Sunday, September 18, 2005
7 Practices of Effective Ministry by Andy Stanley
Any book that has a baseball theme already has my attention. Any book that could help me be a better minister already has my attention. When I first started reading this book a couple weeks ago, I was quoting it to everyone in my office. I'm sure they were sick of hearing me say, "Andy Stanley says...blah blah blah." However, like a pitcher who gets tired in the late innings, this book started off with a bang, but grew tired in the end.
Andy Stanley started North Point Church in Atlanta and it has grown quickly. Along with that growth has come the fame and following of being the new "great young preacher." It also helps that you start publishing your own line of books. With this book, Stanley (along with others from his staff) takes a page from Patrick Lencioni (one of my favorite "business" authors) and begins with a fable about a minister who goes to a baseball game with the owner of a team. The owner of the team then helps the young minister find his way with sage advice and wisdom. Basically, the premise of the book is that there are 7 practices that everyone should follow to be an effective church.
Strong Points: When you take away all the jargon and nonsense, Stanley is basically advocating "intentional and limited" ministry. I see this trend among the younger generation of ministers. It seems like the older generation (read mostly 55+) practice what I call entrepreneurial ministry. This was basically do lots and lots of different things and try to meet as many needs and scratch as many itches as you can, even if you don't do some things well. Intentional and limited ministry says to only do those things that you can do very well and don't do anything else. One particular facet of this approach is to rationalize every single thing by the goal you're striving for. If you can't justify it by the end result, then abandon it. As a young (read 36) minister, I really identify with this approach. His first practice on defining "winning" hit a home run with me. However, I think he takes the concept way to far in the chapter on teaching (he says that you should basically only teach and preach the "most important" passages and leave the rest alone.)
Weak Points: Stanley falls in the predictable trap that virtually every mega church minister does when writing books: their church does everything the right way and it is the the best way to do anything. This comes through very clearly in this book. So many churches (and ministers) take whatever the mega church minister says as gospel truth. In reality, there are many successful ways of growing a church, not just one. This is the primary drawback to the book: you have to listen to how North Point knows the best way to do everything.
Overall, this was a useful book and I recommend reading it with an objective eye.
Rating: 2 Stars
