Customer Reviews

Whole Church: Leading from Fragmentation to Engagement (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series)

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Whole Church is one of those books that a reader might respond to with,"This makes so much sense...I'm surprised no one captured this before!" Eschewing siloed ministries Mel proposes that connecting to God, the church, the community and the world can be a seamless and interactive learning experience that serves us well in both spiritual formation and mission. For leaders who want to integrate ministry emphases...this is your book

Whole Church by Mel Lawrenz is right on target with the key conept for all effective New Testament congregations. Engagement. Another word for this is discipleship. A key conecpt is relationships. While the most important thing that can captivatge the passion of a congregation is God's ideal vision for their spiritual Strategic journey, the most important activity of congregations is disciplemaking.

Engagement as explained in the Whole Church frames the disciplemaking process. It is about engagment with God, God's people, the congregation context, and the world. To be a whole church it is necessary to have full engagement that focuses on all four of these emphases.

The reason I feel so good about this approach by Mel Lawrenz is that it is a full affirmation of what I say in Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation (TCP Leadership Series)about the concept of Relationship Experiences. These experiences flavor the spiritual strategic journey of a congregation. How a congregation handles engagement around disciplemaking is its crucial ongoing activity.

A great thing about ths book is that is goes into depth on each of the four areas of engagement. If you want your congregation to be a whole church you will find yourself fully engaged with Mel's message.

BTW, a secondary theme I pulled from the book relates to avoiding unhealthy conflict by having a clear foucs on the four areas of engagement. This is an important point not to be missed that I cover in Every Congregation Needs a Little Conflict (TCP Leadership Series).

Thank you, Mel.

I am not accustomed to reading books on church leadership and church growth, as so many of them simply reduce the conversation to models intended to be replicated, overused analogy, and bumper-sticker-depth practical theology. Truth be told, I enjoyed the read - perhaps because of a recent experience at Elmbrook Church where I was introduced to the congregation of which Mel Lawrenz has been a part for these past many years.

Churches of all sorts struggle with the issue of unity within the body, perhaps the most targeted area of our enemy. This book rests upon biblical truth and ministerial experience, and Mel is a good choice to have written it. His challenge is directed at church leadership, being sensitive to both the spiritual heritage of the faith and the modern relevance of the message. His opening lines, "I have never met a pastor or other church leader who said that he or she wanted to foster a partial or broken church. Churches are meant to be whole."

And yet the reality of fragmented church pervades the Christian experience in our day and age, for there is often more passionate pursuit of power and control than there is of Spirit.

This is a very practical-oriented and engaging book, which will appeal to a wide range of readers. With a wide range of examples, drawing from years of pastoral experience, the author is able to connect the need for whole churches to every conceivable situation of fragmentation our culture is facing. Yet, this does not cast a dark shadow over the message. Mel continues to be optimistic in the power of God's Spirit to bring about genuine change and lead to engagement.

Four areas of engagement form the centerpiece of the book: Engage with God, Engage with God's People, Engage with Your Community, Engage with the World. These areas of emphasis become foundational for the approach which the author advocates. At the end of each chapter are 25 suggestions for practical implication of the presented theories. Working through preparation to ongoing management, these steps help get the creative juices working for those involved in ministry leadership.

Pastors need to hear from fellow pastors. There's a place for pastors listening to biblical experts -- when they study the Bible. There's a place for pastors listening to theologians -- when they need to study theology. But there's a place where only a pastor can speak to another pastor. I've been there, and I have to sit back and listen and sometimes I can't even enter into the conversation because it's out of my (pastoral) depth. I know what the words mean, but they don't resonate with my experience.

Hence, I recommend a new book by Mel Lawrenz, pastor at Elmbrook outside Milwaukee, and his new book addresses bringing the whole church into a whole ministry: Whole Church: Leading from Fragmentation to Engagement (J-B Leadership Network Series) . His vision is for a "whole" church -- with God, God's people, the community, and the world. This book is for pastors and by a pastor who has been there: with fragmentation and the concrete steps involved in healing and bringing back to wholeness. I really liked part two:

It addressed closing the gap with God through worship and teaching;
closing the gap with people through real fellowship;
closing the gap with the community through more than a thousand points of light;
closing the gap for the whole world by engaging the world.

One of the illuminating features of this book for me was about the dynamics and how Mel emphasized fostering a culture of change and shifting. His last section was on choosing wise leaders, and I don't know that I've read anything quite like this.

Now here's the point: pastor, you can trust Mel; he's been there; he's experienced it after all these years at Elmbrook; he's been there and he's been through it and he's lived to guide others through that experience.