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Extreme Makeover: Church Edition |
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By Sandra Higley
Regal Books has just released a 2005 updated edition of Setting Your Church Free under the new title of Extreme Church Makeover: A Biblical Plan to Help Your Church Achieve Unity and Freedom in Christ. Authors Neil Anderson and Charles Mylander show how to apply principles of repentance, faith in God, and corporate conflict resolution to bring healing and renewal to churches and their members.
Anderson and Mylander explain that when new Christians or members join
a church, they likely bring with them “baggage” left over from
unresolved conflicts and lack of repentance. Pastors with hurts and
disappointments from previous bad ministry experiences bring that to
their next church as well. Compiling these elements along with ongoing
sin issues can result in corporate bondage that inhibits a church from
liberated fellowship and outreach.
The authors use Jesus’ letters to the seven churches in Revelation 1-3
as the basis for taking a church through a “Setting Your Church Free
Event.” The goal of this event is to assist church leadership to
discern the church’s strengths, weaknesses, memories that bless or
bind, corporate sins and attacks from the evil one. A Prayer Action
Plan is then developed to give direction to resolve these issues.
The Prayer Action Plan is treated as if it were a letter from Jesus to
the church—not new revelation, but conviction and guidance from the
Holy Spirit—with sections entitled “We renounce,” “We announce,” “We
affirm” and “We Will.” Each identified weakness is then addressed. As
an example, for an identified weakness of disunity the group would
corporately and verbally:
- Renounce it, “We renounce division among us.”
- Then announce the positive biblical opposite of what was
renounced, “We announce that in Christ we have the unity of the Spirit.”
- Follow up with a scriptural promise or truth that affirms along
the same line, “We affirm that in the depth of our hearts we are all
one in Christ Jesus.”
- Finally make a “we will” commitment to an appropriate action, “We
will talk to the right person in the right spirit when conflicts arise.”
Strategies for implementing the Prayer Action Plan are given to make it
part of the lives and thinking of the leaders and pastors to bring life
to the church.
Extreme Church Makeover offers plenty of encouragement and motivation
through anecdotes and testimonies of churches that have gone through
this type of corporate cleansing. This book is available at your local
Christian bookstore or online at www.regalbooks.com.
--Sandra Higley is the author of a new Pray! bookmark prayer guide,
“Prayers of Repentance,” available online at www.praymag.com.
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May 2006