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Reviewed by Rev. Patricia Farris, Senior Minister, Santa Monica First United Methodist Church Pastorpreneur: Outreach beyond Business as Usual Pastorpreneur: Outreach beyond Business as Usual Imagining Church: Seeing Hope in a World of Change The plethora of books available to spark imagination and develop skills in church revitalization continues to expand. John Jackson and Gary and Kim Shockley have added two more covering much of the same ground but from very different frameworks and style sets. Both are deeply grounded in the faith of the authors, and both draw from the authors’ three-plus decades of pastoral leadership, but the style and approach taken in these two new books could hardly be more different. John Jackson’s Pastorpreneur will appeal to task-oriented, left-brain folks who resonate with business and sports metaphors and a direct get-it-done emphasis. The tone is set in the Robert Service epigraph (“And I will not be won by weaklings, subtle and suave and mild…”) and the Foreword by John Maxwell. Followers of Maxwell’s approach, along with those of Easum, Barna, and Warren will respond well to Jackson’s philosophy and strategy. Jackson culls from their previous books to draw together nuggets of instruction and direction. God calls leaders to bold action, he asserts, underscored by focus and discipline. Specific strategies include grabbing the community’s attention, building strategic partnerships, conducting faith-building events, challenging people to find their niche, and multiplying their impact. Each of these is developed using examples, anecdotes, humor, and insight. Through it all, a pastor’s heart for changed lives shines through. Readers should not be put off by the title. Even if the language and tone do not initially appeal to all readers, Jackson’s work should not be pigeon-holed or stereotyped. As Jackson details, a pastor must patiently and persistently point the congregation to God’s heart and people’s needs. This is done through listening, through developing partnerships, and through staying connected in the community. These skills are fundamental to all parish ministry. Put into the context of revitalization, many pastors will find familiar ground from which to reach out more effectively into the wider community. For finally, Jackson concludes, this work is not about increased numbers, but about changed lives. Gary and Kim Shockley approach the same subject starting from a very different place in Imagining Church. This is the book for right-brain, intuitive types. Gary and Kim Shockley, partners in life and in ministry, begin with imagining a new future for the church—that is, seeing a mental image that isn’t yet there. The work of making the new vision into reality makes of church leaders co-creators with God. The Shockleys’ approach is prayerful and based in the community’s experience of the presence and leading of God. They provide a brief summary of what others have also portrayed as the end of Christendom. Insights from Christian Schwartz and the Natural Church Development process also inform much of their approach and style. Their emphasis is on developing the congregation as a Christian community of love and forgiveness, drawing on the gifts the Holy Spirit has imparted. Vision starts with the heart, they assert. This is ultimately not really so different from Jackson’s approach, though the vocabulary and tone of their book is quite different. They include a step-by-step process of disciple-making that is designed to lead to transformation. The Shockleys’ envision outreach as bridge-building and provide an array of suggestions to help congregations become bridge-builders rather than gate-keepers. Those who have read the array of church revitalization manuals to date will discover in these two books much that is already familiar to them. But they will also find the insights of others packaged in new ways which may serve to spark creativity and fresh energy for the task. Taken together, these two books serve as bookends for the spectrum of approaches. Readers of almost every style and bent will find something to affirm and much to ponder. They are, perhaps, examples of the various gifts of the Spirit as the Spirit works to break into our habits and old, timid ways of seeing and doing, with new energy and creativity and abiding faithfulness.
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