Customer Reviews

Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ed combines the insights of both a respected theoretician and experience of a successful church planter into a very accessible and insightful book. I help oversee the Acts 29 church planting network and have read just about everything on the subject. Without reservation I can recommend Ed's work as a must read. I wish it had been out before I planted my church, Mars Hill, as it would have been tremendously helpful.

This book and this author are the real thing. I just completed the resident portion of a doctoral program for church leaders and preachers. Many of us were leaving to plant churches and we all agreed that this was far and away the most helpful of the 100+ books we read this year. More church planting books have been published over the last two years than at any other time in history. We read most of them. Some were heavy on theory. Some emphasized fads. Some seemed more intent on creating a new lexicon than offering practical help. This books stands above the rest in that Stetzer hit the sweet spot every preacher dreams about - it's the intersection of biblical truth with real life. For any church planter who is in the "real life" trenches of planting churches in a postmodern culture, that kind of practical help is a welcomed relief. As Ed paints a picture of our sending God and his heart for this emerging culture, he weaves in the most practical wisdom for those who would answer the high and holy call to be postmodern missionaries. As I've navigated the whitewaters of church planting in an urban context in Atlanta, GA, I've returned to this text so many times that it is dog-eared, underlined, highlighted, and tattered. I bought two more copies. A new one for me and one to give the next church planter I meet. This is great stuff.

If I could give a church planter only one book to read it'd be this one. As a former church planter and now as a Church Planting Strategist, I resonate with what Ed shares in his book. At last, a book that wrestles with the modernistic formulas of church planting with the postmodern culture that we swim in. Ed's depth of knowledge is evident and he exposes the reader to a multitude of ways of planting churches. He's not hooked on one approach whether that be seeker driven, cell groups, house churches, or whatever. He lays everything out for the reader to process and in assessing their own culture to plant a relevant church (cell, house, etc).

Ed Stetzer has written a vade mecum for church planters and for congregations considering planting a new mission. Not only does he provide theological basis for church planting, but he gives excellent nuts and bolts advice. Not everyone will agree with all of his advice, but following it, will greatly increase the chances of success for a new mission plant.

The book is purty good...i had to use it for one of my college classes. SO besides being a textbook, the content is really helpful

I was very impressed with the book. It begins with a good theology based on biblical teaching-- very unusual in much of church planting and a lot of "emerging church" books. Stezer explains that good theology leads to good methodology. Unlike some, he does not de-emphaize theology or, for that matter, re-invent it.

After building a good theology, he then explains how we are to reach our community by using good missiology. That is where some of the more cultural issues are addressed.

The last part of the book is practical "how to" material.

It is a big book, but worth the read. Very thorough and helpful. We plant our church in a few months and our whole team is reading it.

Ed Stetzer offers helpful insights and overviews to issues concerning planting new churches. He tries to cover all aspects that church leaders will need to address from the begining and through the first few years of the new church. Stetzer draws on experience and other experts to provide the basics that church planters will need to know. This book offers Stetzer's perspective on the ever-changing landscape of the "postmodern age." Because it is a forward looking book on churches in this age, I think it could be helpful for leaders of current churches to use to evaluate their ministries in light of the cultural changes of postmodernity. His outlook is missional and evangelistic as well as pastoral. I think this or Stetzer's updated version should be included in any church planter's library.

I needed to read the best book I could find on planting churches in this postmodern world we live in. Somewhere a reviewer of this book said that it was the best book he read in his church growth class out of thousands of pages read.

I believe it.

As a pastor about to relocate a church, I will be using this book as my practical textbook. I've already started using it with my parishioners.
Not to be overly critical, but there are a lot of church growth books today and most of them are good, but some are harder than others to apply to the "real world." I believe that Stetzer speaks from experience and he leaves few stones of experience unturned for the curious to explore and learn from.

After I finish a couple of others books I'm working on, I've got to obtain Stetzer's latest book.

This book is a home run.

Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age is a comprehensive guide for starting new churches regardless of the approach and/or philosophy of ministry. Stetzer includes a good description of different approaches of starting churches as well as different types (ethic, house church, etc.) of churches that maybe planted. Additionally, he discusses the basic steps or procedures that every planter must consider when planting a church, such things as the name of the church, focus group, development of a core group, evangelism, small groups, and selection of a meeting place.

List strengths of book.
There is must to commend with the book. First, as mentioned above the book is very comprehensive. If a planter had a chance to read only a few books on church planting, this would certainly be one that should be included. Second, Stetzer supports the need and importance of church planting from both a strong biblical and historical perspective. Third, the book gives an excellent description of emerging postmodern generations and how churches need to think differently to reach those generations. This I believe is the strength of Stetzer's book and makes so timely. He discusses what it means to me incarnational in ministry and service and the importance of reaching postmoderns. Lastly, the book is highly practical. Stetzer gives many hands on types of examples and practical advice, from his own personal experiences that a new planter could make easily apply.

List weaknesses of book.
I find little to be critical of with this book. Most of the book, especially the section on basic steps in church planting, can certainly be found in other resources; however Stetzer does a nice job of bringing it all together in this volume.

Though this is a great book in its own right, Stetzer has published an updated edition under a new title, "Planting Missional Churches."