Lost in America: How You and Your Church Can Impact the World Next Door [Hardcover]

Tom Clegg (Author), Warren Bird (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2001 | ISBN-10: 076442257X | ISBN-13: 978-0764422577

Lost in America will motivate Christians, individually and in the church, to think and behave as missionaries right here in North America. The case is made that the church has become marginalized in our society and requires changes to make it relevant in reaching our highly relational, postmodern society. Lost in America helps Christians re- image their church as a mission station and shows them how they can meaningfully offer hope to the unchurched in America.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Challenges us to do whatever it takes to reach the growing numbers of lost people in the USA. -- Mark Mittelberg, Willow Creek Assoc.

Clegg and Bird set forth a pathway for congregational outreach in a readable, insightful, and practical way. -- David Bryant, Concerts of Prayer Int'l

Lost in America will help identify fresh ways to relate the timeless message of Christ to searching people. -- Franklin Graham, Billy Graham Evangelistic Assoc.

From the Back Cover

What Church Leaders are Saying About Lost in America Lost in America will help you identify fresh ways to relate the timeless messages of Christ to searching people in your life today.

Franklin Graham (CEO, Billy Graham Evangelism Association) Cleverly written, compellingly argued-Lost in America shatters our complacency and challenges us to do whatever it takes to reach the growing numbers of lost people in one of the greatest mission fields in the world: the USA.

Mark Mittelberg (Evangelism Champion for the Willow Creek Association, and

Author of Building a Contagious Church) If you desire to reach your full potential in sharing the good news with your relatives, friends, and neighbors, read Lost in America's uncompromising, unsettling, and unconventional message. You'll be glad you did.

John C. Maxwell (Founder, the INJOY Group) With a convincingly upbeat approach, Lost in America is the freshest work I've seen to inspire you to initiate evangelism efforts. Every time I picked it up, I felt like I'd had another shot of sparkling water. Open it up and drink deeply.

Carl George (Director, Leadership for Ministry) A fast-moving book filled with practical ideas and gripping illustrations to help the church reach the lost. The message of this book hits home.

Robert E. Coleman (Director of the School of World Missions and Evangelism,

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) Tom Clegg and Warren Bird do not believe that the American Church can do what it's always done and achieve different results. In Lost in America they have produced the freshest, most insightful and practical witnessing tool we've seen-a must--read for every Christian and every pastor!

Eddie and Alice Smith (President and Executive Director, U.S. Prayer Track) Clegg and Bird set forth a pathway for congregational outreach in an eminently readable, liberatingly insightful, and motivationally practical way. We can start reaching out immediately, right where we live, as the Spirit gives us missionary eyes for the world next door.

David Bryant (Founder and President, Concerts of Prayer International)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Group Pub Inc (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076442257X
• ISBN-13: 978-0764422577
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #583,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Turbocharge your impact, October 9, 2001

By 

Douglas Humphreys (Escondido, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost in America: How You and Your Church Can Impact the World Next Door (Hardcover)

This is a great book. I have been a Christian for well over 20 years. I have been through discipleship training, read books on evangilism and always wanted to reach people for Christ. Yet, I always felt that I was not doing enough. I had a heart for the lost, but what could I do? Why would they listen to me? What if I fall on my face and the fool? In Lost in America, Tom Clegg and Warren Bird make the evangilism possibilities of our daily lives very real. "I can do that." I kept saying that through the book.

This book makes one feel the need to give our lives to rescue those who otherwise will die. And, it is an urgent need! People are dying today without Christ. What can you do to save one person? Read this book, and you will be motivated and inspired to join the battle in a very real way.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Calling All Change Agents!, February 10, 2001

By 

Kevin Guttman (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost in America: How You and Your Church Can Impact the World Next Door (Hardcover)

Clegg and Bird make a strong case in this Vanguard book that America has become a mission field. The mind boggling statistics and compelling stories in the book back this claim up. This is not just a theoretical attempt to address the issue, as the authors site churches and people who are engaging pre-Christian people in our post-modern culture with the Gospel.

I found the reality of what the authors are saying to be disturbing. Truly we can't continue doing church or outreach as we have for the past half century or even decade and expect good or different results. Rather than tear the church down, I felt Clegg and Bird were acting as consultants to guide the church through these changing times.

The authors challenge readers to move from program evangelism to relational evangelism, which is the New Testament pattern. They cite examples from their own lives of engaging pre-Christians with the Gospel through relational evangelism. So they are practicing what they are preaching, which is refreshing.

The book is chock full of interesting graphs and relevant statistics. It is plain to see that the church is losing ground in America, with the conversion rate not even keeping up with the birth rate. This book, calls the church to wake up and change!

If you are a church leader wanting to engage people liveing in post-modern culture with the Gospel in a relevant manner and see healthy reproducing churches established as a result, then this book is a must read. I think Clegg and Bird displayed much courage to write a book like this. Certainly not everyone will agree with them, but then again those are probably the people who are resistant to change and want us to go back to doing church like we did in 1970!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Heart was Moved Time and Time Again, June 22, 2001

By 

Rev. Bob Baker - Outreach Director (Anchorage, Alaska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost in America: How You and Your Church Can Impact the World Next Door (Hardcover)

Recently I read Tom Glegg's book "Lost in America" and my heart was moved time and time again through this awesome material. I grabbed my pen and highlighter and took the material apart. It's a great book, giving God's people a huge "challenge shot" in the arm! Get out of your Comfort Zone, we matter to God, there is a huge harvest of Souls waiting and God wants to use US to reach them. If any Church or Teacher wants new, fresh material with thoughts and insights into why we are here - THIS BOOK IS IT! This book will soon sweep he country - I hope you will get it now and allow God to use it to change you!