Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr, Church Turned Inside Out: A Guide for Designers, Refiners, and Re-Aligners. Jossey-Bass, 2009.
Referenced in: Missional Strategies, Transitioning Established Churches to Missional
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is a theoretically rich and practically useful approach to taking any church, any form, any background, and moving it from internally-focused to missionally engaged. Specifically, they incorporate a lively sense of theology, history, tradition, and strategy to help established churches maintain appropriate faithfulness to their traditions (i.e. “sustaining the present”) while positioning themselves for effective ministry in the new era (i.e. “addressing the future”). Alan Hirsch says in the foreword:
History and tradition are important guides to genuinely biblical thinking. To find this balance between the conservative forces of tradition and the progressive forces of mission is as rare as it is difficult, because by nature the imposing Kingdom demands constant repentance while our living sense of identity requires remembrance and conversation of the ideas and events that have shaped us.
This being said, both Linda Berquist and Allan Karr do precisely that; they are radical traditionalists. They play out their vision of the church right at the intersection where the future meets the past in the present, and in so doing they challenge the status quo of contemporary forms of church while at the same time being very respectful of its relative successes and the faithfulness of our evangelical tradition.
Both authors have long-term experience in guiding established churches as well as in church planting and networking. They are missiologists, theologians, and practitioners, and it is the combination of these ministries that legitimizes what they say. As far as I am concerned, this is a well-researched, genuinely intelligent, missiologically fertile book.” (xiv)
One feature is their church classifications according to their gathering mechanism – attractional, relational, or legacy. They present each model and the corresponding organizational principles, distinctive, and challenges. Leaders of any type may find very workable strategies for taking their churches to the next level.
I recommend this as a first read for leaders of established churches who have a strong impulse to help their churches become more missional. Even if one does not find a practical 1-2-3 approach (if such exists), the theological and conceptual framework provided by this book will pay great dividends. On the other hand, it is perhaps stronger in theory than some church leaders may desire. For additional strategies to help established churches shift to a missional posture, see the resource guide on Strategies to Transition Established Churches to Missional.
From the Publisher
A practical, creative guide for planting or redesigning a church and developing leaders
Written by Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr, two experienced church planters and mentors/teachers, Church Turned Inside Out offers church leaders a new way to think about how their churches are run. Taking cues from the world of business and offering a multi-disciplined and leading-edge approach, the authors stress the importance of incorporating the design process when establishing a new church or planning the ongoing future of an established church. This groundbreaking book also includes ideas for becoming a more effective church leader.
- Offers a practical perspective and a multi-disciplinary approach to establishing a new church or running an existing one
- Includes important lessons for nurturing church leadership skills
- Shows how to honor a church’s purpose while embracing its unique culture
- Contains a wealth of illustrative models, examples, charts, and other visual aides
There are no sacred models of church, no specific molds into which God pours blessings, and no special leadership styles that are holier than others. Too often, though, church leaders attempt to pattern their ministries after either tradition or the successes of a few prominent trendsetting congregations. In Church Turned Inside Out, Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr push back on the one-size-fits-all approach. They invite leaders of all kinds of churches—new and existing, megachurches and microchurches — to walk through an inside-out design process. Instead of starting with models and methods, they insist that every sphere of church life resonates with and communicates what you really believe.
As the book unfolds, it moves from abstract concepts toward concrete suggestions. It considers the uniqueness of individual leaders, their teams, and their particular communities, cultures, and contexts while taking seriously both spiritual and practical dimensions. This process results in more potent and effectively organized churches. Perhaps more important, it helps church leaders discover ways to live and work more wholly and faithfully, according to how God created them. It really is possible for a church to be so beautifully designed that every structure, program, and relationship reflects what it intends. Sometimes this requires a whole new design, and other times it only takes re-aligning or refining what already exists. This thoughtful and systemic approach opens a wider array of possible church paradigms than most people ever imagine, but the real goal is not innovation but transformation.
Using a blend of theology, biblical imagery, and metaphors from culture and creation, Church Turned Inside Out provides respectful ways to consider adaptation and change. It offers a hopeful vision of what the church can and must become. It not only positions the church for its future mission to the twenty-first century but offers timeless principles for the church of today.
About the Authors
Linda Bergquist has been a church planter and church planting teacher for twenty-five years. She also has experience in the area of church consultations and urban ministry to the poor and assists her husband, who is a ministry center director in the Lower Haight district of San Francisco.
Allan Karr is currently an associate professor of missional/church planting at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and a practitioner of church planting and community development. Allan has also served for ten years as a national missionary of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
***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.***
See Resource Guides on Related Areas:
- Missional Perspectives, Introduction
- Missional Church Resources, Introduction and Index
- Church Leadership and Renewal, Index to Resources
See Resources on Over 100 Areas of Ministry Leadership: