchword. I haver to admit that it took me awhile to discern the difference, but as far as I can tell � mission statements drive what we do and watchwords drives what we believe (core ideals) which indirectly influence what we do. Not every community will always have a watchword (so they need to wait until they can discover what it should be) and no watchword last forever (so there is a time to abandon it and look for another). This ideal was completely new to me and very thought provoking.
1. Why Your Church Has a Problem, but It Isn’t What You Think
2. Busy People, Busy Church � A Killer Cocktail
3. Stop All the Having and Just Be
4. I’s Time to Wait, but for What?
5. Waiting Brings Life, Not a Slow Death
6. Forget the Mission Statement
7. Out of the Family Basement
8. Nothing Can Separate You
I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#WhenChurchStopsWorking #NetGalley
November 6, 2023
I've quickly become a fan of Andrew Root's work and believe him to be one of the few voices I've read in recent years who seem to capture a lot of the crisis unfolding in the Western church. This work is an attempt to make some of his previous work more accessible for lay readers and, by and large, I think he succeeds with his coauthor of helping articulate how much of church ministry in the West has been working to address a problem that has been misdiagnosed. It doesn't go quite as far as I'd hoped in translating his more academic work, but this is certainly a step in the right direction for helping church leaders have new conversations, ask new questions, and consider new ways forward in our rapidly changing world. For someone unfamiliar with his work, this book offers a helpful on ramp to an ongoing conversation and reflection on how God is working in the world today and how the church might continue to grow and evolve to better join Him.
January 16, 2024
For many church leaders today, there’s a lot of anxiety about the decline of church attendance, church finances, and a general worry that the church is going to cease to exist at some point. The usual books on this, though, all advocate secular, business-oriented approaches to solving these problems. This book does not do that. In this fantastic book, Root and Bertrand take up a biblical approach that sounds highly counterintuitive: stop and wait for God. Using Acts 1 as the model, they argue that God’s people should ever always be waiting on the God who is faithful to his people to act in and through the church. This doesn’t mean doing nothing (quietism), it means living in faith and keeping eyes and ears open to God’s gracious works. This is book that anyone who is wrestling with concerns over church growth needs to read. Highly recommended!
July 23, 2024
Een heldere samenvatting van Roots eerdere Engelstalige trilogie ("Ministry in a Secular Age") waarin de inzichten van Charles Taylor en Hartmut Rosa bij elkaar worden gebracht op het niveau van gewone kerkenraadsleden. Heilzaam is de ont-marketing van de kerk en de oproep tot mentaliteitsverandering: niet het seculiere frame van 'effectieve innovatie' gaat ons helpen, maar God alleen. Grote vooronderstelling is wel 'dat God werkt'. Én, dat we daar niet al te lang op hoeven wachten. Én, dat wij in staat zijn dit werk van God op te merken. Daarin heeft het wel iets van een kip/ei-verhaal, want aan het begin van het boek maken de auteurs duidelijk dat we niet meer in die categorieën kunnen denken. Dat is ook de worsteling van de auteurs: De ware crisis van de kerk is niet de krimp. De ware crisis is de vraag: 'Hoe kunnen we mensen helpen om de levende God te ontmoeten in een seculiere tijd die hen blind maakt voor alles wat zich niet in het hier en nu bevindt?' (p. 95) Ze doen wat voorstellen hiertoe, maar ze dringen er vooral op aan dat dit geen generieke of individuele, maar vooral lokale vraag is, die op gemeenteniveau beantwoord moet worden.
Theologisch verfrissend is dat gesteld wordt dat crisis iets goeds is, ja, eigen is aan Gods werk, aan God zelf dus ook. Ergens hinten ze erop dat ook een hernieuwde lezing van de Bijbel op dit punt dus noodzakelijk is, maar het is opvallend dat ze dit verder niet uitwerken.
Theologisch verfrissend is dat gesteld wordt dat crisis iets goeds is, ja, eigen is aan Gods werk, aan God zelf dus ook. Ergens hinten ze erop dat ook een hernieuwde lezing van de Bijbel op dit punt dus noodzakelijk is, maar het is opvallend dat ze dit verder niet uitwerken.
August 14, 2023
This is an important book for churches struggling with the crisis of decline. Andrew Root and Blair Bertrand help their readers think like Christians who encounter a living God, rather than secular people focused on numbers, success, and more.
July 5, 2023
This book put words to things I’ve been noticing and put them all together in a way that made sense (and is hopeful!). If you read one book about ministry this year, let it be this one.
March 22, 2025
The editor of this book should be dragged out into the street and shot.
April 26, 2023
"The Church is in crisis." That's nothing new. "The world is influencing believers more than the Church." That's old news. "The Church should try harder, work more, develop better programs, and become more relevant to the secular world." Been there, done that, what's next? Well, what if the Church should move away from its conventional measurements of success such as numbers, more efforts, and imitation of "successful" megachurches? Now we are listening. Beginning with a frank assessment of our prevailing culture, the authors point out the influence of secular society over the church at large; dividing societies into three major dichotomies: Secular vs Sacred; Public vs Private; and Immanent vs Transcendent. Secularism now sets the agenda, not the sacred. In a culture that prefers to keep the faith as private as possible, it is now possible to not believe in God and not need God. Along with that, secularism diminishes the awareness of the transcendent. The key to understanding how to revitalize the Church has more to do with this environment instead of throwing more money, programs, and innovation into the Church. In a bold shift from a myopic focus on internal Church dynamics, authors Andrew Root and Blaire Bertrand help us understand the trajectory of ministry for the future. They first critique the conventional ministry strategies, especially those based on "rules of capitalism." One popular way is that of acceleration in order to have more: Do more, get more, and perform more. Many churches that adopt this practice will tend to rush hastily with their plans instead of waiting for the Lord. One popular capitalist maxim is, "It is not the big who eat the small, but the fast who eat the slow." Churches swallow this whole: hook, line, and sinker. They remind us of the critical need to learn how to wait for God's timing. Unfortunately, impatience often drive human decisions through accelerated programs instead of waiting upon God through prayer and trust. Another catchy strategy is to use the popular mission-vision statement to drive the Church forward. The authors then point out the difference between a "mission statement" and "missional theology." The former put human actions at the center while the latter lets the Word of God drive any action. They call for the use of a "watchword" instead of a mission statement. In contrast to a "password" which we use to enter and forget, a "watchword" is something that shapes us to observe and discern things beyond mere results. The use of such a "watchword" helps us appreciate the relationships we have as we encounter one another, and to wait in such a way that we may encounter God. Weaving together the stories of faith, we let God speak to us in a way that blesses the relationships we have with one another.
Root and Bertrand also have some things to say about small churches. In chapter seven, they point out two "traps" that such churches can fall in. The first is family domination where a few families discourage the entry of newer members. Without being "invited" to such a clique, it is hard to grow. Secondly, there is the "endowment effect" which leads to sacred cows we are afraid to slay. We need to move away from just the family sheep and learn to care for all sheep. The authors then close with a story of Pastor Mike Woods, whose way to revitalizing the Church began with a "watchword." In fact, it is to link the old watchword with the new, From "Nothing can separate us from God's Love" to "Never Alone." Identifying this watchword is key not only to the revitalization of the Church but to the recognition of her identity. The job of the leader is to amplify this watchword everywhere, that the entire church ministry will flow from that. The source of this watchword: God.
My Thoughts
==============
If there is a way to summarize this book, it would be the 3Ws: Wait-Watch-Work in their order. The first is to learn to Wait. Just like the Book of Acts, we need to remember that Acts begin not with chapter Two to go forth and multiply. but with One, to wait upon the Holy Spirit to come. This teaches us the discipline of waiting upon God. We need to resist the temptation of rushing like the world does. The discipline of waiting forces us to sense the moving of the Spirit. If God doesn't move, we need to stay put. When God prompts, then move. Far too often, churches panic whenever numbers come unfavorably. From financial to attendance numbers, their ministries function on the basis of reacting to crises. If we learn the discipline of waiting, we will not let these factors influence our direction. Faith will be the guide instead.
Secondly, we need to learn to watch the movement of the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts is not about the "Acts of the Apostles," even though most of the key leaders are the apostles like Stephen, Peter, Paul, etc. It should be more accurately titled as the "Acts of the Holy Spirit. The authors point out how many churches erroneously use busyness as a mark of health. That is something we all need to be careful of. I have heard someone mention BUSY as an acronym for "Buried Under Satan's Yoke." This can be arguable but the main point is that we should not busy ourselves in doing what the world tells us to do. We need to watch and pray for the direction God's wind is blowing. Move with the Spirit. Serve in God's flow. Watchfulness and prayerfulness should be the key marks of such a strategy.
Finally, we need to locate our Watchwords. If the first two Ws are done well, this will eventually be revealed. The authors remind us that while new generations will need new watchwords, they should not be totally different from the old ones. God moves in mysterious ways. Learning to identify our watchwords should be the most important thing any leader could do. Otherwise, we will be running ourselves empty. Unless we learn how to put first things first, we will be foolishly putting the cart before the horse. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply, so says Hudson Taylor, a famous missionary to China.
This is a remarkable book that helps us look out of our conventional ministry boxes. It should be required reading for leaders or anyone burdened for the Church.
Andrew Root (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Faith Formation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, The Congregation in a Secular Age, Churches and the Crisis of Decline, The Church after Innovation, and The End of Youth Ministry? Root is also the coauthor (with Kenda Creasy Dean) of The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry. He is a frequent speaker and hosts the popular and influential When Church Stops Working podcast.
Blair D. Bertrand (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is a lecturer at Zomba Theological University, teaching consultant with Theological Education by Extension Malawi, and adjunct lecturer at Tyndale University, Toronto. He has served various Presbyterian Church in Canada congregations as an ordained minister and lives in Ottawa, Ontario.
Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.
conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic via NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
Root and Bertrand also have some things to say about small churches. In chapter seven, they point out two "traps" that such churches can fall in. The first is family domination where a few families discourage the entry of newer members. Without being "invited" to such a clique, it is hard to grow. Secondly, there is the "endowment effect" which leads to sacred cows we are afraid to slay. We need to move away from just the family sheep and learn to care for all sheep. The authors then close with a story of Pastor Mike Woods, whose way to revitalizing the Church began with a "watchword." In fact, it is to link the old watchword with the new, From "Nothing can separate us from God's Love" to "Never Alone." Identifying this watchword is key not only to the revitalization of the Church but to the recognition of her identity. The job of the leader is to amplify this watchword everywhere, that the entire church ministry will flow from that. The source of this watchword: God.
My Thoughts
==============
If there is a way to summarize this book, it would be the 3Ws: Wait-Watch-Work in their order. The first is to learn to Wait. Just like the Book of Acts, we need to remember that Acts begin not with chapter Two to go forth and multiply. but with One, to wait upon the Holy Spirit to come. This teaches us the discipline of waiting upon God. We need to resist the temptation of rushing like the world does. The discipline of waiting forces us to sense the moving of the Spirit. If God doesn't move, we need to stay put. When God prompts, then move. Far too often, churches panic whenever numbers come unfavorably. From financial to attendance numbers, their ministries function on the basis of reacting to crises. If we learn the discipline of waiting, we will not let these factors influence our direction. Faith will be the guide instead.
Secondly, we need to learn to watch the movement of the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts is not about the "Acts of the Apostles," even though most of the key leaders are the apostles like Stephen, Peter, Paul, etc. It should be more accurately titled as the "Acts of the Holy Spirit. The authors point out how many churches erroneously use busyness as a mark of health. That is something we all need to be careful of. I have heard someone mention BUSY as an acronym for "Buried Under Satan's Yoke." This can be arguable but the main point is that we should not busy ourselves in doing what the world tells us to do. We need to watch and pray for the direction God's wind is blowing. Move with the Spirit. Serve in God's flow. Watchfulness and prayerfulness should be the key marks of such a strategy.
Finally, we need to locate our Watchwords. If the first two Ws are done well, this will eventually be revealed. The authors remind us that while new generations will need new watchwords, they should not be totally different from the old ones. God moves in mysterious ways. Learning to identify our watchwords should be the most important thing any leader could do. Otherwise, we will be running ourselves empty. Unless we learn how to put first things first, we will be foolishly putting the cart before the horse. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply, so says Hudson Taylor, a famous missionary to China.
This is a remarkable book that helps us look out of our conventional ministry boxes. It should be required reading for leaders or anyone burdened for the Church.
Andrew Root (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Faith Formation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, The Congregation in a Secular Age, Churches and the Crisis of Decline, The Church after Innovation, and The End of Youth Ministry? Root is also the coauthor (with Kenda Creasy Dean) of The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry. He is a frequent speaker and hosts the popular and influential When Church Stops Working podcast.
Blair D. Bertrand (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is a lecturer at Zomba Theological University, teaching consultant with Theological Education by Extension Malawi, and adjunct lecturer at Tyndale University, Toronto. He has served various Presbyterian Church in Canada congregations as an ordained minister and lives in Ottawa, Ontario.
Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.
conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic via NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
August 17, 2023
This book falters from the title all the way through to its concluding pages, as its premise that the church isn't working is not based in reality. The Church of Jesus Christ has always, and will always work. It's not broken, and it doesn't need fixing.
Where the people that make up the Church go wrong is where Root has gone wrong... making scripture say what you want it to say. The book's entire premise is based on the false reading of scripture that the original disciples were called to "wait" for God and that this "waiting period" still applies to the Church today. That the Apostles and their "acts" in the book of Acts were wrong because they went ahead of God and added to their number.
It is true that Jesus called the disciples to "wait" for a moment before His ascension, but the waiting is just that... for a moment. A. moment that has passed. Root ignores the reality that the disciples were called to only wait for the sending of the Holy Spirit, but then they were explicitly called by Jesus to GO and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey everything that Christ has already taught them.
Root ignores this reality as well as the end of the disciples' commission to "wait," which was the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Root never makes mention of this reality and, in neglecting to do so, nullifies the worth of the rest of his book, which largely centers on Root's own visceral for creativity and innovation in the Church.
As far as this animosity for innovation and creativity in the mission of the Church, I would point Root and anyone who subscribes to this book to Acts 17. There the Apostle Paul stands before unbelieving philosophers on Mars Hill and uses a pagan idol of an "unknown god" to make the living God known to unbelieving philosophers, with many, through the power of God coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
I will leave Root with two questions to ponder...
One... was the use of a pagan idol, not creative innovation in the witness of the Church?
Two... was Paul sinful for doing so? Should he be condemned for bringing the secular age into the Church?
I will continue to strive to bring hope to a hurting world in the name and in the ways of Jesus Christ as revealed by the Holy Spirit. The God who is a creative and the innovator of my salvation through the finished work of Christ's cross.
Where the people that make up the Church go wrong is where Root has gone wrong... making scripture say what you want it to say. The book's entire premise is based on the false reading of scripture that the original disciples were called to "wait" for God and that this "waiting period" still applies to the Church today. That the Apostles and their "acts" in the book of Acts were wrong because they went ahead of God and added to their number.
It is true that Jesus called the disciples to "wait" for a moment before His ascension, but the waiting is just that... for a moment. A. moment that has passed. Root ignores the reality that the disciples were called to only wait for the sending of the Holy Spirit, but then they were explicitly called by Jesus to GO and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey everything that Christ has already taught them.
Root ignores this reality as well as the end of the disciples' commission to "wait," which was the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Root never makes mention of this reality and, in neglecting to do so, nullifies the worth of the rest of his book, which largely centers on Root's own visceral for creativity and innovation in the Church.
As far as this animosity for innovation and creativity in the mission of the Church, I would point Root and anyone who subscribes to this book to Acts 17. There the Apostle Paul stands before unbelieving philosophers on Mars Hill and uses a pagan idol of an "unknown god" to make the living God known to unbelieving philosophers, with many, through the power of God coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
I will leave Root with two questions to ponder...
One... was the use of a pagan idol, not creative innovation in the witness of the Church?
Two... was Paul sinful for doing so? Should he be condemned for bringing the secular age into the Church?
I will continue to strive to bring hope to a hurting world in the name and in the ways of Jesus Christ as revealed by the Holy Spirit. The God who is a creative and the innovator of my salvation through the finished work of Christ's cross.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 24, 2023
Participants in The Abbey conversation in May of 2023
spent a stimulating 90 minutes with Andy Root and Blair Bertrand
talking about their new book, When the Church Stops Working.
The Abbey () was initiated by John Borthwick
while ministering with St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Guelph, ON.
John begins a new ministry as Director of Life Long Learning
at Knox College in Toronto in August of 2023.
Blair is a Canadian Presbyterian minister and scholar.
Andy is an American theological professor and prolific author.
They met at Princeton during their doctoral studies
and have collaborated in a variety of ways since then.
This is their first book together.
Their angst is that church has succumbed
to the secularity that is the air our culture breathes these days.
This has led to an exhausted sickness of soul.
In particular, they are concerned
that church leaders have bought in too fully and uncritically to:
1. the accelerated pace of technological developments,
especially in transportation, communication, and production;
2. the quickly expanding scope of social contacts and information overload that overwhelm us with an oppressive range of responsibilities; and
3. the disturbing and disruptive pace of change that infects us with a diseased busyness.
All of these are grounded in a world view
that honours the secular over the sacred,
the private over the public,
and the immanent over the transcendent.
The preferred processes of being together
within this way of understanding how we show up in the world
are to diagnose the problems, design the solutions,
and deploy the resources to solve the problems.
These processes are often driven by experts
who insist that only their standardized strategies will work.
And, those experts promise, they will fix everything.
Over the past several decades,
the church has bought more and more into this way of dealing with change.
The experts and the strategies have shifted every decade or so,
but the basic approach has remained the same �
diagnose, strategize, and implement as directed.
Root and Bertrand have an intriguing and instructive take on the opening chapters of Acts.
They suggest that the common approach just described can be justified by Acts 2 and the energizing of the apostles by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
But that take on Acts 2 ignores what happened before in Acts 1.
There, the disciples are huddled in fearful confusion waiting for something to happen,
waiting for a further encounter with God to inspire and instruct them
into a provocative partnering with what God is doing in and for the world.
Root and Bertrand point out, rightly,
that its more about the Acts of God than the acts of the apostles.
The apostles align with God in grateful response to the divine initiatives.
In doing so, they are drawn out of their fearful huddling into a life of resonant blessing
through their participation in God’s forgiving and reconciling love.
That’s the approach Root and Bertrand propose as an alternative to the secularity-soaked strategies
that so often consume the church in busyness with little or no remediation in our crises of decline.
Those efforts often lead to more discouragement and despair
as the results from the energies spent prove so meager.
The positive suggestions in the book revolve around two provocative concepts �
waiting and watchwords.
Rather than continue to get sucked into the morass
of secular strategic busyness driven by church crises,
Root and Bertrand suggest, with considerable passion and insight,
that we wait and compose a watchword.
Their understanding of waiting as faithful response to our encounters with God in Jesus
arises from their read of Acts 1:
� the crisis we should be focused on � the crisis that is in the heart of church and not a tumor � is a crisis we can never escape and still be the church of Jesus Christ. This crisis is weird, even mystical. It’s the kind of crisis that doesn’t ask us to do more, to hurry and to have as a way of stabilizing ourselves. This crisis is different. The only way to live in this crisis is to wait. Jesus commands us in Acts 1 to wait inside this crisis. This crisis demands attentive waiting, that we try and see and hear what’s so easily blurred in our secular age. (87)
There is a profound and providential paradox here.
Waiting for God’s action, leaning further into the crisis, doesn’t undo the church.
It’s not passive waiting.
It’s paying attention to God’s actions in ways that give life.
It’s discerning a whisper of the Spirit
in the midst of the cacophony of secular promises.
That whisper invites us into partnership with God
in sowing and cultivating forgiving and reconciling love.
Root and Bertrand don’t like mission statements.
They think their sources are too secular
and that working on them draws us back into that morass.
Instead, they urge us to develop watchwords:
A watchword forms you. It’s a shorthand story of beauty and encounter. It’s shorthand for your shared experience with the living God. � You take it on, like a pair of glasses, moving in and through the world with a new lens. You use the watchword’s narrative shape � as a way of making sense of the world and your own life in it. (106)
They give some powerful examples.
“Out of no way, God makes a way.�
That was Martin Luther King Jr.’s watchword for the civil rights movement.
“Feed my sheep� and “You are loved and you are enough�
were watchwords two successive pastors introduced to revitalize a small congregation.
“Nothing can separate you from the love of God�
drew the attention of another transforming congregation.
Our watchword at Brentwood Presbyterian Church in Burnaby, BC,
the congregation with whom I work, has generated a significant revitalization.
It is “Nourishing souls to flourish in the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ.�
There is much in this provocative book that has not made it into this brief review.
I encourage you to read it with the leadership team in your congregation.
I did find myself imagining a watchword for my denomination, The Presbyterian Church in Canada.
How about “Ambassadors of Christ’s forgiving and reconciling love for the world�?
Thanks to Andrew Root and Blair D. Bertrand for such provocations.
spent a stimulating 90 minutes with Andy Root and Blair Bertrand
talking about their new book, When the Church Stops Working.
The Abbey () was initiated by John Borthwick
while ministering with St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Guelph, ON.
John begins a new ministry as Director of Life Long Learning
at Knox College in Toronto in August of 2023.
Blair is a Canadian Presbyterian minister and scholar.
Andy is an American theological professor and prolific author.
They met at Princeton during their doctoral studies
and have collaborated in a variety of ways since then.
This is their first book together.
Their angst is that church has succumbed
to the secularity that is the air our culture breathes these days.
This has led to an exhausted sickness of soul.
In particular, they are concerned
that church leaders have bought in too fully and uncritically to:
1. the accelerated pace of technological developments,
especially in transportation, communication, and production;
2. the quickly expanding scope of social contacts and information overload that overwhelm us with an oppressive range of responsibilities; and
3. the disturbing and disruptive pace of change that infects us with a diseased busyness.
All of these are grounded in a world view
that honours the secular over the sacred,
the private over the public,
and the immanent over the transcendent.
The preferred processes of being together
within this way of understanding how we show up in the world
are to diagnose the problems, design the solutions,
and deploy the resources to solve the problems.
These processes are often driven by experts
who insist that only their standardized strategies will work.
And, those experts promise, they will fix everything.
Over the past several decades,
the church has bought more and more into this way of dealing with change.
The experts and the strategies have shifted every decade or so,
but the basic approach has remained the same �
diagnose, strategize, and implement as directed.
Root and Bertrand have an intriguing and instructive take on the opening chapters of Acts.
They suggest that the common approach just described can be justified by Acts 2 and the energizing of the apostles by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
But that take on Acts 2 ignores what happened before in Acts 1.
There, the disciples are huddled in fearful confusion waiting for something to happen,
waiting for a further encounter with God to inspire and instruct them
into a provocative partnering with what God is doing in and for the world.
Root and Bertrand point out, rightly,
that its more about the Acts of God than the acts of the apostles.
The apostles align with God in grateful response to the divine initiatives.
In doing so, they are drawn out of their fearful huddling into a life of resonant blessing
through their participation in God’s forgiving and reconciling love.
That’s the approach Root and Bertrand propose as an alternative to the secularity-soaked strategies
that so often consume the church in busyness with little or no remediation in our crises of decline.
Those efforts often lead to more discouragement and despair
as the results from the energies spent prove so meager.
The positive suggestions in the book revolve around two provocative concepts �
waiting and watchwords.
Rather than continue to get sucked into the morass
of secular strategic busyness driven by church crises,
Root and Bertrand suggest, with considerable passion and insight,
that we wait and compose a watchword.
Their understanding of waiting as faithful response to our encounters with God in Jesus
arises from their read of Acts 1:
� the crisis we should be focused on � the crisis that is in the heart of church and not a tumor � is a crisis we can never escape and still be the church of Jesus Christ. This crisis is weird, even mystical. It’s the kind of crisis that doesn’t ask us to do more, to hurry and to have as a way of stabilizing ourselves. This crisis is different. The only way to live in this crisis is to wait. Jesus commands us in Acts 1 to wait inside this crisis. This crisis demands attentive waiting, that we try and see and hear what’s so easily blurred in our secular age. (87)
There is a profound and providential paradox here.
Waiting for God’s action, leaning further into the crisis, doesn’t undo the church.
It’s not passive waiting.
It’s paying attention to God’s actions in ways that give life.
It’s discerning a whisper of the Spirit
in the midst of the cacophony of secular promises.
That whisper invites us into partnership with God
in sowing and cultivating forgiving and reconciling love.
Root and Bertrand don’t like mission statements.
They think their sources are too secular
and that working on them draws us back into that morass.
Instead, they urge us to develop watchwords:
A watchword forms you. It’s a shorthand story of beauty and encounter. It’s shorthand for your shared experience with the living God. � You take it on, like a pair of glasses, moving in and through the world with a new lens. You use the watchword’s narrative shape � as a way of making sense of the world and your own life in it. (106)
They give some powerful examples.
“Out of no way, God makes a way.�
That was Martin Luther King Jr.’s watchword for the civil rights movement.
“Feed my sheep� and “You are loved and you are enough�
were watchwords two successive pastors introduced to revitalize a small congregation.
“Nothing can separate you from the love of God�
drew the attention of another transforming congregation.
Our watchword at Brentwood Presbyterian Church in Burnaby, BC,
the congregation with whom I work, has generated a significant revitalization.
It is “Nourishing souls to flourish in the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ.�
There is much in this provocative book that has not made it into this brief review.
I encourage you to read it with the leadership team in your congregation.
I did find myself imagining a watchword for my denomination, The Presbyterian Church in Canada.
How about “Ambassadors of Christ’s forgiving and reconciling love for the world�?
Thanks to Andrew Root and Blair D. Bertrand for such provocations.
June 7, 2023
Review title: Church attendance is declining, this book addresses why and a path forward
I wanted to read this book for several reasons. My unmarried, college/early career-aged kids are willing to go to church but there’s no one their ages at church and no place for them to connect or have community. I have increasingly felt like I don’t fit in at church either, especially if I mention my interest/background in science. Also, I have seen so much division in the church and am concerned about fringe ideas that have become popular. Would this book have some insight that might help? I decided to read it to find out. I received a pre-release version of the book, When Church Stops Working, from NetGalley and read it with the Kindle app on my iPad so instead of page numbers, I reference location numbers when citing quotes. Here’s a summary of the book and my review.
In the Preface, this quote to pastors really summarizes the whole book, “This book will encourage you to walk, to do something, but this something might be more paradoxical than you expect. The point of this book you’re holding is to address the church in crisis, but in a way you probably haven’t considered.� L41. And the book goes on to share with pastors and church leaders ways to see God at work in their church and to shift focus from growth/attendance to waiting on God’s presence and action.
Chapter 1: Why Your Church Has a Problem, but It Isn’t What You Think
Diagnosing the root of the crisis in the church is similar to a medical diagnosis for a complex issue that was initially misdiagnosed. For 50 years the church has been treating the symptoms without addressing the systemic cause: infection of the secular age. Symptom 1 is the sense that the church and Christianity have less influence on society than they once did. (L211). Symptom 2 divides the public and private such that fewer people are expressing their faith in public/corporate/church settings. (L222). Symptom 3 goes deep to the core � it is now possible to not believe in God. (L244). Life must have resonance, otherwise, it is just busyness. If the church needs more of anything in the crisis it faces, it is more resonance. (L311).
Chapter 2: Busy People, Busy Church, A Killer Cocktail
Busyness sucks the joy out of people and the church often falls into the trap of adding to the busyness. Sarah and Abraham try an innovative and culturally acceptable approach to conceiving. Sarah’s handmaiden had their baby. They didn’t want to wait for God’s solution. Real people get hurt when they are treated as a problem to solve.
Chapter 3: Stop All the Having and Just Be
Always rushing to the next thing � to do more and more, takes away from the joy in the moment, just being present. The waiting church is a church led in humility into confession and thankfulness. The waiting church lives in the now by gratitude. (L762).
Chapter 4: It’s Time to Wait, but for What?
The church began during a period of waiting together. “Through waiting, the church is sent out into joining the acts of God. Waiting shapes the church to be, solely by the acts of God.� (L990).
Chapter 5: Waiting Brings Life, Not a Slow Death
In every community, including church communities, there is conflict.
1. No Tension � No Community (L1177).
2. No Crisis � No God (L1200).
Before the return of Jesus, there will always be some crisis but the church has misidentified declining numbers as a crisis to solve/fix. But that’s not the real crisis. “The real crisis is encountering a living God who is God. God is real. God is God, and we are not.� (L1224). “Our crisis is continual because God is God. Because God is God, we must wait.� (L1391).
Chapter 6: Forget the Mission Statement � Get a Watchword
“But a mission statement and good missional theology are not the same thing. A mission statement is an agreement about how a group of people will direct their actions. It puts our human actions at the center. Missional theology puts the emphasis on God’s own action. God is the agent in missional theology.� (L1415). We need to prioritize encountering God over programs and events.
� The First Move: Learn to Encounter
� The First Move: An Experiment in Encountering One Another
� The Second Move: Encounter God � “Barth’s advice is to not chase sunsets, concertos, or dead dogs, because they are not a sure thing. Instead, look to preaching, prayer, and mission as places we might encounter God.� (L1593). I don’t entirely agree here because the heavens declare the glory of God. Spending time in nature is a wonderful way to encounter God, connect with him, and see his glory.
� The Second Move: Encounter God: Hearing God, Seeing God, Serving God
Chapter 7: Out of the Family Basement
This chapter tells the story of a church that went through periods of decline and growth, pastor transitions, and change. Morality tales remember history with the goal to teach what to do or not to do. “Watchwords remember an encounter. They point to a time and place where God showed God.� (L1879).
Chapter 8: Nothing Can Separate You
This chapter starts with another example of a pastor/church that has a watchword formed from the experiences of a family and taught through their lives to the 7th grade Sunday School and then to the whole church. But in time, since “God moves in time, really acting in our lives, watchwords must come anew.� (L2037). To know when you need a new watchword, “listen by waiting� and develop an ear. “When one watchword passes away and you need another, you need to do less and wait, listening for what sounds like Scripture.� (L2059).
This book is written to pastors, elders, and church leaders, and not really to lay people. It was a good book, and I do think the ideas presented would be helpful for churches looking for God’s actions in their community. I think the advice for churches to wait for God rather than to fill the schedule with busyness and activities is wise. I had hoped it would offer some hope for me and my family but it wasn’t written for that purpose. I would recommend this book to people in leadership at churches.
I wanted to read this book for several reasons. My unmarried, college/early career-aged kids are willing to go to church but there’s no one their ages at church and no place for them to connect or have community. I have increasingly felt like I don’t fit in at church either, especially if I mention my interest/background in science. Also, I have seen so much division in the church and am concerned about fringe ideas that have become popular. Would this book have some insight that might help? I decided to read it to find out. I received a pre-release version of the book, When Church Stops Working, from NetGalley and read it with the Kindle app on my iPad so instead of page numbers, I reference location numbers when citing quotes. Here’s a summary of the book and my review.
In the Preface, this quote to pastors really summarizes the whole book, “This book will encourage you to walk, to do something, but this something might be more paradoxical than you expect. The point of this book you’re holding is to address the church in crisis, but in a way you probably haven’t considered.� L41. And the book goes on to share with pastors and church leaders ways to see God at work in their church and to shift focus from growth/attendance to waiting on God’s presence and action.
Chapter 1: Why Your Church Has a Problem, but It Isn’t What You Think
Diagnosing the root of the crisis in the church is similar to a medical diagnosis for a complex issue that was initially misdiagnosed. For 50 years the church has been treating the symptoms without addressing the systemic cause: infection of the secular age. Symptom 1 is the sense that the church and Christianity have less influence on society than they once did. (L211). Symptom 2 divides the public and private such that fewer people are expressing their faith in public/corporate/church settings. (L222). Symptom 3 goes deep to the core � it is now possible to not believe in God. (L244). Life must have resonance, otherwise, it is just busyness. If the church needs more of anything in the crisis it faces, it is more resonance. (L311).
Chapter 2: Busy People, Busy Church, A Killer Cocktail
Busyness sucks the joy out of people and the church often falls into the trap of adding to the busyness. Sarah and Abraham try an innovative and culturally acceptable approach to conceiving. Sarah’s handmaiden had their baby. They didn’t want to wait for God’s solution. Real people get hurt when they are treated as a problem to solve.
Chapter 3: Stop All the Having and Just Be
Always rushing to the next thing � to do more and more, takes away from the joy in the moment, just being present. The waiting church is a church led in humility into confession and thankfulness. The waiting church lives in the now by gratitude. (L762).
Chapter 4: It’s Time to Wait, but for What?
The church began during a period of waiting together. “Through waiting, the church is sent out into joining the acts of God. Waiting shapes the church to be, solely by the acts of God.� (L990).
Chapter 5: Waiting Brings Life, Not a Slow Death
In every community, including church communities, there is conflict.
1. No Tension � No Community (L1177).
2. No Crisis � No God (L1200).
Before the return of Jesus, there will always be some crisis but the church has misidentified declining numbers as a crisis to solve/fix. But that’s not the real crisis. “The real crisis is encountering a living God who is God. God is real. God is God, and we are not.� (L1224). “Our crisis is continual because God is God. Because God is God, we must wait.� (L1391).
Chapter 6: Forget the Mission Statement � Get a Watchword
“But a mission statement and good missional theology are not the same thing. A mission statement is an agreement about how a group of people will direct their actions. It puts our human actions at the center. Missional theology puts the emphasis on God’s own action. God is the agent in missional theology.� (L1415). We need to prioritize encountering God over programs and events.
� The First Move: Learn to Encounter
� The First Move: An Experiment in Encountering One Another
� The Second Move: Encounter God � “Barth’s advice is to not chase sunsets, concertos, or dead dogs, because they are not a sure thing. Instead, look to preaching, prayer, and mission as places we might encounter God.� (L1593). I don’t entirely agree here because the heavens declare the glory of God. Spending time in nature is a wonderful way to encounter God, connect with him, and see his glory.
� The Second Move: Encounter God: Hearing God, Seeing God, Serving God
Chapter 7: Out of the Family Basement
This chapter tells the story of a church that went through periods of decline and growth, pastor transitions, and change. Morality tales remember history with the goal to teach what to do or not to do. “Watchwords remember an encounter. They point to a time and place where God showed God.� (L1879).
Chapter 8: Nothing Can Separate You
This chapter starts with another example of a pastor/church that has a watchword formed from the experiences of a family and taught through their lives to the 7th grade Sunday School and then to the whole church. But in time, since “God moves in time, really acting in our lives, watchwords must come anew.� (L2037). To know when you need a new watchword, “listen by waiting� and develop an ear. “When one watchword passes away and you need another, you need to do less and wait, listening for what sounds like Scripture.� (L2059).
This book is written to pastors, elders, and church leaders, and not really to lay people. It was a good book, and I do think the ideas presented would be helpful for churches looking for God’s actions in their community. I think the advice for churches to wait for God rather than to fill the schedule with busyness and activities is wise. I had hoped it would offer some hope for me and my family but it wasn’t written for that purpose. I would recommend this book to people in leadership at churches.
Read
April 11, 2024Zie ‘de nieuwe koers� juli 2023
Toevoeging: in de lente van 2024 hierover de Theologie Podcast.
Het boek is inmiddels vertaald door Boekencentrum.
Toevoeging: in de lente van 2024 hierover de Theologie Podcast.
Het boek is inmiddels vertaald door Boekencentrum.
May 13, 2024
In de afgelopen jaren schreef Andrew Root een aantal boeken, waarin hij uitlegt op welke manier onze tijd een crisis in de kerk en de theologie veroorzaakt. Die crisis wordt niet zozeer veroorzaakt door de kerkverlating, maar door een ingrijpendere crisis: het gebrek aan geloof dat God in deze tijd nog handelt. Omdat er geen vertrouwen meer in Gods handelen, is de gedachte dat de kerkleiding en kerkleden zelf van alles moeten doen om de kerk te redden. Volgens Root deelt de kerk daarom in de malaise van deze seculiere tijd: God doet het niet meer en dus moeten wij het doen. Omdat Root in deze serie in gesprek was met sociologen en theologen heeft hij nu samen met Blair Bertrand een compactere en vereenvoudigde versie geschreven. Onlangs is een vertaling verschenen. Er is niet gekozen voor de vertaling van de Engelse titel. Dan zou het boek heten: Als de kerk stopt om te werken. Een toekomst voor je gemeente zonder dat geld, beleidsplannen en innovatie de hoofdrol spelen. De titel luidt nu: Wachten op God. Vanuit geloof en geduld bouwen aan je gemeente. De vertaling is van Milly Born-Wegman.
Root en Bertrand leggen eerst uit dat de crisis van de kerk anders is dan je zou denken en dat de oplossing die vaak gekozen wordt de verkeerde oplossing is, die de kerkleden overvraagt en uitput. De gedachte is dat de crisis veroorzaakt wordt door krimp en kerkverlating en dat deze krimp alleen door innovatieve ideeën, die aantrekkingskracht hebben, kan overwonnen worden. De gedachte dat innovatieve ideeën helpen om de krimp tegen te gaan, wordt versterkt door het idee dat groeiende kerken vaak innovatief zijn. Deze gedachte rekent echter niet met God, die de kerk bouwt en leidt. De seculiere crisis zorgt ervoor dat de kerk óf vol nostalgie in het verleden blijft hangen en het verleden idealiseert als een tijd waarin de kerk van maatschappelijke betekenis was, óf dat de kerk met het hoofd in de wolken loopt en droomt van een toekomst, die wel eens nooit zal aanbreken. Root en Bertrand voeren het pleidooi om in het hier en nu te leven en Gods handelen te verwachten. Doet de kerk dat niet, dan krijgen krachten vrij spel die afbreuk doen aan het evangelie. Root en Bertrand wijzen op megakerken, die hun leden schoffeerden omdat zij niet konden blijven aanhaken. Een voorganger met succes mag grensoverschrijdend gedrag vertonen, want het succes is heiliger dan het evangelie zelf. Root en Bertrand wijzen erop dat God vaak niet via succes werkt, maar vaak onopvallend ruimte schept voor Zijn handelen.
De kerk moet daarom niet zelf als eerste handelen, maar leven in verwachting dat God zelf zal handelen. De keuze voor de titel is daarom niet gelukkig gekozen. Want het gaat de schrijvers niet om een afwachtende houding, maar om een houding vol verwachting. Tijdens het verwachtend uitzien naar Gods handelen vertellen de leden van de gemeenschap elkaar verhalen over hoe zijzelf Gods handelen hebben ervaren. Het is niet eenvoudig om pas op de plaats te maken. Het kan zelfs het sterven betekenen - sterven in de zin van het afsterven van het ongeloof en de oude mens. (Ik moest daarbij denken aan een korte discussie van langgeleden over een column van Willem Maarten Dekker, waarin hij het had over het begraven van de kerk.) Door het sterven heen kan de kerk als gelouterde gemeenschap zien welke taken God voor deze kerk op het oog heeft. In de verhalen die aan elkaar verteld worden komt een wachtwoord bovendrijven dat de inspiratiebron vormt voor het doen en laten van de kerk in alle facetten. Zo’n wachtwoord is geen slogan of goedkope leus, maar een korte geloofsbelijdenis aan de ervaring ontsprongen. Wanneer de kerk handelt vanuit dit wachtwoord, deze korte belijdenis dient de kerk dit wachtwoord als een op ervaring gestoelde geloofsbelijdenis in ere houden. Wanneer het wachtwoord losraakt van de ervaring, wordt het wachtwoord een mantra. Dan wordt het meer een opdracht die de gemeente zichzelf heeft opgelegd en niet een belijdenis die helpt om Gods handelen te blijven verwachten en een belijdenis die helpt om de roeping ter plekke te vinden.
Root en Bertrand schreven dit boek voor kerkenraadsleden. Ik denk dat er nog een vertaalslag nodig is naar het niveau van kerkenraadsleden. Er zouden meer verhalen opgenomen kunnen worden, waarin de gedachten van Root en Bertrand worden uitgelegd. Daarbij hadden er meer aanwijzingen en (groeps)opdrachten of gespreksvragen opgenomen kunnen worden, waarbij kerkenraden uitgedaagd worden om niet in de gebruikelijke reflex van handelen te schieten, maar om verwachtingsvol uit te zien naar Gods handelen. Ook had duidelijker uitgelegd mogen worden hoe je dat doet: hoe je de tijd vult met verwachtingsvol uitzien naar wat God doet en hoe je dat doet: elkaar die verhalen vertellen waarin je iets van Gods werk en aanwezigheid hebt gemerkt.
Root en Bertrand leggen eerst uit dat de crisis van de kerk anders is dan je zou denken en dat de oplossing die vaak gekozen wordt de verkeerde oplossing is, die de kerkleden overvraagt en uitput. De gedachte is dat de crisis veroorzaakt wordt door krimp en kerkverlating en dat deze krimp alleen door innovatieve ideeën, die aantrekkingskracht hebben, kan overwonnen worden. De gedachte dat innovatieve ideeën helpen om de krimp tegen te gaan, wordt versterkt door het idee dat groeiende kerken vaak innovatief zijn. Deze gedachte rekent echter niet met God, die de kerk bouwt en leidt. De seculiere crisis zorgt ervoor dat de kerk óf vol nostalgie in het verleden blijft hangen en het verleden idealiseert als een tijd waarin de kerk van maatschappelijke betekenis was, óf dat de kerk met het hoofd in de wolken loopt en droomt van een toekomst, die wel eens nooit zal aanbreken. Root en Bertrand voeren het pleidooi om in het hier en nu te leven en Gods handelen te verwachten. Doet de kerk dat niet, dan krijgen krachten vrij spel die afbreuk doen aan het evangelie. Root en Bertrand wijzen op megakerken, die hun leden schoffeerden omdat zij niet konden blijven aanhaken. Een voorganger met succes mag grensoverschrijdend gedrag vertonen, want het succes is heiliger dan het evangelie zelf. Root en Bertrand wijzen erop dat God vaak niet via succes werkt, maar vaak onopvallend ruimte schept voor Zijn handelen.
De kerk moet daarom niet zelf als eerste handelen, maar leven in verwachting dat God zelf zal handelen. De keuze voor de titel is daarom niet gelukkig gekozen. Want het gaat de schrijvers niet om een afwachtende houding, maar om een houding vol verwachting. Tijdens het verwachtend uitzien naar Gods handelen vertellen de leden van de gemeenschap elkaar verhalen over hoe zijzelf Gods handelen hebben ervaren. Het is niet eenvoudig om pas op de plaats te maken. Het kan zelfs het sterven betekenen - sterven in de zin van het afsterven van het ongeloof en de oude mens. (Ik moest daarbij denken aan een korte discussie van langgeleden over een column van Willem Maarten Dekker, waarin hij het had over het begraven van de kerk.) Door het sterven heen kan de kerk als gelouterde gemeenschap zien welke taken God voor deze kerk op het oog heeft. In de verhalen die aan elkaar verteld worden komt een wachtwoord bovendrijven dat de inspiratiebron vormt voor het doen en laten van de kerk in alle facetten. Zo’n wachtwoord is geen slogan of goedkope leus, maar een korte geloofsbelijdenis aan de ervaring ontsprongen. Wanneer de kerk handelt vanuit dit wachtwoord, deze korte belijdenis dient de kerk dit wachtwoord als een op ervaring gestoelde geloofsbelijdenis in ere houden. Wanneer het wachtwoord losraakt van de ervaring, wordt het wachtwoord een mantra. Dan wordt het meer een opdracht die de gemeente zichzelf heeft opgelegd en niet een belijdenis die helpt om Gods handelen te blijven verwachten en een belijdenis die helpt om de roeping ter plekke te vinden.
Root en Bertrand schreven dit boek voor kerkenraadsleden. Ik denk dat er nog een vertaalslag nodig is naar het niveau van kerkenraadsleden. Er zouden meer verhalen opgenomen kunnen worden, waarin de gedachten van Root en Bertrand worden uitgelegd. Daarbij hadden er meer aanwijzingen en (groeps)opdrachten of gespreksvragen opgenomen kunnen worden, waarbij kerkenraden uitgedaagd worden om niet in de gebruikelijke reflex van handelen te schieten, maar om verwachtingsvol uit te zien naar Gods handelen. Ook had duidelijker uitgelegd mogen worden hoe je dat doet: hoe je de tijd vult met verwachtingsvol uitzien naar wat God doet en hoe je dat doet: elkaar die verhalen vertellen waarin je iets van Gods werk en aanwezigheid hebt gemerkt.
March 19, 2024
I read this book for my Leadership in Innovation & Design course under Dr. Dean Blevins at Nazarene Theological Seminary. Here is the summary I wrote for class:
Root and Bertrand in When Church Stops Working: A Future for Your Congregation beyond More Money, Programs, and Innovation is oriented quite differently. In contrast to Lewis and Daniel’s clear six step plan for personal Christian innovation, Root and Bertrand push back against the notion that programmatic innovation in our churches will save our congregations in crisis. They begin with a discussion on how the crisis in our Western churches today has been largely misdiagnosed. The common line of thinking is that the crisis is declining church attendance and the treatment prescribed by the overwhelming majority of books and talking-heads has been that leaders need to innovate and learn to appeal to their customer base to get more people in the door. Root and Bertrand see this as a fruitless mission. Instead, they diagnose the problem as the influence of secularism on the church and push back that there is no quick fix to address this (xiii). The three major symptoms of this sickness of secularism which they identify are that the church has less influence on society as it once did, public life and private life have been divided, and it is now possible for people to not believe in God (9-12).
They argue that busy churches full of busy people do not actually have the bandwidth to address these issues. Instead, churches and churchgoers must slow down—resisting the acceleration our culture drives us toward—and wait on God. In this waiting, we should seek to become truly present to God and to the people in our churches. They see deeper relational connections and rest as key to moving forward. Additionally, we must come to accept that our churches will always have tension and crisis because we are a human family. Instead of fearing those challenge and avoiding them at all costs, we must lean into them as genuine expressions of the life inside our communities. While waiting on God and connecting with each other, they assert that we must seek to encounter God and open our ears to hear the “watchword,� the guiding word or phrase from scripture, that he is giving our congregation. It is not until we receive this word that we should seek to “innovate� or launch new programs.
Root and Bertrand in When Church Stops Working: A Future for Your Congregation beyond More Money, Programs, and Innovation is oriented quite differently. In contrast to Lewis and Daniel’s clear six step plan for personal Christian innovation, Root and Bertrand push back against the notion that programmatic innovation in our churches will save our congregations in crisis. They begin with a discussion on how the crisis in our Western churches today has been largely misdiagnosed. The common line of thinking is that the crisis is declining church attendance and the treatment prescribed by the overwhelming majority of books and talking-heads has been that leaders need to innovate and learn to appeal to their customer base to get more people in the door. Root and Bertrand see this as a fruitless mission. Instead, they diagnose the problem as the influence of secularism on the church and push back that there is no quick fix to address this (xiii). The three major symptoms of this sickness of secularism which they identify are that the church has less influence on society as it once did, public life and private life have been divided, and it is now possible for people to not believe in God (9-12).
They argue that busy churches full of busy people do not actually have the bandwidth to address these issues. Instead, churches and churchgoers must slow down—resisting the acceleration our culture drives us toward—and wait on God. In this waiting, we should seek to become truly present to God and to the people in our churches. They see deeper relational connections and rest as key to moving forward. Additionally, we must come to accept that our churches will always have tension and crisis because we are a human family. Instead of fearing those challenge and avoiding them at all costs, we must lean into them as genuine expressions of the life inside our communities. While waiting on God and connecting with each other, they assert that we must seek to encounter God and open our ears to hear the “watchword,� the guiding word or phrase from scripture, that he is giving our congregation. It is not until we receive this word that we should seek to “innovate� or launch new programs.
June 5, 2024
This slim book rightly asks the question; is the up and to the right forever mentality good for the church? Is activity the same as faithfulness? Are churches call to more than brand development with slick websites and slogans? It's answer is simple the church is more, well at least it should be more. I certainly appreciated this book's resistance against the church grow market based mentality that has taken over the church. I can say that for myself, I have been wearied by this mentality both from leadership and from laity. This book does a good job at least initially of laying out the case for a different way of being as a congregation. I rate this book as such due to a few factors. First, at times it seems to ramble and be disconnected. Second, due to this rambling the point can seem to get lost. I read entire chapters and was left wondering, "ok, so what". Third, the book just seems to end. In the last chapter of a book typically you get a summary to really tie the book together and reiterate the lessons learned a long the way. This book just ends, its feels like its missing a chapter. Lastly, I'd say at times there are more pages than actual book. By that I mean the basic direction and purpose of the book is at times fluffed up without meaningful content. I agree with the basic theme and thrust of the book, but largely this book will go on the pile of forgettable ministry books.
3 out of 5.
3 out of 5.
December 20, 2023
I read this book in preparation for being involved in an organizational committee at my (Episcopal) church. Prior to my current church I was a member of denominational Evangelical/Anabaptist church and involved with various organizational committees there. I share only to provide a background and to relate that the concerns of this book are concerns that I've been in meetings to discuss.
I found the book really resonated with both the anxiety "we must do something" and the fears "is the church dying" that seem to permeate so much of Christianity today. While the book offers answers, it's not a concrete 10 step process. A design specification this isn't.
What the book does is encourage us to live what we we say believe when we say "have faith" or "trust in God" and to not feel compelled that we must act, and we must act NOW! I think back to previous committees I was on and I think this would have been a very good read and guide for discussion before even beginning to think about what we were convened for.
I think it is quite likely I will read more of Andrew Root's books.
I found the book really resonated with both the anxiety "we must do something" and the fears "is the church dying" that seem to permeate so much of Christianity today. While the book offers answers, it's not a concrete 10 step process. A design specification this isn't.
What the book does is encourage us to live what we we say believe when we say "have faith" or "trust in God" and to not feel compelled that we must act, and we must act NOW! I think back to previous committees I was on and I think this would have been a very good read and guide for discussion before even beginning to think about what we were convened for.
I think it is quite likely I will read more of Andrew Root's books.
August 5, 2023
This is an incredible book for church leaders, pastors, and anyone who is interested in the future of church and Christianity in America. Root and Bertrand apply a profound depth of theological wisdom to the very practical concerns of the church in a secular age, re-diagnosing the crisis of the church as a crisis of faith and not of effectiveness. Most books that deal with the future of church in America are addressing the wrong problem altogether. Their assumption is that the problem is that there's "not enough"—not enough time, money, people, influence, programs, progress. And so the solution is always "more"—more money, more people, better programs, better leadership. But Root and Bertrand expose the real problem of the church... the problem of secularization, and thus they offer a solution rooted in a theological depth, spirituality, and waiting on the action of the Living God.
October 17, 2023
Thankful to have read this book in this time. Having listened to Andy Root at a Ministers gathering earlier this year, I am soaking up his thoughts and teachings further in these books. The ideas and the teaching offered here are drawn from some of his other books, and there is a freshness and vitality to them for which I am grateful.
Learning to wait for God is important; learning to wait with God, in the presence of God's people is an even greater exercise. Doing so with a purpose that is not yet known is daunting, but possible. I found reading this book a great release for me, a deep remembering of being a pastor with God's people beyond church functions and functionality. We are with God, we can encounter God, and from this, the story of God will flow.
Learning to wait for God is important; learning to wait with God, in the presence of God's people is an even greater exercise. Doing so with a purpose that is not yet known is daunting, but possible. I found reading this book a great release for me, a deep remembering of being a pastor with God's people beyond church functions and functionality. We are with God, we can encounter God, and from this, the story of God will flow.
May 11, 2023
This is a great diagnostic, as well as therapeutic, tool for leaders in the church.
Root and Bertrand prove to be worthy guides through the increasingly treacherous terrain of what we call “church� in 2023. I appreciate the way they lead through story and especially the ways they flesh out what these lofty ideas look like in the concluding two chapters.
A lot of books of this sort are great at diagnosing the problem, but fall short in remedy. This is not one of those. I’m excited to see how it may help leaders in the church continue to lead faithfully.
I was given an ARC of this book through my own request from Baker Academic and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Root and Bertrand prove to be worthy guides through the increasingly treacherous terrain of what we call “church� in 2023. I appreciate the way they lead through story and especially the ways they flesh out what these lofty ideas look like in the concluding two chapters.
A lot of books of this sort are great at diagnosing the problem, but fall short in remedy. This is not one of those. I’m excited to see how it may help leaders in the church continue to lead faithfully.
I was given an ARC of this book through my own request from Baker Academic and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
April 19, 2023
I appreciated this book. I read it really as a companion to Andy Root's earlier book, "The Church After Innovation," which was a book I really did not love.
But this book, I thought, took both a more helpful, and hopeful tone.
If the first book was "what," this book was"now what."
And while it avoided trying to tell us what to do, it did help me to think about ministry through a different lens...one of listening and discerning before picking a direction and acting. It was a reminder that God is at work, and part of my task is to sense the direction God is already going.
But this book, I thought, took both a more helpful, and hopeful tone.
If the first book was "what," this book was"now what."
And while it avoided trying to tell us what to do, it did help me to think about ministry through a different lens...one of listening and discerning before picking a direction and acting. It was a reminder that God is at work, and part of my task is to sense the direction God is already going.
May 23, 2023
Short but packed with deep thoughts, philosophy and theology. For the most part, I agree with him, although there are some details on which I differ. (For example, I believe that ministry experiments can be a good thing and part of the discernment process.) But I think anxiety can drive both change and failure to change, and faithfulness can drive experiments while we are listening for God's direction. I LOVED the last two chapters and the idea of having a watchword that informs our mission and enflames the congregation's imagination.
June 28, 2023
I’m a huge fan of Dr. Root. I’m glad that one of his books (and also Blair) is so much more easily able to communicate their ideas about church, God, and what it means to be the church in these times. I feel like this is quite readable for a congregation and I’d like more congregations to explore these ideas so we can depart from consumerism and acceleration and move towards faith and hope in God!
March 13, 2024
I had to slow down and read this book in chunks because I wanted to let it settle and give it time to breathe and move in me. I put it down for several months and picked it back up again.
It's pastoral but not fluffy. Prophetic. Thought-provoking. Kind.
You kind of have to read it for yourself.
I'd recommend it to any pastor and any congregation looking to answer the questions we're all asking.
It's pastoral but not fluffy. Prophetic. Thought-provoking. Kind.
You kind of have to read it for yourself.
I'd recommend it to any pastor and any congregation looking to answer the questions we're all asking.
March 14, 2024
If you are a leader in the church, this is a must read. This is the book I’ve been waiting for after engaging with Root’s “Ministry in a Secular Age� series. Aimed at the local church, this book helps accurately diagnose why we’re so exhausted and busy � and why it’s not helping.
Weary? Anxious? Frustrated? This book will help you find your way forward, and help you and your church encounter God more richly as you do.
Weary? Anxious? Frustrated? This book will help you find your way forward, and help you and your church encounter God more richly as you do.
July 23, 2024
After nearly forty years of ordained ministry, Root and Bertrand surprised me. I thought I had heard everything and been to every conference I could searching for an answer to decline. Yet, the authors propose a unique answer based in scripture, theology, and understanding our culture� Stop and wait. Stop the endless doing and wait for God. When Church Stops Working is the book I have waited for and needed for a long time now!
January 28, 2025
There were glimmers of good stuff. But also a lot of bullshit, including several examples of ableism. Also Mars Hill did not become a toxic community bc it caved to the secular ways around it, it became toxic BECAUSE of the theology it taught and the warped faith it generated--that was 100% a church and a group of believers' failure, NOT an effect of the secular world 🙄🙄🙄🙄
The church has stopped working but these people do not really have much to offer in response
The church has stopped working but these people do not really have much to offer in response
July 25, 2023
This book is a compilation of the Secular Age Series that Root has written. It is a good place to start to understand what he is saying in those heavier volumes and is a must read for leaders today. This is the paradigm, shift that is needed. It is not about us being innovative, it is about God's agency.
I cannot recommend this enough. Important book.
I cannot recommend this enough. Important book.
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