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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
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January 2005 |
Indiana author writes third book on local church vitality
Those who have read the Rev. Bob Whitesel's previous two books (A House Divided: Bridging the Generation Gaps in Your Church, and Staying Power: Why People Leave the Church Over Change, and What You Can Do About It, will be pleased to hear of his newly published book Growth by Accident, Death by Planning: How NOT to Kill a Growing Congregation (Abingdon Press, 2004).
There are very few people with his sort of ministry - a church doctor/consultant. Most of us see things happening, for good or bad, in the lives of our churches, and have no idea what is driving these events, or how to change them. Whitesel has the insight to see the causes, explain them clearly and propose solutions.
This latest book covers the issue of churches which grow, then plateau or decline. It contains common-sense spiritual wisdom and practical steps that churches can take.
Whitesel says most of the time young, growing churches make a series of decisions based not upon careful planning and analysis, but rather upon necessity and intuition. Thus these decisions are not planned strategies, but strategies that often occur by accident, owing their genesis to circumstance.
In a plain, direct style, Whitesel lays out where churches go wrong in their planning for growth and how they can correct themselves. He does so by looking at three related phenomena: first, the factors that cause initial growth; second, the erroneous decisions that lead to getting stuck on the plateau; and finally, corrective steps that churches can take to regain growth and vitality.
Whitsel lives in Winona Lake, Ind., and attends the Warsaw Community Church.
For more information about this book, log on to www.abingdonpress.com or contact Whitsel at bob1@c3intl.org or call 1-888-C3-PLANS.
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008