A great deal has happened to North America church society since ...
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A great deal has happened to North America church society since 2002, the launch date of this book.  Not the least is the impact of the Trump presidency which may yet grow into supporting a new revival in Christian church life.
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In 2010 pastor David Platt's book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream made a splash in the evangelical Christian world.  He boldly addressed several issues which have long contributed to the self-centeredness, apathy, and powerlessness of the American church.  It was a loving but firm challenge for individual Christians to throw off the affluence and entitlements of our society and re-embrace the radical call of discipleship.
 Now in this follow up, Platt broadens his perspective to encompass the entire church.  In six chapters he addresses several components of church life that can help shape and revitalize the people of God.  The first of these is how many churches settle for good things when God has great things for us.  Platt encourages church leaders to sacrificially put every ministry, worship service, committee, staff position, facility, and resource on the table and allow God to decide which ones need to be kept and which ones--even though they are good--do not really fulfill the purpose of making God known in the world.
 Successive chapters focus on the necessity of churches basing themselves firmly in the Word of God; how the good news of Jesus Christ liberates people to give their best to God; how churches are best when they rely on all the "wrong" people (rather than glitzy performances, snazzy programs, and professional leaders); how churches should be focused on spreading the gospel to every people group on the planet; and how we are to surrender anything and everything in our lives in order for God to be glorified.  As with Radical, the book is very likable and peppered with different stories and illustrations from Platt's own experiences.
 As a pastor myself, I thoroughly approve of what Platt has attempted to do in both of his books.  He is seeking to show the self-centered, affluent, overly inclusive, powerless American church that there is more to faith in Jesus Christ than bigger buildings, balanced budgets, and state-of-the-art worship services.  He has made this accessible to every person who is willing to read the books, pray, listen for the Holy Spirit, and act upon what they hear.
 However, I would be extremely interested in hearing how Platt has navigated the complainers, nay-sayers, dream killers, controllers, and congregational bullies as he has implemented these concepts in The Church at Brook Hills (Birmingham, Alabama).  And what might pastors, church leaders, and lay people--who desire to follow a radical Christ into the world--do to unleash these things in their churches?  This is a good, manageable book--like Radical--that lends itself to small group study and discussion.  But where's the rough stuff from the trenches?  What battles did Platt have to fight to bring his church to this point?  How were membership, attendance, and giving impacted by the shift to a more gospel-oriented community?  How did he overcome the negativity, venom, and outright sabotage from those in his church who would not accept such a future?
  When we consider that the majority of churches in the United States are considered medium-size or small (150 people or less in worship each week); that they do not have the financial resources like a mega-church does; and most critically, they are often "family owned and operated," what advice or suggestions does Platt have to help move from a selfish church to a selfless church?  I do recommend this latest work, but would encourage the author to devote his next work to addressing the leadership issues and challenges that come from being Radical Together.
  I received this book free from Waterbrook-Multnomah and was under no directions to provide a positive review.
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Although the text's approachability varies throughout the book, it is a well presented argument for liturgical worship.  The church has become a social club, not the worshiping community that God intended it to be.  The church has become like the world, not in the world.
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Unity In Mission, is an amazing story in the life of the Episcopal Church. It is a historical and scholarly work that will provoke and compel new perceptions on what it means to be a community of faith.

We are well into the 21st century now.  We are seeing exponential changes in science, medicine, technology, society, and the world at large.

In an observable universe, which is 28.6 billion parsecs in diameter, our perceptions of who we are as a 'People of God' are ever expanding. Our whole sense of self and place within the world is expanding and changing, as is creation, as are all our relationships.

The Episcopal Church offers a model within these dynamics that is astounding.  It offers us an old, and a new paradigm based upon a love of scripture, tradition, reason, community, relationships, and service in Christ through the church to all humankind.

Unity In Mission, calls us to re-imagine the message of the Gospel for the Twenty-First Century, the "Good News" of the Gospel, a message that is  calling us into a deeper understanding of God found in human relations and service to humankind.

These are new life enriching and life affirming relationships we discover through a church community that is radically open, radically inclusive, and grounded in the historical hospitality and orthodox tradition of the church. It is a continuation of the Great Commission, which Christ gave to his Disciples and to all Christianity.

Matthew 28:19-20New King James Version (NKJV) ~ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen

The Holy Eucharist: Rite One (Book of Common Prayer)
Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith:
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Ron Starbuck ~ Saint Julian Press
Author of "There Is Something About Being An Episcopalian"
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As long as the church has been existence, it has sought ways to relate with the surrounding culture for sake of the gospel. This has never been more the case than at our present time. Many Christians have awoken from a slumber and have found the culture around them has vastly changed from whence they once knew. Some would say that the church is in a crisis and is losing ground at winning the world for Christ. Yet, many believe that the church finds itself in an opportune place to find its voice in the midst of a noisy world. This is what George Barna and David Kinnaman discuss in their new book Churchless published by Tyndale House.

Based on current research, Barna and Kinnaman discuss the reality that more and more people are leaving the church. Many people who would now be considered churchless were once churched. Some people are growing bored with church, stating that it does not have any bearing on their daily lives. Others, however, are leaving the church because they have been hurt. Yet, there is also a growing number of Americans who are not church because they have never been to church in their lifetime. In effort to counteract the growing trend of people leaving the church, churches employ methods to reach them. What is interesting is that many of the methods that churches employ in an attempt to reach out are no longer effective. According to Churchless, unchurched people are less likely to visit a church for the first time based on marketing strategies such as mailouts, commercials, billboards, church signs, etc. Unchurched people are also less likely to visit a church based on phone calls and door to door outreach tactics. The data does show, however, that unchurched people are more likely to visit a church if they are personally invited by a friend or if they see the church involved in the local community.

Barna and Kinnaman point out that, in regards to relationship evangelism, unchurched people know when they are being considered a project to be finished. As the old saying goes, People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. In relationships, most people want to know that you truly care about them. As believers, we have relationships with people that we will never see come to Christ, but it is important that they see Christ in us. Unchurched people are not projects to be finished by churched people, they are people to be loved and shown the grace of Christ.

In the end, the best way to reach the unchurched is for the church to be an attractive community on mission for Jesus. My favorite quote from the book is, people don't come to church for the carnival rides, they come to meet God. The church must never lose sight of its identity as the bride of Christ. There is something about the intimacy of genuine community that is attractive to most people. As an attractive community, the church is a people who is desperately in love with Jesus because of the grace He has shown them. The love of Jesus then overflows in acts of mercy for people in the community who are also in desperate need of Jesus. When the church does not focus on numbers and money, but on glory of God in the face of Jesus, the watching world sees Jesus and not a spiritualized rotary club!

Churchless is a book that I highly recommend to pastors and church leaders who are serious about making a dent in this generation for Christ. As missionaries in our culture we must know what we are up against and this book sheds light upon our current situation. The Forward Thinking section challenges the reader to think critically about how the church can be salt and light in a culture that is ever hostile to the church and religion. My prayer is that as the church we not freak out about the statistics, but we focus on the One who can help change the statistics!
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If it hasn't happened yet, stick around church long enough, and youll find it lets you down. We each respond a little differently when that happens. In Searching for Sunday, we find out how Rachel Held Evans handled it. And in the process with her, we fall in love with church again.

She uses these seven sacraments to structure her church story:

The church tells us we are beloved (baptism). The church tells us we are broken (confession). The church tells us we are commissioned (holy orders). The church feeds us (communion). The church welcomes us (confirmation). The church anoints us (anointing of the sick). The church unites us (marriage).

Each section includes several short chapters with personal stories, insights from others, and general enlightenment on how the church can function well. Throughout the book you see how Rachel found dead things and things brought to life again. She stays focused and engaged all the way to the end of the book.

In the epilogue entitled Dark, she gives this beautiful definition of church.

Church isn't some community you join or some place you arrive. Church is what happens when someone taps you on the shoulder and whispers in your ear, Pay attention, this is holy ground; God is here.

I believe this book will help believers and doubters alike find hope again through community with God and others.
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The word church can conjure up many ideals and feelings. Some good and some bad. Some hop from church to church and never settle in and be commited to a body of believers. Some see no need for the church and feel that they do better without the church. Since the church is made up of sinners, the church can have a bad name, even a bad taste for some. Others have experienced the love of God thru the church. This book is really not about feelings but about the purpose of the church and our need to be a part of believers in a local church. Jesus loves the church. He is coming back for the church. I was convicted of many things reading this but also it sparked something within me as well. The book gives you a cause for the church and what to look for in a church. A church where scripture is the meat and not the seasoning, where teaching is driven by confidence and the authority of the word, where the gospel is being worked out in relationships and lives thru the church. God has given us a responsibility thru the church. Now what do we do about it.
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I thoroughly enjoyed how Superintendent David K. Bernard hinted towards the direction that the churches allowing the spirit of the world to direct them have lost growth whereas Pentecostal churches, even those who insist on holiness standards within their congregations, are growing.
He accounts for the past experience of how in the twentieth century, people began receiving the Holy Spirit, and the history of the Azusa Street revival with the experience of B. Seymour, Parlham, and other leaders of that early stage of Pentecost. In addition, not only illustrating the ones who understood baptism in Jesus name, but also those who because of pressure, decided to back away from it. The most interesting part for me was reading the difference between Pentecostals and Charismatics, and how that the United Pentecostal Church's membership was started with a mixture of race in the lower socioeconomic realm whereas the Charismatics began with the middle class Caucasians. He quoted Wagner (according to Bernard is the "leading church growth researcher in America") as saying "...Pentecostals and Charismatics are the fastest-growing group in about 80 percent of all nations (Loc. 5090)." And, the second most interesting part for me was the 7 ideas of how churches have grown according to Wagner set in this book, one of them being, "Schism." I thought at that point, since Superintendent Bernard could have added his own ideas into the mix of how the UPCI has grown and what makes them grow. I suppose he believed Wagner's ideas were sufficient.
He gives statistics that the UPCI is the largest oneness group, but provides much information regarding a lot of other oneness organizations in the world such as the True Jesus Church, the second largest oneness group. In the view of this book, Pentecostalism is surging forward, and to keep it thriving, preachers must need to keep preaching truth for growth. Further, the idea presented is that the UPCI has the highest percentage of congregants who have received the Holy Spirit in their services--which is another indirect way of saying congratulations to all of the pastors of the UPCI for their hard earned efforts--has the largest number of churches according to his statistics among Pentecostal organizations worldwide (including the statistics he gives for other Pentecostal organizations), even more than the AG (but not in number of members). One of the thoughts of some of the churches might be, if we brake down some of the barriers to our beliefs, we will grow, but I think Superintendent Bernard does a great job at hinting towards the opposite effect in this book, especially in regards to two ideas: Those receiving the Spirit of God and holiness. .
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Alan Hirsch has done a phenomenal job not only critiquing the church but also in providing answers to those problems. He does not approach the situation as one who is far removed, but, as one who has engaged in mission within the primary contexts of the typical church structure, has found the structure lacking in many respects. It is in this context that the book was written, through much study and dialogue I am sure, and the information and guidance delivered is of upmost concern for both the body of Christ and the mission of Christ.
 Through his study of past Jesus movements that have shaken or rocked the world, or parts of it, he has come up with guidance and a tool in establishing a body of believers centered on Jesus and His call to be on mission no matter the context or culture you find yourself in. It is a clarion call of sorts for the church to re-awaken itself, to find itself once again, and to engage in a world that has undergone change after change. And until the church does this, it will continue to find itself on the brink of becoming a mausoleum to what once was.
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A well thought through and well written and researched book. This needs to get into the hands of those who have interest in the historical church- a serious alteration from much of church practice today.
I was very pleasant surprise with the prompt delivery, given the recipient had to then transfer it personally to me in Canada. We met all deadlines.
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I read Mark Noll's first foray into this subject, his 1992 History of Christianity in the US and Canada. I thought it was good, but a little too academic and scholarly for most people.

This book is a tight condensation of what appeared in that previous volume, plus a good deal more about African-American Christian history, as well as Mexican Christian history.

The thesis of the book seems to be how the separation of church and state in the USA made it possible for many different kinds of Christianity (and of other sects) to flourish.

We read about the influential preaching ministry of George Whitefield and thr writings of Jonathan Edwards in the 1740s and how their ministries impacted thousands of people for Christ.

We learn about the indefatigable ministry work of Francis Asbury, who started Methodist study groups and congregations all through the states.

We learn about Harriet Livermore, the first woman to preach the word in the US Congress.

We also see how the black community drew strength and inspiration from the biblical narratives, both during and after the slavery years.

We see how Catholicism has had a tremendous influence in Mexico and in Canada.

We also see the formidable influence of Pentecostalism, both in the USA and in Mexico.

I appreciated the afterword's mentioning of the some of the influences that impacted American Christianity: The slavery issue, the first amendment which guaranteed that the government would not pass legislation with respect to the establishment of a religion, the ministries of Edwards, Whitefield, and other revivalists, and the westward expansion.

One way this excellent book could be strengthened would be the addition of material about the impact of postmodernism on biblical Christianity. Perhaps there could also be added sections on the influence of Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, and other evangelical megachurch pastors.

This book is great, and it will help you to get a sense of the lay of the land as you seek to learn more about what God has done and what others have done in His name, both good and bad.
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Mr. Barnes gives the details of the individual's and organizations that guided the church toward a social agenda. He does not offer his own opinions but rather allows the reader to interpret the degree of change each of these factors produced in the organized church. This book is not a quick read bit it clarifies many issues for the serious reader who feels the church has drifted away from it's Biblical beginnings.
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As a twenty-something in the church today, my heart has been awakened to the desperate need for justice and hope in this world. Being an avid follower of International Justice Mission the last few years, I was thrilled to hear of their book aimed at engaging the church in this great task.

The Just Church is beautiful. I've read the headlines, but Jim Martin brings the stories to life. He's not just someone repeating stories of justice, he has lived them. From the darkest corners of Peru he brings the reader into the stories of restoration his church was able to help accomplish. But then? Practical, well-tried advice follows.

Most of us in the church know and understand the need and the call of justice. God's Word makes it clear that our Father is a defender of the fatherless and a helper to the oppressed. We know this. The Just Church will help you and your church turn information into action, and apathy into hope.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to change the world. It starts with one.
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An interesting perspective on the future of the North American Christian Church.  Certainly worth reading in that presents a message of hope from an historical standpoint.
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Our church had been growing for several years now has started losing folks. I was hoping I could get some insight into why. This well written and easy to understand statistical book is worth reading if you care about your fellowship and where it is heading. Great insights into why he feels this is the wave of the future.
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Covering post-WWII to the present, The Diffusion of Global Evangelicalism presents a panorama view of how evangelicalism has grown and changed from a largely Western, North Atlantic movement to a broader, more diverse global movement.  I greatly appreciated the scope of this book, providing balanced coverage of not only North American, but also British and Commonwealth evangelicalism, as well as other places in the world where English is used in Christian discourse.  This was a pleasant change from many books about evangelicalism that are American-centric.

I learned in greater depth about later 20th century leaders and authors that I had only heard about in passing, and was not very familiar with.  I particularly enjoyed reading about 1) how evangelicalism developed differently in Britain compared to the United States, 2) the watershed significance of the 1974 Lausanne Conference on World Evangelism, and 3) the tension between evangelicals (largely from the U.S.) who sought a narrow focus on soul-winning and those (largely from Latin America) who sought a more holistic definition of mission as applied to other areas of life and society.

An important theme which the author discusses at various points in the book, especially in relation to the hugely significant Pentecostal-charismatic movement, is the increasingly divergent streams of evangelicalism in the early 21st century that bring into question whether it is still possible (if it ever was) to identify a common core of beliefs which define evangelicals.  As regards evangelical identity, there is a big question mark as to whether or not the authority of the Bible (sola scriptura) will continue to be a hallmark of evangelicalism.  There are strong movements in many places around the world where following the leading of the Spirit as mediated through personal experience is prioritized over Scripture, and in many cases syncretized with an emphasis on this worldly health, wealth, and blessing as the core of the Christian life.  This is true particularly in areas of Asia and Africa where animism has an important role in the background and worldview of Christian adherents.  However, the author believes that reports of evangelicalisms demise are premature and the movement as a whole has displayed an historical resilience and ability to redefine and refocus its center over the course of different eras.  It is difficult to say where evangelicalism is headed, but this book provides a good overview of where evangelicalism has been during the last 70 years.

The Diffusion of Global Evangelicalism is book 5 in is a series on the "History of Evangelicalism: People, Movements and Ideas in the English-Speaking World"
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This is an outstanding and very readable account of how the Church began and developed in the U.S.  I like that Gollar does not just give the white- washed version of what happened, but includes the sins and struggles that are integral to our development.  He really catches and contrasts  the personalities of the early bishops and significant characters.  His account of the Jesuits and slavery is a real eye opener.  Perhaps even more than a general Church History book, this one has the potential to make American Catholics aware and realistic about our past and thereby face our future with hope and creativity.

 A stellar effort, Dr. Gollar!