Me to We: A Pastor's Discovery of the Power of Partnership [Paperback]

Alan Nelson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 2007

There's no denying that healthier, happier churches have nearly everyone involved in some form of ministry. Alan Nelson, executive editor of REV! Magazine, guides your congregation to discover, develop, and deploy their gifts in service--and help your entire church reach its full potential. Explore practical way to move your church from a pastor-centric model to one that maximizes its volunteers, staff, and everyone in your church. Includes a variety of "best practices" from interviews with churches that have released their pastors from "doing it all" -- and successfully turned the way they do ministry upside-down.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Alan Nelson is a seasoned pastor who gets pastors and is an excellent coach of pastors. I've been learning from him for over a decade. In a creative and refreshing style, this book calls us back to recapture God's dream for team ministry. --Gene Appel, lead pastor of Willow Creek Community Church

One of the most unfortunate realities of ministry is the well-meaning, but drained leader. Too many leaders think their responsibility is to take everything on themselves. But it is a mentality that has devastating effects both on the leader and the led. In his book, Me to We, Alan Nelson takes a unique look at the dual challenge of leading and equipping others to lead. No matter where you are in the ministry, this book will show you that the key to successful ministry is not necessarily carrying everything on your own shoulders; it is learning to equip others to help. --Ed Young, Pastor, Fellowship Church, and author of The Creative Leader

A refreshing look at leadership that involves letting go of current models and embracing the ancient model of the early church--releasing laity in leveraged ministry ventures. --Bob Buford, Founding Chairman, Leadership Network, and author of Halftime and Finishing Well

About the Author

Alan Nelson is a 20-year pastor/church planting veteran, the author of a dozen books, and now executive editor of Rev. Magazine the only pastoral magazine designed primarily to help pastors equip ministry leaders (www.rev.org).

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Group Publishing, Inc. (September 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764434861
• ISBN-13: 978-0764434860
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Me to We, March 10, 2009

By 

Rick Kalal (Knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Me to We: A Pastor's Discovery of the Power of Partnership (Paperback)

The book Me to We by Alan Nelson has a great title, but little new content. The entire book could fill two or three chapters, max. I will summarize the book's salient points a little later so you will not waste $20 as I did. Actually a better idea is to go to Rev.org and you can find all the stuff there. The book is full of clichés and as one reviewer said "the conversational style of the book comes across as contrived in parts and does get tiresome" is all too true. I became skeptical as I looked up the other reviewers for this book. The first two reviewers who both gave the book 5 stars, I would suspect are plants of Group Publishing. My cynicism evidenced by the fact that most of the reviews that these two gave other books are 4 and 5 stars and all from Group. They must be professional Group reviewers.

One thing I really hate is when I read a book that is one long advertisement for a product or group of products. This book certainly falls into that category. The main character, which is an older sage pastor constantly, told a younger confused pastor how to improve his church by becoming an equipping church. I have no problem with that. It is when he is told to go to web sites or buy other books or go to conferences or referred to speakers who are all in some way associated with Group. That really bugs me.

Now with that off my chest I believe that the idea of creating an equipping church is a fantastic idea and one worthy of serious consideration. There are other very good books out there. Sue Mallory (who now is connected to Group through Church Volunteer Central) wrote an excellent book called The Equipping Church that is very helpful and will give concrete advice and examples. Where as Me to We tells you that you need to build an equipping church without actually telling you how.

As a parting shot I must admit that Group Publishing has some great material. Though the concept behind this book is solid and the church need equip its saints the book itself will not help you accomplish this.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A decent read but..., December 17, 2008

By 

Thomas Ingram - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Me to We: A Pastor's Discovery of the Power of Partnership (Paperback)

I found this book to be a decent read, but did not glean anything new. Maybe this is due to my MBA background. While I do believe the book gives the view of the direction the Church needs to go, I did not find any concrete steps in it that I could latch on to if I were a Pastor. I would suggest that a Pastor might read The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge if they are looking for some meat and potatoes. But if you are new to thinking outside of the organizational Church box, then this might be a good place for you to start.

5.0 out of 5 stars Me to We: A Pastor's Discovery of the Power of Partnership, April 15, 2011

By 

robertap - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Me to We: A Pastor's Discovery of the Power of Partnership (Paperback)

Our minister of 23 years is retiring in May. She bought the "Me to We" book to share as our church goes through our search and selection process for her replacement. My co-chair of the Board of Trustees and I were amazed at how well the book dealt with many of the issues we've struggled with in the past. We have been the typical pastorial model of a church where the minister knows and is in charge of every aspect of church business. Seven years ago we tried to move to a program church model only to run into resistence, it appears our members only wanted our minister to lead us. Slowly we have moved to a halfway between model, which has been working but needs further development.

This book is a rapid read and entertaing look at the pastoral model and its tole on the minister's energies and ability to serve the spiritual community when the minister is doing everything. A successful pastor of a program church takes on the mentoring of a pastor of a pastorial church who is truly burning out. His wife and children are floundering because he is always involved in church activities leaving no time for growing together as a family. He has come to the conclusion that he may have to leave the ministry.

This book looks at all the questions that come up and need to be answered in order to change the church into a vibrant, contributing community that thrives and grows, where every member has a part. It was so well written that the Board of Trustees co-chair and I bought a copy of this book for all the members of the search committee and asked them to read it before beginning the search process.

If your church needs a blueprint for sucess, this is the book. It is written in an easily understandable format. You will chuckle at the questions the pastorial minister asks because you should be able to identify with his concerns about the program model being feasible. If your minister needs support and you wish to help I strongly recommend this book, at least as a starting point for your journey to a cohesive, spritually growing chuch community. Blessings.