The Circle of Seasons: Meeting God in the Church Year

The phrase Turnaround Church, a term coined and made well-known by George Barna, refers to churches that were in steep decline that have implemented specific strategies to reverse the trend and experience growth and health again. Be assured that declining will continue to increase in number, unless pastors, church consultants, denominational leaders, lay-leaders, and congregations take proactive steps to curb the trend. According to a recent study by the Evangelical Covenant Church (covchurch.org), about half of the supposed 40% of Americans who tell pollsters like Gallup that they attend church actually do. That means on any given Sunday only about 20% of Americans attend church. That is a huge decline considering that as recently as the 80s 40% actually did attend church. It appears that roughly 85% of America's churches are in decline or have reached a numerical plateau. There seems to be a trend that a good number of large churches (attendance of 1000 plus) and small churches (attendance 200 and below) are growing, while the medium-sized churches (between 200 and 1000) are suffering extensive decline. Sure, there are many churches in all categories that are growing, but by and large, the typical church in America is shrinking, and it is shrinking fast. God Can Turn Your Church Around is essentially an edited version of my PhD thesis. I have left out dozens of charts , graphs, and figures, as these tend to be interesting to a very small segment of the church, and I have revised some of the content to be more useful to the church practitioner. I have decided to maintain the prolific outline form of the manuscript. In an age of bloggers and tweeters, I am observing that people tend to like bullet-points and organized thoughts. So if the book has a "school project" feel to it, that is because it is in essence a revised PhD thesis. I firmly believe that God desires to see declining Bible-preaching churches revived. He invites you to join Him in the process. Table of contentsPrefaceIntroductionChapter One: The Prelude to a TurnaroundChapter Two: The Price of a TurnaroundChapter Three: The Philosophy of the TurnaroundChapter Four: The Power of the TurnaroundChapter Five: The People of a TurnaroundChapter Six: The Pastor of the TurnaroundChapter Seven: The Permission for a TurnaroundChapter Eight: The Precepts and Principles of TurnaroundChapter Nine: The Preparation for the TurnaroundChapter Ten: The Process of TurnaroundChapter Eleven: The Plan for the TurnaroundChapter Twelve: The Problems of a TurnaroundChapter Thirteen: The Prioritization of the TurnaroundChapter Fourteen: The Peacemaking of the TurnaroundChapter Fifteen: The Protocol of a TurnaroundChapter Sixteen: The Participation in a TurnaroundChapter Seventeen: Preaching and the TurnaroundChapter Eighteen: The Praise and Worship of a TurnaroundChapter Nineteen: The Product of a TurnaroundChapter Twenty: The Postlude to the TurnaroundNotesBibliographyAbout the Author… (more)