Reggie McNeal offers the church an incredible gift in his exploration of what it means to be an expression of the missional church. McNeal clearly articulates the major shifts that a faith community must navigate in terms of how they evaluate success, without which many leaders may be doomed to frustration or failure.
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Product Description

Reggie McNeal's bestseller The Present Future is the definitive work on the "missional movement," i.e., the widespread movement among Protestant churches to be less inwardly focused and more oriented toward the culture and community around them. In that book he asked the tough questions that churches needed to entertain to begin to think about who they are and what they are doing; in Missional Renaissance, he shows them the three significant shifts in their thinking and behavior that they need to make that will allow leaders to chart a course toward being missional: (1) from an internal to an external focus, ending the church as exclusive social club model; (2) from running programs and ministries to developing people as its core activity; and (3) from professional leadership to leadership that is shared by everyone in the community. With in-depth discussions of the "what" and the "how" of transitioning to being a missional church, readers will be equipped to move into what McNeal sees as the most viable future for Christianity. For all those thousands of churches who are asking about what to do next after reading The Present Future, Missional Renaissance will provide the answer.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9386 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780470243442
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Inside Flap

When Reggie McNeal's best-selling book The Present Future was published, it quickly became one of the definitive works on the "missional church movement." McNeal helped to define the widespread movement among churches that wanted to become more oriented toward the culture and community around them. In that book, McNeal asked the tough questions that churches needed to wrestle with to begin to think about who they are and what they are doing.

In Missional Renaissance, the much-anticipated follow-up to his groundbreaking book, Reggie McNeal shows the three significant shifts in the church leaders' thinking and behavior that will allow their congregations to chart a course toward becoming truly a missional congregation.

To embrace the missional model, church leaders and members must shift

• From an internal to an external focus, ending the church as exclusive social club model

• From running programs and ministries to developing people as its core activity

• From church-based leadership to community-engaged leadership

The book is filled with in-depth discussions of what it means to become a missional congregation and important information on how to make the transition. With an understanding of the nature of the missional church and the practical suggestions outlined in this book, church leaders and members will be equipped to move into what McNeal sees as the most viable future for Christianity.

Missional Renaissance offers a clear path for any leader or congregation that wants to breathe new life into the church and to become revitalized as true followers of Jesus.

From the Back Cover

Praise for M R

"Any new book by Reggie McNeal is something of an event, and this book is no exception. Not only is this an excellent introduction to missional Christianity, but it establishes a much-needed metric by which we can assess the vitality of this highly significant new movement."
—Alan Hirsch, author, The Forgotten Ways, Rejesus, and The Shaping of Things to Come; founding director, Forge Mission Training System, and co-founder of shapevine.com

"In this book we are challenged to consider what it means to be in the heart of the pivotal new work God is up to in our generation. Read this book, but only if you are willing to let go of the inconsequential ways of evaluating what it means to be a success in God's kingdom."
—Neil Cole, director, Church Multiplication Associates, and author, Organic Church, Search & Rescue, Organic Leadership, and Cultivating a Life for God

"This is Reggie McNeal's gift to the church of the twenty-first century and his finest and most thorough work to date. This book clearly defines the shifts necessary to gauge what matters most for the missional people of God."
—Eric Swanson, coauthor, The Externally Focused Church and Living a Life on Loan

"There are spheres of human activity in which gold medalists rule the Olympian heights. In the sphere of church renewal, Reggie rules. Missional Renaissance is a must-have resource in helping every church keep its 'eyes on the prize' of God's high missional calling."
—Leonard Sweet, Drew University, George Fox University, www.sermons.com

"If you are a pastor or church leader ready to get down to the raw specifics of turning a Christendom club into a missional community, you will love this book. The concepts are as easily understood as they are radical and breathtaking. There are a number of brilliant missional theorists, but no one can speak the language of our American context and put the rubber on the street like Reggie McNeal. "
—Victor Pentz, pastor, Peachtree Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Georgia

About the Author
Reggie McNeal serves as the Missional Leadership Specialist for Leadership Network of Dallas, Texas. McNeal is the author of A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders and the best-selling The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church and Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders from Jossey-Bass.
To learn more go to www.missionalrenaissance.org

About Leadership Network
The mission of Leadership Network identifies and connects innovative church leaders, providing them with resources in the form of new ideas, people, and tools. Contact Leadership Network at www.leadnet.org.

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Customer Reviews

Brilliant Clarity
McNeal captures the current of the stream of the Holy Spirit working in the N American church today. He is saying what most of us are saying, but with brilliant clarity. This book will continue to fuel the intensity of the God movement taking place.

The Scorecard is a challenge...the new movement requires new measurements (if we need to measure?). McNeal gives ideas to help generate this scorecard, but this will continue to be a challenge for missional leaders. If anyone has quality solutions send me an email at dwaybright@sugarcreek.net

Also...the attractional model is not evil. The Great Commission is the overriding purpose and goal of the church. Both the nation of Israel in Old Testament and the Holy Nation of the church in New Testament have attractional and incarnational elements. In many cases the church in N America has abandoned its incarnational gifts by conforming to the dominant culture. The Holy Spirit is birthing a renaissance, as Reggie implies, that is restoring this spirit-filled dynamic to the church.

He gets it.
McNeal gets it. This book provides hope for every church that wants to make more and better Christians. This is not a theoretical read, but a practical handbook for the missional leader. One of my favorite quotes: "We bought and paid for the lie that Six Flags over Jesus was what the world needed. We believed that if we built better churches, our cities would be better off. . . The jig is up . . . The program-driven church has produced a brand of Christianity that is despised, not just ignored, by people outside the church."

Six Flags Over Jesus
Reggie McNeal says that "the rise of the missional church is the single biggest development in Christianity since the Reformation." That's an extraordinary claim--and you should read his latest book to see if you agree.

Churches, he argues, can now be divided into two groups: those that get it (being missional) and those that don't. The typical clergyperson, McNeal writes, "Is groomed to do project management (yes, even the sermon is a project) and perform religious rites, not develop people." So he calls the church to a new role and a new scorecard:
* Ministry focus: from internal to external
* Core activity: from program development to people development
* Leadership agenda: from church-based to kingdom-based

The missional movement is not about "doing church" better. "It is not church growth in a new dress," or a hot new trend or fad. So what is it? McNeal says that "the missional church is the people of God partnering with God in his redemptive mission in the world." The focus is on the world, not a full calendar of church activities that are exhausting, not equipping, God's people.

The author/church consultant reports on many North American church leaders who have moved from a church-centric operation (come to our buildings) to a community focus (we go to you). Example: a senior pastor sent his staff into the community (malls, schools, stores, etc.) and asked them to observe people through God's eyes for one hour. Their conclusion: all the nifty programs back at the church were not now reaching nor would they ever reach those people. Then on a Sunday he sent the whole church into the community to observe. Bingo! The people got it--and it turned the church upside down by being outwardly focused.

McNeal adds, "We were told that if we built successful churches, people would come. We bought and paid for the lie that Six Flags over Jesus was what the world needed. We believed that if we built better churches, our cities would be better off. We telegraphed in dozens of ways the message that involvement in church life was the portal to fulfillment and the mark of an abundant life."

"The program-driven church has produced a brand of Christianity that is despised, not just ignored, by people outside the church." His solution? We need a new scorecard to measure what matters--not church attendance and a zillion sermons, but out-in-the-trenches life-on-life community engagement that produces life transformation.

McNeal then suggests how a church could reallocate resources and he gives more than 75 missional indicators that could be measured in six key areas: prayer, people (leaders and others), calendar (time), finances, facilities and technology. For example, he suggests you measure the number of schools that use the church's facilities. Another measurement: track the amount of time invested in leaders meetings that focus on the people development side.

If McNeal is right--that there is (or will soon be) a major chasm between those "doing church" versus those "being the church"--then this insight from Phil Cooke's newsletter, The Change Revolution, is noteworthy. Citing Alexander von Humboldt's "Three Stages of Scientific Discovery" (as referenced by Bill Bryson in his book, "A Short History of Nearly Everything") Cooke notes that there are five stages to innovation:
1. People deny that the innovation is required.
2. People deny that the innovation is effective.
3. People deny that the innovation is important.
4. People deny that the innovation will justify the effort required to adopt it.
5. People accept and adopt the innovation, enjoy its benefits, attribute it to people other than the innovator, and deny the existence of stages 1 to 4.

This is an important book--even if you don't "get it."