Customer Reviews

High Impact African-American Churches

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a well written book that had me captivated from the beginning. Growing up in a predominately African American city as an AA female and belonging to an AA church most of my life, this book put into words what I have believed and thought was true.
Harry Jackson and George Barna did an excellent job in researching and depicting the best practices of these AA churches across the USA in various denominations. The statistics are staggering regarding how much we as a group of people engage in spiritual matters such as reading our Bibles, going to church, talking about God,as opposed to our counterparts. On the flip side though it was also sobering to see the statistics that we as a group of people also have a high rate of out-of-wedlock babies, fatherless homes, etc.
This book caused me to reflect on these statistics and it brought many questions and also created a desire to see our lifestyle become congruous with our faith.
Churches of all denominations, racial and ethnic backgrounds can and should draw from the best practices of these high impact AA churches so that we can one day truly become "the church".

This book does a great job of showing the differences between predominately white churches and predominately black churches. A real eye-opener for this Caucasian ministry professional. I learned a lot!

High Impact African American Churches is a must read. The teaming insight of both George Barna, the Gallup of the Christian world and Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr., a leading pastor, author and prophetic voice of ethics and morality in America, is a wonderful combination.

This book is an important book for all those interested in faith (Black, White, Latino, or Asian). Why? Because there are many valuable lessons to be learned from the historic and rich base of faith and power within the African American church in America and all are within his book. The stats alone in this book will turn most of your thinking on its head! High Impact African American churches is a must read for all!

Mike Paul
New York, N.Y.

I think this book is a great reference for church leaders of all races. The information is insightful, the examples are inspiring, the stats are revealing. What appeals to me most is how it covers topics that most Christian leaders deal with and yet gets deep enough to give some take-aways.

This book has one redeeming quality. It informs those who are serious about the historic Christian faith that our struggles against pragmatism and relativism is an ardent struggle. Barna and Jackson have used their platform to commend as "effective" examples of "successful" churches those churches that are theologically erroneous and philosophically faulty. The book is wrought with inconsistencies and contradictions. Yet this is to be expected when you commend as paradigms for gospel ministry those churches where the gospel is not proclaimed. As an African-American, pastor, preacher and student of theology, I am appalled to read that the standard of Biblical preaching and pastoral ministry are men (and unfortunately women) who have no historical, theological reference or foundation. If you read this book (I hope you borrow it from someone and not buy it yourself), I challenge you to find the theology and/or biblical foundations for men like Eddie Long, Creflo Dollar, TD Jakes, Charles Blake, et al. The theology of these men is not to be commended. Therefore, neither are their ministries to be commended. And since this book commends to you these men and others of their kind, this book is not to be commended either.