N. Graham Standish, Becoming a Blessed Church: Forming a Church of Spiritual Purpose, Presence, and Power. Alban Institute, 2004.
Referenced in: Strategies for Church Renewal – Integrated Spiritual/Strategic
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
If you have ever been frustrated with books on church renewal through spirituality not because you disliked the emphasis, but because of the almost universal tendency of authors of this stripe to give little practical help in actually doing it (sometimes even implying that method is “unspiritual”), then Graham Standish has written the book for you. It is both deeply spiritual and immensely practical. A welcome combination! This is a superb book.
Standish divides the book into three section:
- Becoming a Blessed Church
- Forming a Church of Purpose, Presence, and Power
- Leading a Church to Blessedness
In Part One, he draws a contrast between two approaches to church renewal. One is “rational functionalism” and the other is the “blessed church.” Rational functionalism is the more mechanistic dependence on principles, strategies, and skills. He describes it as “logic over emotion, and form and function over spiritual vibrancy.” This lends itself to a secular focus on what we want and what we can accomplish. Certainly the methods are valuable, but the blessed church is one whose relationship with God is so rich and meaningful that his blessings flow through it.
In Part Two, Standish says this divine grounding makes the blessed church more confident to prayerfully discern its own particular purpose, and rely upon the presence and power of God, not on technique. Standish says for a church to become blessed, it has to respond to invitations in scripture such as Revelation 3:20, “Listen, I am standing at the door and knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.” This passage affirms that Jesus wants to enter our churches and show us God’s blessings. Standish says that as we become increasingly alive to God’s power and presence, the church becomes more like water than lava. When lava flows and hits a barrier, it hardens, like a church that faces new challenges but gets stuck. When water flows and hits barriers, it goes around them and finds new channels for growth.
In Part Three, he discusses first how to become a blessed leader and second how to lead a blessed church. This is followed by an excellent set of appendices on a number of practical dimensions of leading a blessed church. I have listed a few of them below:
- Assessing the Church’s Spiritual Openness
- Discerning God’s Purpose for the Church
- Discerning Direction for a Particular Issue
- A Prayerful Process for Discerning Committee Budgets
- Guiding Members to Give
- Sample Stewardship Materials
- A Guide to Healing Prayer
- A Guide to Holding Spirituality Grounded Meetings
- Four Principles of Discernment
- A Guide to Creating a Prayer Group
From the Publisher
Pastor and author N. Graham Standish describes how a church that is open to God’s purpose, presence, and power can claim God’s blessing. Standish shares the story of Calvin Presbyterian Church in Zelienople, Pennsylvania, and its journey to become a spiritually deep congregation, one that is inwardly and outwardly healthy: spiritually, psychologically, physically, and relationally. Becoming a Blessed Church will help you discern God’s purpose and the path God is calling your congregation to walk. This book will help you find Christ in your midst and become aware of the many ways the blessings of God’s Spirit flow through your congregation.
About the Author
The Rev. N. Graham Standish is pastor of Calvin Presbyterian Church in Zelienople, Pennsylvania. He is the author of three previous books on spirituality and is a therapist, retreat leader, teacher, and an adult adjunct faculty member at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. in spiritual formation.
***For additional information on this resource, including reviews, click the bookstore links. Check the reference at page top or the links below for resource guides on related topics.***
Related Areas
See Other Resources on Church Leadership and Renewal:
- Church Leadership and Renewal, Index
- Church Leadership, Theological Foundations, Ecclesiology
- Church Leadership, Philosophical Foundations – e.g. Church Growth, Missional, Emergent, and Other Missionally Responsive Trajectories
- Church Leadership, Practical Foundations – Church Dynamics and Research
- Church Leadership, Practical Foundations – Congregational Culture, Church Identity
- Church Leadership, Practical Foundations – Size Dynamics, Size Transitions
- Church Leadership, Practical Foundations – Research and Case Studies on Effective Churches
- Church Leadership, Special Situations – Small Church Development
- Church Leadership, Strategies for Renewal
See Resources on Over 100 Areas of Ministry Leadership: