And: The Gathered and Scattered Church - Paperback

by Hugh Halter (Author), Matt Smay (Author)

It's time to stop asking the old questions about how to do church better and instead ask how churches can more effectively participate in and grow God's kingdom. AND helps Christian leaders recognize the best in different church models and see how to incorporate these values into a cohesive church movement.

By the numbers, the American church enjoys the resources to profoundly impact the Kingdom. But despite the rapid growth of these evangelical movements, the church in the West is in decline. A growing schism has emerged between the movement with a strong emphasis on attracting people and the more missional communities that focus on releasing people into ministry.

Church resource specialists Hugh Halter and Matt Smay have been observing these different church models, and they challenge the idea that churches have to choose between them--between the attractional and missional approaches to ministry.

With professional insight and practical advice, Halter and Smay dial in on how to bring together the very best of the attractional AND missional models for church ministry by exploring:

• The balance between gathering a community together AND scattering them into the world.
• The harmony between centralization AND decentralization in church structure.
• The mindset necessary to invest in both the traditional AND the innovative.
• The drive to maintain both a vision for the future AND a depth of community for the present.

As churches begin to develop these ANDs, they will be better positioned to influence the world according to the design of God instead of the whims of the people or the pride associated with production.

Back Jacket

AND, by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, asks and provides an answer for one of the most important questions for church leaders today: What is happening to the church in America? By all appearances, it looks like we are 'doing' church better than we ever have. In the past thirty years the number of mega-churches has increased from under 100 to over 7,500. In the past ten years the number of multi-site churches has increased from under 100 to over 2,000. By the numbers, these church movements enjoy the national platform, the national voice, and the resources to profoundly impact the Kingdom. In spite of the rapid growth of these prevailing church movements, why is the Western church still in massive decline? Numerous books have been written documenting the flight of members from the institutional church. This is not another book about how to do church better or how to just get people back into the pews. AND helps you---whether you are a mega-church, traditional, contemporary, or organic church leader---focus on the vast majority of unchurched Christians and non-believers who are not moving toward any form of church. You will learn how to value existing church forms---attracting people to a physical church and releasing people into hands-on ministry ... bringing together the very best of the attractional and missional models for church ministry. AND will equip you and all church leaders to value existing church forms while catalyzing a missional movement of incarnational people into the world for Jesus Christ. AND is the second book in the Exponential Series---a partnership between Exponential Network, Leadership Network, and Zondervan featuring several signature books each year to tell the reproducing church story, celebrate the diversity of models and approaches God is using to reproduce healthy congregations, and highlight the innovative practices of healthy reproducing churches.