The Interventionist [Paperback]

Lyle E Schaller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1997

The most effective way to influence both individual and institutional behavior is to ask questions. This text provides a conceptual framework for asking questions about congregations and it classifies various syndromes that prevent a church from making the changes that are needed for new life. It will become the first choice of church champions who choose to intervene in the life of the church.

Product Details

• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Press (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0687054494
• ISBN-13: 978-0687054497
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #654,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic From the Day it Was Published!, September 3, 2000

By 

George Bullard "Strategic Leadership Coach" (Columbia, SC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Interventionist (Paperback)

Seldom is a book or resource a classic the day it is published. Such was the case with The Interventionist which is both a goldmine and a classic in one.

If you work in a congregation, or are a congregational champion, one of the best things you can do is to buy multiple copies of this book. Keep two for yourself--a paperback copy to read and a hardback copy to save as a collector's item. Then give a copy to each key leader in your organization or active network.

There are two reasons why you ought to invest in this book. First, it has an invaluable conceptual framework for doing church in a way that results in a vital congregational life. Second, it is the definitive work of Lyle Schaller in which he shares more than forty years of experience in congregational intervention.

The key concept the book teaches is how to ask the right questions! For you the key question at this moment should be, how many copies of this book shall I buy?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable information!, April 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Interventionist (Paperback)

The InterVentionist is packed full of valuable information for anyone who is concerned about resolving problems within the church. Schaller examines issues and offers suggestions from the angle of the overall perspective, all the way down to detailed questions to ask in specific situations. Very thorough and realistic!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A simpler, more streamlined explanation would be more helpful, December 28, 2011

By 

moviebuff (Walnut CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Interventionist (Paperback)

Most of the reviews of this book were glowing and enthusiastic with praise. I felt differently about this book; I felt it had too much information and each chapter provides so many questions, sub-points, and issues; I felt overwhelmed reading the book.

Here are the chapters of the book:

Ch. 1 Who are the Interventionists?

Ch. 2 What baggage do you carry?

Ch. 3 Twelve Questions for the Interventionist

Ch. 4 What Do You Bring?

Ch. 5 What does the Client Expect?

Ch. 6 What are the Lines of Demarcation?

Ch. 7 European or American?

Ch. 8 Seventeen Syndromes

Ch. 9 What are the Central Organizing Principles?

Ch. 10 Evangelism or Intervention?

Ch. 11 Diagnostic Questions

Ch. 12 What Happened to the Context?

A. Good Points

Lyle Schaller draws from his extensive years in experience as an interventionist and parish consultant. He wrote this book for future pastors, or parish consultants who might need to serve as an interventionist for a church that is experiencing problems, decline in membership, or conflicts which negatively affect the effective ministry and growth of the church. The interventionist is a 3rd party consultant who comes into the church, gathers all the key leaders and influencers and asks them pertinent questions about their history, their vision, their organization of the ministry, the key roles of the leaders, and their decision-making about the ministry, about facilities, etc. that impact the church.

3 of the most helpful chapters in this book to me were:

Chapter Three -- Twelve Questions for the Interventionist: what are the key questions that the interventionist should ask the church staff of the church they are serving as a consultant

Chapter Nine -- What are the Central Organizing Principles of the Church -- each church is built on an identity and focuses on certain aspects in order to keep its members coming to the church. What is it? Is it the word-sacrament-liturgy, is it the pastor, a common missions focus, meaningful worship experiences, supportive relationships & networks, evangelism, world missions, Christian contemporary music/drama, healing ministries, etc? (Schaller lists 43 central organizing principles)

Chapter Eleven -- 393 Diagnostic Questions was helpful in providing some key questions the interventionist should ask the pastoral staff, the youth staff, the governing board, the worship and music department, ex-members, etc. I felt chapter 11 was helpful. However, Lyle Schaller provides 393 questions to ask a church -- I'm not really sure if in an actual interventionist situation one would ask all of those 393 questions.

B. My Constructive Feedback toward this Book

a) This book would be more helpful if the author were to describe more simply what the role of the interventionist is, provide a simpler model or strategy for helping a dysfunctional church to turn itself around, give a picture of what a healthy, growing church looks like, describe workable models for helping the church to build unity, make good decisions, pursue the right goals, and build up a unified, effective leadership team.

Instead, in each of the 12 chapters in this book, Schaller provides over 20 guidelines and questions for the interventionist to consider and to analyze. It is quite overwhelming.

b) This book is too narrowly focused on the European - American model of church. Being from an Asian-American church, I felt that Lyle Schaller's description of the model for the church in chapter 7 (European or American) was too limited and too focused on two ethnic groups; it didn't seem to apply to my church. This book may not apply to other ethnic groups (e.g. Hispanic, Asian, Middle-Eastern, etc). The church in North America is no longer confined to the European-American model. I hope that Schaller will be more comprehensive and more inclusive of other ethnic groups which make up the church in America. The demographics of the church in North America is changing so rapidly -- the church in North America will increasingly incorporate more Hispanic, Asian, Afro-American, and Middle-Eastern constituency.

I hope that Lyle E. Schaller can simplify this book and expand the model to include churches from other ethnic minorities. It will be much more helpful for people like me who do not belong to the European-American model of church.

Let me give an example of what type of book was more helpful for me. The recent book The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World, by Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk was much more helpful.

Part One The Context and Challenge of Missional Leadership

The authors provide 6 critical issues for missional leadership, talk about how to effectively go through transition in leadership; it provides the big picture for what a missional congregation looks like, and then provides a missional model.

Part Two The Missional leader

The authors describe the missional readiness factors and the nature of leadership, the character of a missional leader, how to cultivate the people of God for a missional future, and how to form a good environment to turn around the culture of the church; they also talk about how to get the congregation to be missions-minded, and lastly, they describe the steps to building a good leadership team.

I liked the Missional Leader book more than Schaller's book because it provided a model, a good picture and description of what a God-centered missional church, congregation, and leadership looks like, and provides sound guidelines for moving from A to B. This is much more accessible and easier to comprehend, then to go through 50 questions and 50 subpoints for each chapter.