{"id":8481,"date":"2015-04-13T14:14:54","date_gmt":"2015-04-13T19:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/frenchrevolution\/?p=8481"},"modified":"2015-04-13T14:21:05","modified_gmt":"2015-04-13T19:21:05","slug":"book-review-shrink-faithful-ministry-in-a-church-growth-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/frenchrevolution\/2015\/04\/13\/book-review-shrink-faithful-ministry-in-a-church-growth-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: “Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"iStock_000044965270_Small\"<\/p>\n

By Bob San Pascual<\/em><\/p>\n

As I read Pastor Tim Suttle\u2019s book, Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture<\/a>, I found myself YOL (yelling out loud): \u201cYes! Yes! It\u2019s faithfulness, not success, that matters!\u201d<\/p>\n

This reminded me of an axiom I heard early in my ministry, though have sometimes forgotten: \u201cWe\u2019re called to be faithful, not successful.\u201d His desire is that ministers follow John the Baptist\u2019s example (\u201cHe [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease\u201d) rather than seeking a bigger church, a bigger profile, etc. He takes aim at the business practices that many churches have adopted, the church growth movement, and even some megachurches, though he does acknowledge the good effect that some megachurches have had on his life and on those of others. While I confess to not being familiar with the church growth movement, Suttle has seen the harm that it\u2019s inflicted on local churches. He\u2019s seen the harm that churches of all sizes have inflicted on themselves as they applied business practices and techniques at the expense of the radical message of the Gospel.<\/p>\n

In Part 1, the main message Suttle tries to get across is: \u201cDon\u2019t try to be great.\u201d Why not? Because \u201cGreat is the enemy of good.\u201d Trying to be a great pastor in the mold of CEOs isn\u2019t the model that Jesus gave us. Likewise, he tells his readers, \u201cDon\u2019t try to copy the megachurch.\u201d Trying to make our churches great (read: megachurch) isn\u2019t necessarily God\u2019s desire for our churches. There are advantages to being small or medium-sized. He critiques the megachurch culture for several reasons, but primarily because they make Jesus fans rather than Jesus followers (p. 72). They can lead people to Christ, but they can\u2019t lead them to maturity in Him.<\/p>\n

Suttle challenges us church leaders to make three changes in part 2: 1) From models to an eccelesiology; 2) From strategies to stories; and 3) From techniques to virtues. His message is to stop patterning our churches after models, especially megachurch models, and to begin to develop our own ecclesiologies\u2014to build our churches from our conclusions of what the church is and what it\u2019s to do. \u201cThis is what we default to, especially as evangelicals \u2014 we try to solve our problems by finding models of success and then copying them. When we sense trouble, we search for a model when what we need is a deep ecclesiology that will inform everything we do from top to bottom\u201d (p. 81). Since I\u2019ve never been part of a megachurch, I was fine with his critiques of them, but when he started criticizing the evangelical culture in chapter 4, he began to hit too close to home (smile).<\/p>\n

\"Shrink\"The final section of the book revolves around developing five virtues: vulnerability, cooperation, brokenness, patience, and fidelity. Although I don\u2019t consider myself a competitive person, I do understand what Suttle is saying when he makes the observation about how we pastors compete with one another. Certainly the \u201cI can top that\u201d attitude is always just below the surface, if not outwardly apparent. Just as important as cooperation is patience: \u201cChurch growth is meant to be measured not in weekly attendance numbers, but in decades and half-centuries. If that is true, then patience is a leadership virtue none of us can afford to go without\u201d (p. 216). I like this call to patience for both pastors and church members alike. It\u2019s easy to become impatient when we don\u2019t see numbers growing. He\u2019s also on the mark when he says that our churches are going to have many more times of obscurity than sensational times. The miraculous and spectacular experiences will be few and far between; we shouldn\u2019t expect them to be everyday occurrences. On fidelity, he writes: \u201cI shared my hope that everyone in our church would be willing to stick around long enough to say one of two things: either \u2018I told you so,\u2019 or \u2018You were right and I was wrong\u2019\u201d (p. 227). We ministers are greatly encouraged when members stick through the hard times, church fights, frustrations, and changes. I\u2019m sure members would say the same about us.<\/p>\n

Shrink is for pastors everywhere, whether they\u2019re serving in a small, medium, large, or super-sized church. It\u2019s an encouragement for those of us in smaller churches and a challenge for those in larger ones. You don\u2019t have to feel like a failure anymore. Just be faithful to Christ over the long haul, and especially through the wilderness times when you don\u2019t see any progress. \u201cInstead of chasing after pragmatic success, I pray for those who have the courage to pursue faithfulness no matter what the perceived results may be. I pray that we\u2019ll have the humility to see that we have no right to quibble with the results of our ministry life. We only have the duty to be faithful in all the small things and leave the results in the hands of the loving God who holds our future\u201d (p. 240).<\/p>\n

To this, I give my heartiest \u201cAmen!\u201d<\/p>\n

BUY \u201cSHRINK\u201d HERE<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BobBob San Pascual<\/strong> received his Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Management from Nyack College and his Master of Divinity in Theological (and Biblical) Studies from Alliance Theological Seminary. He\u2019s been in ministry since 1993 and has taught at Nyack College. Currently, he serves as a part-time pastor at one church and as a regular speaker at another. Bob\u2019s passions are to study, teach, and write about God\u2019s Word by His grace and for His glory. He\u2019s the author of the ebook, I once was lost, but now am found: Poems and songs on life, love, and our Lord. His spiritual gifts include teaching and administration and his aim is to minister so that, as His people, we may be transformed by the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ and make disciples of all nations. He also enjoys reading, watching movies and sitcoms, and relaxing at the beach.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Among followers of Jesus, great is often the enemy of good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1424,1423,1425],"class_list":["post-8481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-shrink-faithful-ministry-in-a-church-growth-culture","tag-tim-suttle","tag-zondervan"],"yoast_head":"\nBook Review: "Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Among followers of Jesus, great is often the enemy of good.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/frenchrevolution\/2015\/04\/13\/book-review-shrink-faithful-ministry-in-a-church-growth-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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