Growing Spiritual Redwoods [Paperback]

William M. Easum (Author), Thomas G. Bandy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1997

"Growing Spiritual Redwoods" is an effort to help church leaders answer the kinds of questions that confront congregations and Christians in this era of rapid and uncertain change. William M. Easum and Thomas Bandy argue that the congregations to whom the term "spiritual redwoods" can be applied are grown slowly, becoming vigorous centers of witness and mission.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Authors William Easum and Thomas Bandy argue that there are two types of churches in existence today--those that are perishing and those that are thriving. Growing Spiritual Redwoods pinpoints methods that sustain church growth and reveals how the archaic implementation of "dogma, doctrine, and historical knowledge" robs some churches from ministering to its members. According to the authors, putting aside "decision-makers" for "disciple-makers," church work for personal fulfillment, and hierarchy for organism are a few of the facets of change that will alter the leadership, worship, and methodology of any church, lending itself to further growth, evangelism, and outreach. While the authors are leading a growing trend of unconventional ways to church God's people, it is beneficial to remember that specific methodology is not necessarily capable of producing success--God's word has the capacity to change people no matter what the human motivation or program might be. Although Growing Spiritual Redwoods can seem like a business plan for church life, Easum and Bandy give substantial documentation and practical application for what works to make a strong 21st-century church. --Jill Heatherly

Product Details

• Paperback: 215 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Press (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0687336007
• ISBN-13: 978-0687336005
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,193 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bill Easum has a thirty year track record of growing congregations in two denominations. His last church, which he pastored for twenty-four years, grew to the largest United Methodist Church in South Texas. The past twenty years, Bill has served as a consultant to congregations and denominations. In 1986 he founded 21st Century Strategies. Bill has personally worked in over 700 congregations, some of which are the largest in the nation, and has taught hundreds of thousands of leaders (client list http://easumbandy.com/services/consultations/our_list_of_clients/). Bill is the author of more than a dozen best selling books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Challenge without answers, December 11, 2002

By 

M. Decker (Escondido, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Growing Spiritual Redwoods (Paperback)

Easum and Bandy make excellent points regarding the difficulties of traditional churches. Who can argue with the reality of decline; the substitution for institutional maintenance for evangelism? Unfortunately their response to the challenge is gimmicky and shallow. For example, they envision "worship" consisting of chats with a holographic Jesus and Mary on the challenges of family life. Is such a retreat into entertainment the only way to reach today's generation? Is it even possible for such entertainment to be authentic worship, or have we settled for a Disneyland version of reality? The authors don't consider such questions, nor do they address the question of resources, envisioning the megachurch, with its wealth, to be the only option for the future. Current trends indicate the future is not quite so monolithic. There are other books tackling these issues with far more practical advice.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Are You Experienced?, January 12, 2007

By 

Dan Lawler (IL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Growing Spiritual Redwoods (Paperback)

North Americans do not understand Christian doctrine and they do not want to understand it. So say authors Easum and Bandy who then continue: "but most important - and this is the key discovery at the end of the 20th Century - they do not need to understand it!" (p. 41). What they need, instead of doctrine, is a life-transforming "experience with Jesus" and "relationship with Jesus". (pp. 49, 52, 53, 55, et seq.).

Who is this Relationship Jesus? The authors are not sure who he is, but they know who he is not. He is not Lord, or Messiah, or King, or Son of God, or even Savior because such titles "have become so laden with underlying nuances that seekers are too nervous to consider them." (p. 39.) And what of "Christ"? Easum and Bandy say that term "carries an enormous weight of complex dogma, and invites seekers into an arena of religious disagreement ... that is (to them) frightening in its irrelevance." (p. 39.) Under no circumstances must doctrine be allowed to frighten or unnerve the seekers as they experience Relationship Jesus. Seekers must be free to imagine this Jesus in any way they wish. The authors tell us that no less an authority than the Council of Chalcedon "resolved conflict about the person and work of Jesus by declaring that every perspective was both right and wrong." (p. 52.) Relationship Jesus is everything you want him to be and, apparently, he is also not everything you want him to be. Go figure.

There is one point of doctrine the authors tolerate and that is the Incarnation. But dogma-fearing North Americans need not fret, as the authors quickly assure them that: "Only the mysterious paradox of the incarnation is essential to Christian faith. All else is metaphor." (p.54.) That "all else" of non-essential metaphor would include, by the way, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

This book thrives on the false dichotomy of "either doctrine or experience." Time and again the authors dismiss doctrine as an impediment to experience as shown in such statements as "Are you committed to Jesus Christ ... or to a particular doctrine" and "Do you speak of faith as an experience with Christ or as a heritage to protect" and "Understanding the saving grace of God in a rationally consistent, historically grounded way is not important to most Americans; Experiencing that saving grace ... is everything." (pp. 14, 41.)

Could it be that one can hold fast to that doctrine first delivered by the Apostles and still experience the Lord Jesus Christ? And by the "Lord Jesus Christ" I do not mean the amorphous, metaphorical, mystical Jesus of Easum and Bandy who is all things to all men, be they right or wrong. I mean the man who was born of a virgin, crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered, died and was buried, rose again in accordance with the Scriptures and ascended into heaven. That Jesus! The same Apostles who delivered the doctrine also experienced that Jesus. Paul, who warned the Galatians to not receive any other gospel than the one he preached, also prayed that the Ephesians would be inwardly enlightened so as to comprehend "what is the breadth and width and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up with all the fullness of God." (Eph. 3:18-19.) Now that is an experience!

So doctrine and experience are not mutually exclusive. The real question is whether they are mutually dependent. That is, can someone experience Jesus, the real and true Jesus, without embracing sound Christian doctrine. Just as there is true doctrine and a true Jesus who can be experienced, there is also false doctrine and, the Lord warned, a false Jesus that can be experienced. Because Easum and Bandy reject sound doctrine and even reason itself, they have no ability to discern the true from the false.

Now, I know the postmoderns out there will shake their heads and say, "The poor boy just doesn't get it. Hasn't he heard? There are no absolutes, there are no meta-narratives, there are no universal truths. There is no true Jesus, there is no false Jesus. There is just 'Jesus', and those Chalcedons had it right, all perceptions of Jesus (and of everything else) are both right and wrong." Well, if the postmoderns are right, then their "Jesus" is nothing more than a contentless banner, to use Francis Schaeffer's phrase. It is just a label used to generate interest in an undefinable "experience." They could call it anything: Jesus or Buddha or Krishna or Mithra or Mothra or whatever. It doesn't matter. And they may actually have an experience, but ultimately their experience will not matter either because it is just as contentless as the label they put on it. The secular philosophers came to this dead-end conclusion long ago. The church philosophers like Easum and Bandy are lagging behind. But they will get there eventually. Its just a matter of time.

There is no meaning and there is no hope in Relationship Jesus, or in the experiences he might bestow. But there is meaning and hope in the true Jesus, a "living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Pet. 1:3.) May you experience this Jesus soon.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most innovative ministry model books written, July 16, 1998

By 

Ron Martoia - See all my reviews

This review is from: Growing Spiritual Redwoods (Paperback)

Easum does an outstanding job of stretching even contemporary churches to think outside the box yet one more time. Chapter 4 holds particular value for imagineering what future church service design might look like. For those in traditional settings this may be a bit discouraging, for the church on the edge this is grist for the creative design team. I read 120-150 books a year and this is one of the best on church ministry models I have read in the last 3 years. I bought 15 copies for staff, and key leaders. Thanks Bill Easum