Discover A Proven Approach to Raising Your Church's Evangelistic Temperature Evangelism. It's one of the highest values in the church. So why do so few churches put real time, money, and effort into it? Maybe it's because we don't understand the evangelistic potential of the church well enough to get excited about it. Building a Contagious Church will change that. This provocative book dispels outdated preconceptions and reveals evangelism as it really can be, radiant with the color and potential of the body of Christ and pulsing with the power of God. What's more, it walks you through a 6-Stage Process for taking your church beyond mere talk to infectious energy, action, and lasting commitment. Think it can't happen? Get ready for the surprise of your life! You and your church are about to become contagious! Most church leaders would agree there's nothing more important than evangelism---after all, eternities hang in the balance! Yet eighty-six percent of pastors admit that their church falls far short when it comes to actually doing something about it. Perhaps your church is like that, but you're unsure of what to do. That's about to change. If you long to infect your church with Great Commission fever, then challenge every member of your leadership team to read this book! Building a Contagious Church will help you customize an evangelistic strategy that really works---not just for a while, but for the long haul. Developed by one of today's foremost leaders, educators, and practitioners of evangelism---the principal author of the highly effective Becoming a Contagious Christian curriculum---this book's revolutionary insights have proved themselves time and again in all kinds of settings. So dare to get excited! This dynamic, highly adaptable approach is created to work not for some other church, but for your church. If you're ready for your leaders, members, and ministries to become fervent about reaching lost people for Christ and effective at doing so, Mark Mittelberg describes in detail how you can tailor-make: A Contagious Plan---Define the what, why, and how of your church's outreach to people in the neighborhoods all around you. A Contagious Change Process---Follow a 6-Stage Process that will help you raise the evangelistic temperature of your church, starting with the hearts of the leaders Contagious Diversity---Learn to maximize outreach to all kinds of non-Christians by developing ministries and events around the six different evangelism styles. Contagious Ministry---Find out how to unleash the kind of genuine, empowered ministry in your church that will impact your community---and your world. 'It doesn't matter whether your church is large or small, old or new, urban or suburban, upscale or downscale, high church or low church,' says Mittelberg. 'Regardless of where you're starting from, I'm confident that in the power of the Holy Spirit, you can take significant steps toward making your ministry more outwardly focused and evangelistically fruitful.' Get ready for a revolution in how your people view and do evangelism. And prepare for the joyous adventure of aligning yourselves with God's agenda of reaching and transforming human hearts.
Mark Mittelberg is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and a leading strategist in evangelism and apologetics-oriented outreach. He is the primary author (with Lee Strobel and Bill Hybels) of the updated Becoming a Contagious Christian Training Course, through which more than a million people have learned to effectively and naturally communicate their faith to others.
Mark's newest book, The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask, is based on a survey of 1000 Christians commissioned through the Barna organization, and deals with the ten issues that believers most want to avoid--but must not! Prior to that Mark collaborated with Lee Strobel to develop The Unexpected Adventure, a six-week devotional designed to inspire Christians and churches to enter into the excitement of sharing Christ. His previous book, Choosing Your Faith ... In a World of Spiritual Options, strengthens the faith of believers and is a great resource to give to friends who are figuring out what to believe -- and he's developed a DVD study course for Christians based on that book, Faith Path: Helping Friends Find Their Way to Christ. Mark also wrote the articles for the Choosing Your Faith New Testament. His other books include the updated Becoming a Contagious Church, which sets forth an innovative blueprint for mobilizing churches for evangelism, and the classic best-seller Becoming a Contagious Christian, which he co-authored with Hybels. In addition, Mark was contributing editor for The Journey: A Bible for the Spiritually Curious, and a contributor to Reasons for Faith: Making a Case for the Christian Faith, edited by Norman Geisler and Chad Meister, and God Is Great, God Is Good: Why Believing in God Is Reasonable & Responsible, edited by William Lane Craig and Chad Meister -- which won the 2010 Christianity Today award for best book in the area of apologetics and evangelism.
Mark was the evangelism director at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago for seven years and for the Willow Creek Association for a decade. He is a frequent contributor for Outreach magazine, and he was an editorial consultant and periodic guest for Lee Strobel's Faith Under Fire television show. He and Strobel have been ministry partners for over twenty years. After receiving an undergraduate degree in business, Mark earned a Master's Degree in Philosophy of Religion from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. In recognition of his achievements in the areas of evangelism and apologetics, he was recently honored by the conferring of a Doctor of Divinity degree from Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mark and his wife, Heidi, have two teenage children, and live near Denver, Colorado.
