Looking forward to Reading this Book

This is from Ben Arment's blog History in the Making - http://www.benarment.com/history_in_the_making/2009/04/controversial-book-by-skye-jethani.html


I am looking forward to reading this book by Skye Jethani

I love what Skye had to say...ALL Pastors should take this to heart and live this out in their life and ministry.

If we are going to make a difference in our world for the Kingdom of God, we complement and work together for a GREATER CAUSE, instead living in competition with one another.

Controversial Book by Skye Jethani

Without a doubt, Skye Jethani's The Divine Commodity has been Commodity one of the best and most provocative reads of 2008 for me. It's a scathing analysis of what church has become. Today is a blog tour for Skye - who is the managing editor of Leadership Journal, so I asked him a question:

You wrote about the move among churches from collaboration to competition. I totally see this. In fact, the very churches that advocate cooperation seem to be the most ruthless at gobbling up "market share." How do we get back from here?

"This can be answered from a number of altitudes—theologically, socially, relationally, etc.—but let’s tackle this question on the practical level. Churches communicate their real values by what they do with their time, space, money, and people. If we’re going to get serious about cooperation, then it must impact all four of these elements. Here are some examples....



"Time—What if the church allotted some of the pastoral staff’s time to help another church in the community? For example, one church has an experienced youth minister and the church across town has just hired a 22-year-old fresh out of bible school to lead their youth group with virtually no ministry experience. For the first church to release their youth pastor 2 hours every week to mentor the younger guy would represent an investment of time.



"Space—Most church buildings are woefully underutilized six days every week. Why not invite other area churches to use your facilities, particularly churches that don’t have their own buildings? I know of some churches that use their facilities to “incubate” new congregations before they launch out in the community.



"Money—This one is a no brainer, but often the most contentious. Francis Chan has led his church to create a budget in which 50% of their income is given away. I know a church led by Greg Shipman in Columbia South Carolina that has regularly given large checks to neighboring churches. And in my own area, outside Chicago, there’s a new church plant that’s made the news for giving away 100% of their offerings. Many churches feel threatened when a new congregation is planted in their town, why not help get it started by putting some dollars behind it? Turn a “competitor” into a “cooperator.”



"People—Here’s what gets me really excited. Most churches believe that in order to have an impact in the community they need to start ministry programs. In some cases this may be true, but why does everything have to be under our church’s banner? Rick McKinley from Imago Dei in Portland, Oregon, likes to say “No logo, no ego.” As people in your church sense God’s calling and discern their giftedness, why not engage them outside your church’s programming? If First Baptist down the street already has a homeless ministry going, why do you have to start one at your church? Instead, send your volunteers who are passionate about caring for the homeless over to First Baptist to help. In fact, what if a church began with a commitment to launch no programs that already exist with a 5 mile radius? Instead the church commits to releasing God’s people to help build and support the efforts already underway by their brothers and sisters who happen to worship in different location on Sunday. That is real cooperation."