It’s been a while since I have reviewed a book. Life has been busy. Transforming Church in Rural America written by Shannon O’Dell was a good book to help me get back into the swing of things.
This book is the story of how O’Dell moved his family from a large and prosperous city church to a small and barely there rural church. He tells of God’s calling to bring him from all the things most pastor’s dream of in a church to a somewhat sad situation in a dying church in the sticks of Arkansas.
I can relate all to well to the dying church as we have seen them over and over in our travels. It isn’t to say there isn’t passion or God’s blessings there, but there isn’t much in the way of change to move things forward. This is what O’Dell found too. Tradition and an attitude of “that’s the way it’s always been” gets in the way of growth.
O’Dell speaks honestly about a pastors struggle to want a bigger and better church for his own benefit rather than for spreading God’s word and he takes you through that to get to the real reason behind wanting church growth.
All in all, this book is a wonderful picture of where so many churches are and where they could be if they would open their hearts to some change to reach those they might not otherwise reach. Definitely worth the read, especially for those in rural areas.
No comments:
Post a Comment