Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture

by Tim Suttle, Scot McKnight (Foreword)

Among followers of Jesus, great is often the enemy of good. The drive to be great—to be a success by the standards of the world—often crowds out the qualities of goodness, virtue, and faithfulness that should define the central focus of Christian leadership. In the culture of today’s church, successful leadership is often judged by what works, while persistent faithfulness takes a back seat. If a ministry doesn’t produce results, it is dropped. If people don’t respond, we move on. This pursuit of “greatness” exerts a crushing pressure on the local church and creates a consuming anxiety in its leaders. In their pursuit of this warped vision of greatness, church leaders end up embracing a leadership narrative that runs counter to the sacrificial call of the gospel story. When church leaders focus on faithfulness to God and the gospel, however, it’s always a kingdom-win—regardless of the visible results of their ministry. John the Baptist modeled this kind of leadership. As John’s disciples crossed the Jordan River to follow after Jesus, John freely released them to a greater calling than following him. Speaking of Jesus, John “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Joyfully satisfied to have been faithful to his calling, John knew that the size and scope of his ministry would be determined by the will of the Father, not his own will. Following the example of John the Baptist and with a careful look at the teaching of Scripture, Tim Suttle dares church leaders to risk failure by chasing the vision God has given them—no matter how small it might seem—instead of pursuing the broad path of pragmatism that leads to fame and numerical success.

Genres: Faith, Christian, Church, Nonfiction, Leadership, Theology

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 2014

Reviews

[Lynda Cohagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

We started attending a small-ish local church recently, one which seems to take social justice issues, particularly homelessness, seriously. This book is written by its pastor, a man we both agree "is not an idiot." (The bar had seemed to move down over the years.)

Anyway, this book is good stuff. Aimed at church leadership, it addresses all of us who are looking for a more authentic spirituality, instead of a striving to be "bigger, faster, stronger." Once again I was reminded that the way of the Christ is most definitely NOT the way of consumerism, competition, or nationalism.

I marked it up a lot and will pass it on to friends.

[Sarah Westfall · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a person who tends to lean toward performance to gauge my worth, I found Shrink to be a needed read. I’m not in church leadership, but I read it through the lens a Christian who writes and wants to be faithful in that work without allowing metrics/outcomes to become my main motivation.

[Janna Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm definitely planning to write an actual review of this book, but I'm still organizing my thoughts.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Wesley said, "True humility is a kind of self-annihilation; and this is the centre of all virtues."

If you substitute "shrink" for "self-annihilation", you have Tim Suttle's book "Shrink."

I imagine some people will take issue with Suttle's statement that "The church's job is not to grow. The church's job is not to thrive or even to survive. The church's job is to be the church -- to bear witness to the lordship of Jesus Christ in the way we organize our common lives -- which will always involve a lot of dying on behalf of each other, the world, and the gospel." (p.30)

I imagine people wanting to pick it apart with a, "Well, yes, but....". And I'm reminded of Billy Graham's words that "It is the Holy Spirit's job to convict, God's job to judge and my job to love." I think these quotes go hand in hand. To love is such a big thing, and yet also so small, needing to know when to just stop and let be. The church's job is so big, and yet probably also so small, needing to know when to just stop and let be.

I like Suttle's comment that "The church's job, then, is neither to save the culture nor to save souls. The church's job is simply to be the church -- to be a colony of heaven in a culture of hell." (p.29)
.....and the gates of hell shall not prevail.

But Suttle has looked around at how we're "doing church" and determined that we're doing it wrong. "The current status of evangelicalism in North America is this: *we are doing what vanishing cultures do.*" (p.89)
Ouch.

But his intent is not to belittle. Rather, Suttle says (p.30), "[M]y hope is to encourage you and resource you with a fresh imagination for what it means to be the people of God."

This is a book that is against the popular "church growth" mentality. This is a book that discusses the idea that bigger is not necessarily better. This is a book that asks churches and church leaders to stop focusing on programs and start focusing on what matters. And even that doesn't begin to cover the topics Suttle discusses. I pretty much agreed with everything said in this book. Some chapters are basically completely highlighted on my Kindle. I really enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it to all pastors and church leaders I know.

As a beginning, here's the article Suttle mentions in his "Acknowledgments":
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-sut...

[Robin Peake · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was recommended this book by Chris Lane, a church planter I trust, so I was really disappointed to be disappointed in this book.

At the heart of my frustration, is that the author seems to create a false face off between faithfulness and fruitfulness, as a sort of either/or scenario.

I agree with much of his critique of the American mega church model (although disagree that 200 people is a 'small' church!) and that they have a disproportionately loud influence in terms of books and platforms. I agree with him that much of church life is ordinary - "the way in which we organise our common lives" and "a long obedience in the same direction."The second half of the book on virtue was absolutely spot on - churches should be built on following Jesus with integrity, and I completely agree that not all growth is healthy growth.

But I didn't resonate with his critique of the 'Good to Great' culture, and his tendency to oppose virtue and numerical growth.

[Christopher Heintzelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute MUST READ! If your a pastor of small church (as most churches are), this book will give you hope and encouragement to be faithful where you are. If you lead in a large church, this book could lighten your burden and offer hope from the crushing pressure. If you've become disillusioned with church and maybe even God, this book may just convince you that the church you are fed up with is so hard to stomach because it is not the way God intended it to be. Where ever you are, this book will meet you there.

Suttle is a gifted Writer whose voice strips away everything you are used to so gently that you are glad to let it go. If this book gets read, serious change could happen. May it be so.

[Neil Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A refreshing antidote to the Western (particularly American) culture of ‘bigger, better, stronger, faster’, ‘Shrink’ is a fine call to deny self, take up one’s cross and follow Christ. Suttle is writing very much within an American context to American readers, and at one point the book made me laugh when he talked about maybe considering dividing up your growing congregation if your ‘small’ church was approaching 400 attendees. In our much more secular UK, 400 attendees would be considered a very large church, if not a mega-church! My own church congregation is 30 on a decent Sunday, and we are a bunch of diverse and often very broken people, with a disproportionate amount of people with mental and physical health problems, and with broken families. We already feel very shrunk as it is, and a bit of growth wouldn’t go amiss! Nevertheless, the ‘downward’ call of Christ in the gospel, to shrink so that he may increase, holds true in whatever scenario you find yourself in, despite appearances. So all in all, a worthwhile read, drawing on a number of fascinating sources, many of which would most definitely be outside of my more conservative evangelical eco-chamber. Still, I thought the book could have drawn more on direct Scriptural exposition, and therefore in certain places in lacked the power and authority that only God’s Word can bring.

[Bryan Roark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with what Suttle says regarding church growth culture and the tremendous weight placed on becoming great, but I don’t think the ecclesiology gets builds as a response to it is very strong. Suttle calls for a shift from what he calls a salvation culture, focused on conversions, to a gospel culture, which he describes as “the holistic stewardship of life, the land, the people, the animals, the environment, and the world in which we are situated” (27). He builds this idea of a gospel culture from a tiny bit of Scripture and a whole lot of anecdotes, pointing to some big names in evangelical circles (NT Wright, Scot McKnight, Rob Bell, etc.), and references to secular literature. His practical section on the virtues Christian leaders ought to seek to embody does not seem to come specifically from Scripture and Christ and Christ’s redemptive work is altogether missing. Overall, pragmatism may be dangerous, but to abandon the gospel of salvation from sin by grace through faith in Christ is deadly.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to start by saying that I am not the target audience for this book. The target audience is professional leadership of evangelical churches in the U.S. I live in the U.S., but I'm a member of a non-evangelical church. But I still found the book mostly interesting.

Suttle is concerned that the evangelical church is too closely tied to the American success story. This is true of a lot of non-evangelical churches, too. He feels that the purpose of the church is to be faithful to God, which often involves sacrifice and discomfort....and can be done more effectively in smaller congregations.

He makes excellent points, the book is well organized, and I enjoyed the anecdotes about his family and church as well as his scholarly references.

[Paul Waters · Rating 5 out of 5]

A refreshing break from the "How to be a Great Leader and Grow Your Successful Ministry" industry. From a European perspective, Suttle overstates his case slightly - since we don't really have mega-churches and perhaps have a slightly different metric for "success". But his main point is still relevant. My only quibble is - does faithfulness and virtue really rule out strategic thinking and planning? Or is it rather a question of which values really underpin our strategy and leadership practice?

[Crimson Sparrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This quick-read by a local pastor offers reflections on what it means for Christians to seek a faithful response to Christ in the midst of the church-growth culture. In a milieu obsessed with being successful, achieving the spectacular, and gaining public recognition, Suttle calls the church to embrace virtue, vulnerability, and brokenness instead.

The writing style is conversational but tends toward repetition and over-generalization in places. Still a worthwhile read.

[Justin Steckbauer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an OK read. There are some good principles here about humility and biblical ministry, but it got lost for me in a lot of ranting against megachurches. I don't recommend it.

[Ingrid Cribbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books on ministry I’ve ever read.

[Michael Fahrenbruch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved this book. Such a simple idea, but so counter cultural to so much of our world and even most ministries.

[Laurie Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a gift to find an author who has done the hard work to articulate the somewhat unorthodox ideas you have been quietly, almost secretly, pondering.

[Bob San Pascual · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I read Pastor Tim Suttle’s book, Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture, I found myself YOL (yelling out loud), “Yes! Yes! It’s faithfulness, not success, that matters.” This reminded me of an axiom I heard early in my ministry, though have sometimes forgotten: “We’re called to be faithful, not successful.” His desire is that ministers follow John the Baptist’s example (“He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease”) rather than seeking a bigger church, a bigger profile, etc. Suttle takes aim at the business practices that many churches have adopted, the church growth movement, and even some megachurches, though he does acknowledge the good effect that some megachurches have had on his life and on those of others. While I confess to not being familiar with the church growth movement, he’s seen the harm that it’s inflicted on local churches. He’s seen the harm that churches of all sizes have inflicted on themselves as they applied business practices and techniques at the expense of the radical message of the Gospel.

In Part 1, the main message Suttle tries to get across is: “Don’t try to be great.” Why not? Because “Great is the enemy of good.” Trying to be a great pastor in the mold of CEOs isn’t the model that Jesus gave us. Likewise, he tells his readers, “Don’t try to copy the megachurch.” Trying to make our churches great (read: megachurch) isn’t necessarily God’s desire for our churches. There are advantages to being small or medium-sized. He critiques the megachurch culture for several reasons, but primarily because they make Jesus fans rather than Jesus followers (p. 72). They can lead people to Christ, but they can’t lead them to maturity in Him.

Suttle challenges us church leaders to make three changes in part 2: 1) From models to an eccelesiology; 2) From strategies to stories; and 3) From techniques to virtues. His message is to stop patterning our churches after models, especially megachurch models, and to begin to develop our own ecclesiologies—to build our churches from our conclusions of what the church is and what it’s to do. “This is what we default to, especially as evangelicals — we try to solve our problems by finding models of success and then copying them. When we sense trouble, we search for a model when what we need is a deep ecclesiology that will inform everything we do from top to bottom” (p. 81). Since I’ve never been part of a megachurch, I was fine with his critiques of them, but when he started criticizing the evangelical culture in chapter 4, he began to hit too close to home (smile).

The final section of the book revolves around developing five virtues: vulnerability, cooperation, brokenness, patience, and fidelity. Although I don’t consider myself a competitive person, I do understand what Suttle is saying when he makes the observation about how we pastors compete with one another. Certainly the “I can top that” attitude is always just below the surface, if not outwardly apparent. Just as important as cooperation is patience: “Church growth is meant to be measured not in weekly attendance numbers, but in decades and half-centuries. If that is true, then patience is a leadership virtue none of us can afford to go without” (p. 216). I like this call to patience for both pastors and church members alike. It’s easy to become impatient when we don’t see numbers growing. He’s also on the mark when he says that our churches are going to have many more times of obscurity than sensational times. The miraculous and spectacular experiences will be few and far between; we shouldn’t expect them to be everyday occurrences. On fidelity, he writes: “I shared my hope that everyone in our church would be willing to stick around long enough to say one of two things: either ‘I told you so,’ or ‘You were right and I was wrong’” (p. 227). We ministers are greatly encouraged when members stick through the hard times, church fights, frustrations, and changes. I’m sure members would say the same about us.

Shrink is for pastors everywhere, whether they’re serving in a small, medium, large, or super-sized church. It’s an encouragement for those of us in smaller churches and a challenge for those in larger ones. You don’t have to feel like a failure anymore. Just be faithful to Christ over the long haul, and especially through the wilderness times when you don’t see any progress. “Instead of chasing after pragmatic success, I pray for those who have the courage to pursue faithfulness no matter what the perceived results may be. I pray that we’ll have the humility to see that we have no right to quibble with the results of our ministry life. We only have the duty to be faithful in all the small things and leave the results in the hands of the loving God who holds our future” (p. 240). To this, I give my heartiest “Amen!”

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently, I have been binging on several different books about "how to do church." Many popular books give you a model to copy. For example, Sticky Church is very popular and essentially argues sermon based small groups is the solution for your ministry. I still think the exception in recent years is Tim Keller's Center Church which bridges the gap between theologically heavy books and practical models. My shift has been to read outside of the sort of "young, restless, and reformed crowd." Scot McKnight's blog is largely to blame for exposing me to voices I don't normally encounter much (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/). I think in general the questions I have are What is it that the church ought to always do no matter what? How can I be faithful and not fall into the temptations of wanting bigger, better, and more exposure in a celebrity culture?

First, I read Slow Church which basically tried to take the slow food movement as an analogy for church. It essentially argued for a holistic community that reflected the local terrior and was against cookie cutter models and "franchise church." Thats all good. I just felt the analogy was too stretched and they didn't make an argument that was theologically robust enough for me.

Because Slow Church was endorsed by the authors of Shrink and vice versa I did expect much. But it turns out Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture was a much better book. These books follow the clarion call of Eugene Peterson that what matters in ministry is faithfulness not success or effectiveness. (Keller like always does yes/no both/and middle way and says "fruitfulness" is the Biblical metaphor).

Shrink is highly critical of megachurch models that doesn't sufficiently challenge cultural idols. But instead embraces American ideals of pragmatism, techniques, and thinks success in the kingdom is equal to a bigger and better ministry. Suttle makes a great point that I often wonder about, something is wrong when the only Pastors who speak at conferences and have their books published have huge churches, as if all the pastors of smaller churches have nothing good to say. The book is divided into three parts. 1) How are attempts to be great undermine the call to be good. 2) How we need to have a robust theology of the church with stories and virtues not models, methods, and strategies. 3) What the essential virtues are.

What is good about this book is the great illustrations he gives tied to good biblical principles about how the church ought to be, what kind of people we ought to be, and not thinking some technique, model, or strategy is what will solve it while inside we remain no different than the world. He advocates church leaders should be vulnerable and should seek to cooperate with others not compete against them. We should have a culture of brokenness, patience, and fidelity. To all of these I say, yes, yes, and yes.

However, I do not think all models or strategies are all bad or that as an organization the church cannot think about how to better govern itself and equip its members to live more like Christ. The church is an organism and an organization. I don't think just because a church is big it is bad or that it has abandoned what it means to be the church. Suttle makes the point on several occasions to consider whether God is calling your church to shrink, to literally have less people. I don't see how that is any better than when I have heard megachurch pastors say you are not faithful if your church is not growing. Maybe your church is shrinking because you are a jerk and have poor leadership skills? I know this is not what Suttle is trying to say. I only point out to guard against either extremes.

In the end, Shrink is aiming at a prophetic wake up call to the church in America, to prune itself. To get back to the essence of life in Christ together, no matter the results numerically or otherwise. I agree to a large extent, but being a good steward involves not just good character but also good management. The church is God's household (1 Tim. 4:15) and this requires both Christian character and good management.

[Jeffrey Sykes · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a list of books that have challenged and changed what I thought it meant to follow Jesus. I think about books like: The Nature of Doctrine by George Lindbeck, A Peculiar People by Rodney Clapp, Lord Teach Us by Stanley Haurewas and William Willimon, and Wholeness in Christ by William Greathouse. I'm going to have to add Shrink to that list. I'm thankful that I don't understand all the ways this book has changed me and I look forward to the Spirit continuing to work on me.

Shrink starts with the contemporary evangelical temptation to be successful. Many evangelicals have defined success in ways defined by the dominant narratives of consumerism, individualism and nationalism. Our churches are to be always growing and expanding like any other business.

Suttle exposes the problems with this approach as an insider who began ministry with this mindset. Ultimately the models, strategies and techniques used to achieve “greatness” end up creating churches that remind Suttle of a body builders. Suttle explains that body builders have bodies that don’t look like normal bodies. The most extreme examples end up using shortcuts to make their bodies shapes and sizes that are beyond natural limitations. In the same way, the church growth movement has led to churches (bodies) that are manipulated by techniques (steroids) to grow beyond what is natural and healthy.

After critiquing the problems he sees with how the church has pursued greatness, Suttle advocates that the church return to virtues that will ultimately allow the Church to offer a true alternative to the dominant western culture. For him these virtues include vulnerability, cooperation, brokenness, patience and fidelity. If this list of virtues seems to point in the opposite direction of the always growing always expanding church, than Suttle argues that the direction of the gospel is not up but down. Only by finding ways to embrace our own and others brokenness can we admit our collective vulnerability without looking for a way to hide or deflect. Through vulnerability the church can begin to patiently cooperate to practice a love that looks like “long obedience in the same direction” (a phrase Suttle borrows from Eugene Peterson). That kind of love allows for the Church to be faithful. Faithfulness or Fidelity is the criterion that should be used to evaluate the Church rather than the number of cars in the parking lot or the numbers attracted to a ministry.

The book includes numerous anecdotes from Suttle’s own ministry as a pastor in the local Church. What clearly comes through in his little book is a love for the Church and a love for his people. This book is not a polemic designed to cast down evangelicalism. Instead, Shrink reads more like a love letter calling the church to repentance and reform. The call to repentance and reform draws the reader in as well and left me wondering about the areas of my life in need of the virtues discussed in the book. If Suttle is right in his own critiques of himself as a proponent of the church growth movement, Shrink reveals a more mature, nuanced and sustainable vision of what it means to be the Church.

[Lyndon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strong recommendation and rationale for the church to follow the path of Jesus, which is downward, rather than pursue the way of the world, which is bigger, faster, higher. This book is necessarily a critique of the mega-church, but that's not the sole focus of Suttle's argument. The author presents the alternative, biblical narrative as the path that pleases God - where the Christian leader and congregation is first of all virtuous and good, not successful and results-oriented. We're called to die to ourselves and faithfully follow after Jesus.

Suttle turns the "good to great" argument on its head and boldly states that "great is the enemy of good." In our pursuit of greatness (success orientation, devotion to pragmatism) we've forsaken the Jesus way of vulnerability, cooperation, brokenness, patience, and fidelity (the key virtues he expounds in the last half of the book). While there is a lot of repetition of themes throughout the pages, the reiteration of the "shrink" mindset is needful to counteract the "growth" mentality we've all been baptized in ever since the church growth movement began. Overall, a recommended read for all who care about the challenges facing the church today. 4 1/2 stars.

[Katie Savage · Rating 5 out of 5]

The gift of this book is how encouraging I believe it will be to pastors who feel that somehow they’ve failed or fallen short, whether they are pastors of megachurches or tiny congregations who meet in someone’s living room. Perhaps my favorite section is the last one, which is titled “Growing in Virtue.” It is about 100 pages in length– almost half the book– and it describes in very practical terms six virtues that will help pastors focus on faithfulness as they lead. It challenged me to nurture Christlike characteristics in myself and to go out of my way to care for the broken and weak in our neighborhood.

What sets Shrink apart from so many other church leadership books is its heart, which, of course, is the best kind of guts. As I read this book, it was easy to remember back a few months ago, when Tim was my pastor and I was sitting in one of the wooden chairs at his church in Olathe, Kansas. Included in the text are illustrations he’d used before in sermons, real-life examples from the life of our church, and a choked-up quality that Tim’s voice takes on whenever he talks about something he really cares about.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, Shrink really started to get going in the last section. I understood the need to deconstruct the church growth/megachurch culture for the purposes of the book, but that part (for me), felt a bit simplistic. Suttle tried very hard not to, but her picture of the megachurch and its pastors and leaders felt like a bit of a straw man. The third section, on virtues, moves in a more constructive direction, and for me was much more helpful. I loved the focus on welcoming descent, vulnerability, weakness, and brokenness. I loved his constant call to faithfulness over success. I loved his repeated assertion that the Jesus way is the way down. There was really beautiful, challenging content in the last 100 pages.

I was a little disappointed by the books/resources suggested in the "practical" section at the end. All of the books he recommended were by white authors, and mostly men. If the Jesus way is not the way of the powerful, it is important, especially for the white pastor, to engage with the voices of the institutionally powerless.

[Chaim Carstens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shrink - Methodical, Artistic, Theological, Profound

There is so much in this book that I resonated with. Suttle refuses to give a new model or strategy for church leaders, which is exactly why this book is so groundbreaking. His call is to “switch stories” from the American narrative that pushes us to go bigger, higher, faster and stronger to a story that Jesus calls us to… “One in which the last will be first and the first will be last; one in which faithfulness to Jesus and the pursuit of God’s will for our lives as persons and as communities require a relinquishing of ambition and an embrace of descent.”
Shrink will hopefully be a book that is looked back on a century from now as one of the signposts that helped guide the American church away from the obsessive numbers driven growth model to one that is content with being faithful.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

As 2014 draws to a close I'm thinking that "Shrink" just might be my personal 'book of the year.' It certainly falls on my short list of books under consideration. I've read and was helped by each of the author's previous two books which is the main reason I purchased this one. This latest effort; however, shows tremendous growth. In taking on the widely accepted yet all but bankrupt approach to 'doing church' in the evangelical mode here in the U.S. (and in those places 'under the influence') Suttle offers a sound yet also, in my view, too kind critique of the mega-church and leadership aspirations to "greatness." Beginning with the simple turn of what has for some become a mantra, 'Good is the enemy of Great' to "Great is Enemy of the Good" the author tells us why if faithfulness is good enough for God it can also be good enough for us. Read this book!

[Kyle Alt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe the author brings up real issues facing seeker sensitive churches today, but he doesn't take the content as deep as it could go. The best points in the book come when he quotes the insights of other thinkers. He's frustratingly repetitive. I think the introduction alone captures the best content in his book. But I do agree with his premise - we must be faithful leaders rather than driven by man-made agendas. Such an essential viewpoint today.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ministry leadership is not about greatness in the eyes of and based on the standards of our culture but it is about serving God faithfully. This is what Tim Suttle explains and expands on thoroughly in his book, "Shrink".

If you are a church leader and you have been steeped in leadership culture, or if you, like many, have harboured mega-church-like dreams and ambitions, yet you've sensed something to be slightly off about that, you should read this book.

[Sherill Clontz · Rating 3 out of 5]

His need to deconstruct church growth methods almost kept me from getting through the book. His insistence that best practices are not faithful seems a stretch to me. And there are places where the book reeks of hubris as he claims that his church is faithful while larger churches are not.

That being said, the encouragement to risk, to focus on faithfulness rathe than numbers and to recover a robust ecclesiology made it worth the journey.

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An invigorating, challenging read aimed at cultivating a people who participate, live within God's effective reign (the Kingdom of God). Suttle's voice is a necessary, prophetic word to America's flat, lifeless, spiritual malaise often titled "Christianity" but which bears more resemblance to Wal-Mart and Hollywood than the four Gospels.

Grateful.

[Zach Waldis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of, if not the, best books on ministry I've ever read. The only critique would be that Suttle draws from Hauerwas and thus a few pages on nationalism are a bit heavy handed, but otherwise if you are a pastor in any capacity in the United States, you need to read this book. It will be challenging for mega-church folks, but truth never gets old.

[Jamie Roach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book for pastors and those who care about the church. Tim inspires me to live in the faithful, slow and fruitful way of Jesus rather than according the false scripts of individualism, consumerism and nationalism, all of which have seeped into the church.

[Jeff Tennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book, particularly the third section. Tim is the pastor of my church, so my opinion is jaded, but this book really made me appreciate our church so much more. I respect and appreciate Pastor Tim's honesty, vulnerability and humor.