God-Size Your Church: Beyond Growth for Growth’s Sake

By John Jackson
Abingdon Press 2008
ISBN 9780687649099
$19.00… $13.30… 30% off until Feb. 1

A great deal of literature on the uniqueness of congregational life and development has surfaced over the last decade. The growing missional and emergent church movements, the church growth movement, the seeker church movement, the sociological study of congregational life, the resurgence of practical theology for the life of evangelism, the re-establishing of the relationship between practice and doctrine in the Christian life—all point to a renewed interest in how local churches can faithfully embody the gospel in a time of profound cultural change. Pastors are faced with numerous challenging questions about how they will effectively lead the church during these uncertain but opportune times.

Insert into this picture John Jackson, pastor and church consultant from Carson Valley Christian Center in Nevada. Jackson’s new book raises questions about how churches can creatively move into this mission field by focusing not so much on the numerical increase but on kingdom-impact (p. 5). God has uniquely created each church to participate in a kingdom adventure to reach persons for Jesus Christ and to equip them for kingdom work in the world (p. 7). Jackson’s passion as a church planter is to invite others to journey in the ways God can shape “dynamic, growing, healthy, God-sized communities of faith and mission” (p. 7). Therefore, again, the question is not so much “How big?” as it is “How is God calling us to fulfill God’s kingdom agenda in our community for Christ’s glory?” (p. 13). That’s the question Jackson invites readers to consider as he walks them through the steps of how local congregations may reflect on carrying out Christ’s Great Commission and Commandment.

A great deal of what Jackson writes comes out of his own experience as a church planter in the American Baptist Church in the Western part of the United States. Much of what he shares builds on work that has been written in other contexts, for example, with Bill Hybels at Willow Creek (p. 35) or with Walk Kallstead at Community of Joy (p. 39). Therefore, despite the word of caution toward church growth “for growth’s sake” (as the subtitle says), there is a great deal of church growth language and insight throughout (p. 13). Jackson’s passion for planting new churches to reach more persons for Jesus Christ comes through loud and clear!

Jackson’s book, then, does not so much plow new ground as it brings to bear the kind of practical wisdom pastors and leadership teams need to keep in mind when planting new congregations or re-evaluating where “established” congregations may want to go in the future (p. 10). The material Jackson has put together tells the story of how passion, vision, and mission can intersect and become embodied locally in the life of the church. The bibliography and appendices can serve to assist churches in how they can God-size to implement Christ’s unique plan.

Several words of caution are always in order when utilizing resources to start or kick start a congregation into missional outreach: First, congregational transformation takes time! While urgency is the word of the day, so is patience! Jackson’s work, while full of passion and wisdom, also invites discernment and reflection. Knowing Jackson’s concern for congregational health and well-being this is simply another word of insight. Change takes time. Effective leaders know this.

Second, it is easy to fall prey into the thinking of “If this happens, then this will happen.” Such is not always the nature of change! All churches are messy churches, regardless of size! Ron Heifetz’s work is apt here: We need to keep in mind the difference between “technical” change and “adaptive” change. Technical change deals with problems that are knowable and fixable—a leaking roof, for example. Adaptive change, on the other hand, requires a change of heart. It looks deeper into the complexity of the situation. Therefore, in a post-Christendom era, the problems facing the church in terms of membership decline, for instance, require not simply technical solutions, such as “membership growth techniques” or “evangelism gimmicks,” as alternative ways of naming the problem and discovering healthy and helpful responses. Jackson’s work comes at a time when many are surely looking for both kinds of change. The key is to know the difference between the two and to realize there are no “quick fixes.”

Jackson’s God-Sized Church model offers another way of understanding congregational life and mission at the beginning of the 21st century. It can be used as a manual or resource for those who want their leadership team to work off the same page or within a common framework. This is one of the strengths of the book. A weakness may be that Jackson did not include study-questions at the end of the chapters or sections. While questions are numerous throughout, a list of summary questions may have served as a helpful pedagogical tool. Nonetheless, Jackson has given us a resource many in the church planting and missional church communities will want to utilize.