Community of Kindness: A Refreshing New Approach to Planting and Growing a Church [Paperback]

Steve Sjogren (Author), Rob Lewin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 6, 2003

If you want to plant a church, you need to dream big. If you want your seedling church to survive - and ultimately bloom and blossom - you really need this book! Written by church planters who have "been there, done that," Community of Kindness" is a practical, real-world guide to successful church planting-credible, informative, inspirational, supportive and, morst of all 100 percent problem-solving oriented. All of the book's lessons are short, pithy and to the point. So you can use them to preplan your goals-or refer to them every time the unexpected pops up (which is more often than not). Wherever your church-planting journey takes you, keep this book by your side-and have copies for each member of your team!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

STEVE SJOGREN and his wife, Janie, have planted churches in Los Angeles, Baltimore and Cincinnati, and in Oslo, Norway. Steve currently writes, speaks, mentors church planters, and in February 2008 launched a church plant in Tampa, Florida. He is the author of Conspiracy of Kindness, Changing the World Through Kindness, and The Day I Died, and has written articles that have appeared in Charisma, New Man, Discipleship Journal and more. Steve and Janie have three grown children.

 

ROB LEWIN is president and founder of Innovative Leadership Solutions, a training and coaching firm for church leaders. He has his family live in Cincinnati, OH.

 

Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Regal; Revised edition (February 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830729720
• ISBN-13: 978-0830729722
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #434,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steve Sjogren is the best-selling author of numerous books on creative generosity, outwardness, leadership and discovering your life focus. He is a prolific writer who coaches and writes ebooks as well as hard copy versions.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book for Discouraged Pastors, May 9, 2004

By 

Paul Heier, Missionary, Pastor, & Author - See all my reviews

This review is from: Community of Kindness: A Refreshing New Approach to Planting and Growing a Church (Paperback)

Steve Sjogren and Rob Lewin's Community of Kindness is a tremendously helpful book. One must remember that kind acts are not necessarily a presentation of the Gospel itself, but they are things that can and do open the door for presenting the Gospel. This book is packed full of ideas and encouraging words that will help pastors. The authors' down-to-earth, practical advice about pastoring is humorous and helpful. Our church has begun to implement a number of the ideas contained in this book. People who have previously been inactive in our evangelism efforts are becoming extremely involved in servant evangelism. Some will disagree with particulars in the book, but overall it's a worthwhile book and well worth the investment. You'll be glad you read this book.

Paul Heier, author of Leading Out of Love

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Church Planting at its Best, March 23, 2006

By 

Scott Bane (Northwest Indiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Community of Kindness: A Refreshing New Approach to Planting and Growing a Church (Paperback)

You couldn't ask for a more practical and usable book on a very tough subject. There are opinions upon opinions about how to start a church, but this book cuts through all the trivial, philosophical stuff. This book is all about action and how to get things accomplished. The information in this book is so wonderfully insightful and practical, I'm sure that it can be used successfully by a leader in any denomination or affiliation. The authors are able to get right to the heart of what a church planting pastor needs to know. It's honest, it's relevant and it's easy to use. I have added years to my level of experience by assimilating the Community of Kindness points.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Unusual Book Written By Veteran Practitioners Who Are Practical!, February 17, 2006

By 

Steve Sjogren "Author-Serving Coach - Kindnes... (Tampa, FL, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Community of Kindness: A Refreshing New Approach to Planting and Growing a Church (Paperback)

Rob Lewin and I put this book together based on both of our exhaustive planting and coaching experience over the past couple of decades plus in the church planting game. In my experience in reading church planting books, even the popular ones, only a few of the authors have actually planted a church themselves. Those who have planted (no names mentioned) have planted in almost all cases small to medium-sized churches. In both of our cases, we have gone through all the phases of church growth - of starting with literally no people, gathering from scratch, in my case in the hostile environment of Europe where the locals literally dislike Americans usually... and have grown churches all the way up to, in my case, a normal weekend attendance of averaging over 7,000 (in Cincinnati). Out of the church in Cincinnati we have spun out over 50 churches so far. I am about to move to Tampa to plant a new church with my wife Janie to plant yet another church (Coastland Church). Our plan is to plant at least 2 churches in the first 18 months, and ultimately as we are up and running on all 8 cylinders, to plant hundreds of churches. I am just beginning at the age of 50!

We see value in churches of all sizes. This book doesn't make the statement that the only good church is a giant church. Nor does it assume that you will build a giant church in your setting. (I am about to release a new book on how virtually ANY pastor can grow his or her church to the 300-500 size - it will be entitled The Pretty Good Church - release date later in 2006. Look for it on Amazon.)

SURPRISING INSIGHT: This book is more than a lot of ideas on Servant Evangelism as you might expect coming from me... there are lots of ideas that come from our reflection on how to best cope with the early years / phases of both planting a church OR starting a new venture - in ministry within your local church or elsewhere. I have heard from a numbrer of people who are starting out in the business world who have taken the ideas captured in this book who have applied our ideas and have learned much! I'm not surprised... I have been coaching business leaders for the past several years using my simple principles of servant leadership and outwardness. This not only works for the establishing of networks for launching churches but for the launching of companies. Go figure!

I have written book plugs for a couple of author friends of mine who have penned works on church planting - namely Ed Stetzer and Ralph Moore. Buy their books first, then buy this one to add to your library.